Condemnation of the legal experts and the Pharisees
13“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don't enter yourselves, and you won't allow those who want to enter to do so.
15
“How terrible it will be for you, legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make one convert. But when they've been converted, they become twice the child of hell you are.
16
“How terrible it will be for you blind guides who say, ‘If people swear by the temple, it's nothing. But if people swear by the gold in the temple, they are obligated to do what they swore.'
17
You foolish and blind people! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy?
18
You say, ‘If people swear by the altar, it's nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they are obligated to do what they swore.'
19
You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
20
Therefore, those who swear by the altar swear by it and by everything that's on it.
21
Those who swear by the temple swear by it and by everything that's part of it.
22
Those who swear by heaven swear by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
23
“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You give to God a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith. You ought to give a tenth but without forgetting about those more important matters.
24
You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel.
25
“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking.
26
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.
27
“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth.
28
In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.
29
“How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30
You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors' days, we wouldn't have joined them in killing the prophets.'
31
You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets.
33
You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell?
34
Therefore, look, I'm sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city.
35
Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
36
I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation.
[a].
Most critical editions of the Gk New Testament omit 23:14 How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You eat up widows’ houses and make a show of praying long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater judgment.