Luke 11:37–54

Woes upon the Pharisees

³⁷Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.

³⁸When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised 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 chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.

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

⁴⁵One of the ^1alawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.”

⁴⁶But He said, “Woe to you ^alawyers as well! For ^byou weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, ¹while 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, and it was your fathers who 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 ^1alawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^byou yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

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

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