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Matthew 23

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 2 "The scribes and Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses; 3 so do whatever they tell you, obey them, but do not do as they do. They talk but they do not act. 4 They make up heavy loads and lay them on men's shoulders, but they will not stir a finger to remove them. 5 Besides, all they do is done to catch the notice of men; they make their phylacteries broad, they wear large tassels, 6 they are fond of the best places at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues; 7 they like to be saluted in the marketplaces and to be called 'rabbi' by men.

But you are not to be called 'rabbi,'

for One is your teacher, and you are all brothers;

you are not to call anyone 'father' on earth,

for One is your heavenly Father;

nor must you be called 'leaders,'

for One is your leader, even the Christ.

He who is greatest among you must be your servant.

Whoever uplifts himself will be humbled,

and whoever humbles himself will be uplifted.

Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees!

you shut the Realm of heaven in men's faces;

you neither enter yourselves,

nor will you let those enter who are on the point of entering.

Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees!

you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte,

and when you succeed you make him a son of Gehenna twice as bad as yourselves.

Woe to you, blind guides that you are!

you say, 'Swear by the sanctuary, and it means nothing;

but swear by the gold of the sanctuary, and the oath is binding.'

You are senseless and blind! for which is the greater,

the gold or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred?

You say again, 'Swear by the altar, and it means nothing;

but swear by the gift upon it, and the oath is binding.'

You are blind! for which is the greater,

the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

He who swears by the altar

swears by it and by all that lies on it;

he who swears by the sanctuary

swears by it and by Him who inhabits it;

he who swears by heaven

swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees!

you tithe mint and dill and cummin,

and omit the weightier matters of the law,

justice and mercy and faithfulness;

these latter you ought to have practised--without omit ting the former.

Blind guides that you are,

filtering away the gnat and swallowing the camel!

Woe to you, you irreligious scribes and Pharisees!

you clean the outside of the cup and the plate,

but inside they are filled with your rapacity and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee! first clean the inside of the cup,

so that the outside may be clean as well.

Woe to you, you irreligious scribes and Pharisees!

you are like tombs white-washed;

they look comely on the outside,

but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all manner of impurity.

So to men you seem just,

but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe to you, you irreligious scribes and Pharisees! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the tombs of the just, 30 and you say 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31 So you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are sons of those who killed the prophets! 32 And you will fill up the measure that your fathers filled. 33 You serpents! you brood of vipers! how can you escape being sentenced to Gehenna? 34 This is why I will send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, some of whom you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town; 35 it is that on you may fall the punishment for all the just blood shed on earth from the blood of Abel the just down to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you truly, it will all come upon this generation.

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! slaying the prophets and stoning those who have been sent to you! How often I would fain have gathered your children as a fowl gathers her brood under her wings! But you would not have it! 38 See, your House is left to you, desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will never see me again till you say, Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name."

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