Matthew 23:23-39

23 "¹Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

24 "You ²blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ³you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

26 "You blind Pharisee, first ⁴clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

27 "⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 "⁶Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

30 and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

31 "So you testify against yourselves, that you ⁷are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

33 "You serpents, ⁸you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of ⁹hell?

34 "¹⁰Therefore *, behold, ¹¹I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will ¹²scourge in your synagogues, and ¹³persecute from city to city,

35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ¹⁴Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the ¹⁵son of Berechiah, whom ¹⁶you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon ¹⁷this generation.#rl

Lament over Jerusalem

37 "¹⁸Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who ¹⁹kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ²⁰the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling *.

38 "Behold, ²¹your house is being left to you desolate!

39 "For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, '²²BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' "

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:42
• 2. Matthew 23:16
• 3. Mark 7:4; Luke 11:39
• 4. Mark 7:4; Luke 11:39
• 5. Luke 11:44; Acts 23:3
• 6. Luke 11:47
• 7. Matthew 23:34, 37; Acts 7:51
• 8. Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7
• 9. Matthew 5:22
• 10. Matthew 23:34-36; Luke 11:49-51
• 11. 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16
• 12. Matthew 10:17
• 13. Matthew 10:23
• 14. Genesis 4:8f; Hebrews 11:4
• 15. Zechariah 1:1
• 16. 2 Chronicles 24:21
• 17. Matthew 10:23; Matthew 24:34
• 18. Matthew 23:37-39: {Luke 13:34, 35}
• 19. Matthew 5:12
• 20. Ruth 2:12
• 21. 1 Kings 9:7; Jeremiah 22:5
• 22. Psalms 118:26; Matthew 21:9

Footnotes

• [a]. Similar to caraway seeds
• [b]. Or "as a result of"
• [c]. Or "descendants"
• [d]. Lit "would"
• [e]. Or "judgment"
• [f]. Gr "Gehenna"
• [g]. Or "sanctuary"