Matthew 23:16–39

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 bound by his oath.’^{e 17}Fools and blind people! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gift that is on it is bound by his oath.’^{f 19}Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰Therefore the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. ²¹And the one who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²²And the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary^g to do these things while not neglecting those.^{h 24}Blind guides who filter out a gnat and swallow 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 greed and self-indulgence! ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish,ⁱ so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean! ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you also appear righteous to 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 decorate the graves of the righteous, ³⁰and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets!’ ³¹Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets! ³²And you—fill up the measure of your fathers! ³³Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the condemnation to hell? ³⁴For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will pursue from town to town, ³⁵so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation!

The Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together the way^j a hen gathers her young together under her^* wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸Behold, your house has been left to you desolate! ³⁹For I tell you, you will never see me from now on until you say,

‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”^k