Matthew 23:9-19

9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.

10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah.

11 The greatest among you must be a servant.

12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

14

15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’

17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?

18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding.

19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts add verse 14, What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished. Compare Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 .
• [b]. Greek of Gehenna; also in 23:33 .