Luke 11:37–54

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee ^*asked Him to have a meal with him. And He went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸But when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first ^1aceremonially washed before the ²meal.

³⁹But ^athe Lord said to him, “Now ^byou Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but ¹inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.

⁴⁰“^aYou foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹“But ^agive that which is within as charity, and ¹then all things are ^bclean for you.

⁴²“^aBut woe to you Pharisees! For you ^bpay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God, but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³“Woe to you Pharisees! For you ^alove the best seat in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴“^aWoe to you! For you are like ¹concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵Now one of the ^ascholars of the Law answered and said to Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”

⁴⁶But He said, “Woe to you ^ascholars of the Law as well! For ^byou weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷“^aWoe to you! For you build the ¹tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸“So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹“For this reason also ^athe wisdom of God said, ‘^bI will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will ¹persecute,

⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^asince the foundation of the world, may be ¹charged against this generation,

⁵¹from ^athe blood of Abel to ^bthe blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be ¹charged against this generation.’

⁵²“Woe to you, ^ascholars of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^byou yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects,

^54aplotting ^bto catch ¹Him in something He might say.