Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees
1 Then Jesus
1said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2
2“The scribes and the Pharisees
3sit on Moses’ seat,
3
so do and observe whatever they tell you,
4but not the works they do.
5For they preach, but do not practice.
4
6They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
5
7They do all their deeds
8to be seen by others. For they make
9their phylacteries broad and
10their fringes long,
6
and they
11love the place of honor at feasts and
12the best seats in the synagogues
7
and
13greetings in
14the marketplaces and being called
15rabbi by others.
8
16But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are
17all brothers.
9
18And call no man your father on earth, for
19you have one Father, who is in heaven.
10
Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor,
20the Christ.
11
21The greatest among you shall be your servant.
12
22Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13
“But woe
23to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
24shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you
25neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
15
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single
26proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a
27child of
28hell as yourselves.
16
“Woe to
29you,
30blind guides, who say,
31‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. ’
17
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or
32the temple that has made the gold sacred?
18
And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by
33the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. ’
19
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or
34the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20
So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21
And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by
35him who dwells in it.
22
And whoever swears by
36heaven swears by
37the throne of God and by
38him who sits upon it.
23
39“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
40you tithe mint and dill and
41cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:
42justice and mercy and faithfulness.
43These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
24
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing
44a camel!
25
45“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
46you clean the outside of
47the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of
48greed and self-indulgence.
26
You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of
49the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27
50“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
51whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and
52all uncleanness.
28
So you also
53outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of
54hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29
55“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
30
saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. ’
31
Thus you witness against yourselves that you are
56sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32
57Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33
You serpents,
58you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to
59hell?
34
60Therefore
61I send you
62prophets and wise men and
63scribes,
64some of whom you will kill and crucify, and
65some you will
66flog in your synagogues and
67persecute from town to town,
35
so that on you may come all
68the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous
69Abel to the blood of
70Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between
71the sanctuary and
72the altar.
36
Truly, I say to you,
73all these things will come upon this generation.