Jesus excoriates the scribes and Pharisees

1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples

2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees are seated upon Moses' chair;

3so whatever they may tell you to observe, you should observe and do; but do not do according to their deeds, for they say and do not do.

4For they package loads that are heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of the people; but they themselves do not want to move them with one of their fingers.

5“Rather, they do all their works in order to be seen by people. They make their phylacteries broad and the tassels on their garments large; ³³³

6they love the place of honor at dinners and the first seats in the synagogues,

7and the greetings in the marketplaces, namely to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by the people.

We have only one Teacher and one Father

8“But you (pl.), do not be called ‘Rabbi’; because your Teacher is one, the Christ, ³³⁴and you are all brothers.

9And do not call anyone on earth your ‘father’; because your Father is one, He who is in the heavens. ³³⁵

10Neither be called leaders/guides; because your Leader is one, the Christ. ³³⁶

11On the contrary, the greatest among you must be your servant.

12And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you devour the houses of the widows, ³³⁷while making long prayers as a pretense. Therefore you will receive a greater condemnation. ³³⁸

14Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!! Because you bar the entrance to the kingdom of the heavens in the face of the people; for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are trying to enter to go in. ³³⁹

15Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!!! Because you travel all over, land and sea, to make one convert, and when he joins up you make him twice as much a son of Hell ³⁴⁰as yourselves.

16“Woe to you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

17Stupid and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

18And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it is obligated.’

19Stupid and blind!! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ³⁴¹

20Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all the things on it.

21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who used to dwell in it. ³⁴²

22And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

23“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you pay a tithe of mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier items of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These it was obligatory to do, while not neglecting those.

24Blind guides, who strain out a gnat but gulp down a camel!

25“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!! Because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of plunder and injustice. ³⁴³

26Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that their outside may also be clean.

27“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!!! Because you resemble whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside are full of dead bones and of all uncleanness.

28Just so, you also outwardly appear to be righteous to the people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!!!! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous;

30yet you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31Therefore you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32So fill up the measure of your fathers' guilt!

Snakes!

33“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape from the condemnation of Hell? ³⁴⁴

34So take note: I will send you prophets and wise men and Biblical scholars; ³⁴⁵some of them you will kill, even crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from city to city

35—so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, ³⁴⁶whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁴⁷

36Assuredly I say to you that all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus laments over Jerusalem

37“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, she who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children, just like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you did not want to.

38Look, your house is left to you abandoned!

39For I say to you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’!” ³⁴⁸