27
"How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed graves that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and every kind of impurity.
28
So on the outside you look as though you have God's approval, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29
"How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who had God's approval.
30
Then you say, 'If we had lived at the time of our ancestors, we would not have helped to murder the prophets.'
31
So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32
Go ahead, finish what your ancestors started!
33
"You snakes! You poisonous snakes! How can you escape being condemned to hell?
34
I'm sending you prophets, wise men, and teachers of the Scriptures. You will kill and crucify some of them. Others you will whip in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.
35
As a result, you will be held accountable for all the innocent blood of those murdered on earth, from the murder of righteous Abel to that of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36
I can guarantee this truth: The people living now will be held accountable for all these things.
37
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone to death those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you were not willing!