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UST by section MAT 23:1

MAT 23:1–23:39 ©

The Gospel of Matthew 23

23After that, Jesus said to the large groups of people and to his apprentices, 2“The Pharisees and the teachers of the Jewish law instruct you as Moses did. 3So then, you should do whatever they tell you to do. However, they themselves do not do what they tell you to do. So, do not act as they do. 4They tell people to do many things that are difficult. However, they do not do anything to help those people. 5Whenever they do anything, they do it so that people praise them for it. For example, when they tie boxes containing Scripture on their foreheads and arms, they make sure the boxes are large. They make the hems on their robes very long. 6They greatly enjoy sitting in the places for important people when they attend feasts or go to the Jewish meeting places. 7They greatly enjoy it when people greet them respectfully in the open areas of towns and speak to them as important teachers. 8However, you have only one teacher, me. Also, you are all fellow believers. So then, you should not allow people to speak to you as important teachers. 9Further, you have one Father, the one who rules from heaven. So, you should not honor people here on earth by using the title ‘my father’ for them. 10You have one instructor, I, who am the Messiah. So, you should not allow people to speak to you as their instructors. 11The most important person in your group must serve the others. 12God will cause people who think they are important to be unimportant. God will cause people who think they are unimportant to be important.

13You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! You keep people from participating in God’s heavenly kingdom. In fact, you yourselves do not participate in the kingdom. Further, you prevent people who want to participate in it from doing so. How terrible it will be for you!

14[You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! You steal the property of women whose husbands have died. To make other people think that you are righteous, you pray for a long time. How terrible it will be for you! God will punish you very severely.]

15You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! You travel to many places to convert even one person to the Jewish religion. However, once you have done that, you cause that person to deserve to end up in hell as much as you do. How terrible it will be for you!

16You do not know what you should be teaching. You say that when people have the temple guarantee what they promise, they do not need to do what they promised. However, you say that when they have the precious metal in the temple guarantee what they promise, they must do what they promised. How terrible it will be for you! 17You do not understand what is true! You should realize that the precious metal in the temple is less important than the temple itself. It is the temple that makes the precious metal holy. 18Similarly, you say that when people have the altar guarantee what they promise, they do not need to do what they promised. However, you say that when they have the sacrifice on the altar guarantee what they promise, they must do what they promised. 19You do not understand what is true! You should realize that the sacrifice on the altar is less important than the altar itself. It is the altar that makes the sacrifice holy. 20So, when people have the altar guarantee what they promise, they are having both it and every sacrifice on it guarantee what they promise. 21Further, when people have the temple guarantee what they promise, they are having both it and God, who dwells there, guarantee what they promise. 22When people have heaven guarantee what they promise, they are also having God’s throne and God himself, who rules from that throne, guarantee what they promise.

23You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! You give one tenth of even your herbs and spices to God. However, you fail to obey the more important commands that God gave: to do what is right, to be merciful to others, and to be faithful to God. You should do these things as well as giving a tenth of everything to God. How terrible it will be for you! 24You do not know what you should be teaching. You are like people who filter small flies out of their drinks without noticing large animals like camels in the same drinks!

25You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! You seem to do what is right, just like dishes that you have washed on the outside. However, really you want what other people have and do not control yourselves, just like dishes that are still dirty on the inside. How terrible it will be for you! 26You Pharisees do not understand what is true! You should focus on doing what is right. Once you do that, you will also seem to do what is right, just like dishes that are clean on both the inside and the outside.

27You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! I compare you to graves that people have painted white. They look good, but they are dirty and have many corpses in them. How terrible it will be for you! 28Similarly, you seem to do what is right, but really you usually do what is wrong while pretending to do what is right.

29You Pharisees and teachers of the Jewish law say that you obey God, but you really do not! How terrible it will be for you! You construct monuments to honor the people who spoke for God long ago. You decorate the graves of people who did what was right. 30You declare that, had you been alive when your ancestors were, you would not have helped them murder the people who spoke for God. 31When you declare that, you admit that you are descendants of and similar to the people who did murder those who spoke for God. 32As for you, think about what will happen if you do what your ancestors did.

33You are sneaky and dangerous like poisonous snakes! You will not avoid God punishing you in hell. 34Since you are like that, I will have people who speak for God, people who are wise, and teachers of the Jewish law go to you! You will murder some of them and kill some of them by nailing them to crosses. You will beat some of them in your meeting places. You will chase them from one town to another. 35So, God will consider you to be guilty for murdering everyone who did what was right here on earth but whom someone murdered. I am referring to Adam’s son Abel, who did what was right, and Barachiah’s son Zechariah, whom your ancestors murdered in the temple area, and everyone in between. 36God will consider you people who live in this time period to be guilty of all those murders. What I have said is true.

37Oh, people of Jerusalem! You killed the people who spoke for God long ago. Then you killed others whom God sent to you. You killed them by throwing stones at them. Many times I have wanted to bring you together to protect you, as a chicken brings her offspring together under her wings. However, you did not want me to do that. 38Your city will become a place where no one lives! 39In fact, here is what I want to tell you: the next time you see me, you will be saying, ‘May God bless him who is here to represent the Lord!’ ”

MAT 23:1–23:39 ©

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