1 ^23:1THEN Jesus spoke to the multitudes and his disciples, ^23:2saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. ^23:3All things therefore which they tell you, do and keep. But do not their works. For they say and do not, ^23:4but bind heavy burdens and put them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger. ^23:5And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes, ^23:6and love the first tables at feasts, and the first seats in the synagogues, ^23:7and salutations in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi. ^23:8But do not you be called Rabbi; For one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. ^23:9And call no man your father on the earth, for one is your heavenly Father. ^23:10Neither be called leaders, for one is your leader, the Christ. ^23:11But the greatest of you shall be your servant, ^23:12and whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

2 ^23:13But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in. ^23:15Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ^23:16Woe to you blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. ^23:17Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold? ^23:18If a man swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if he swears by the gift which is on it, he is bound. ^23:19Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift? ^23:20He then that swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things on it; ^23:21and he that swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him that inhabits it; ^23:22and he that swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits on it.

3 ^23:23Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others. ^23:24Blind guides! who strain out a gnat and swallow down a camel. ^23:25Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess. ^23:26Blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter, that its outside may be clean also. ^23:27Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear fair without, but within are full of the bones of the dead and of all impurity. ^23:28So also you on the outside appear just to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. ^23:29Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, ^23:30and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ^23:31So that you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets; ^23:32and you have filled up the measure of your fathers. ^23:33Serpents, offspring of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell?

4 ^23:34Therefore, behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; ^23:35that all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Bararchiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar, may come upon you. ^23:36I tell you truly, that all these [crimes] shall come on this generation.

5 ^23:37Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets, and stoning those sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not! ^23:38Behold, your house is left to you desolate; ^23:39for I tell you that you shall not see me henceforth, till you say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!