Matthew 23:16–39

¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple is a debtor.

¹⁷Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

¹⁸And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it is a debtor.

¹⁹Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

²⁰He therefore that sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by all things that are upon it.

²¹And whosoever shall swear by the temple sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth in it.

²²And he that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon.

²³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone.

²⁴Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

²⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.

²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.

²⁷Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful but within are full of dead men’s bones and of all filthiness.

²⁸So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just: but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

²⁹Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that build the sepulchres of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the just,

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.

³¹Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.

³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

³³You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?

³⁴Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify: and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.

³⁵That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

³⁶Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.

³⁷Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?

³⁸Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate.

³⁹For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.