Luke 11:39–52

³⁹Then the Lord spoke to him. “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish,” he said. “But inside you are full of greed and evil. ⁴⁰You foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹Give to poor people what is inside the dish. Then everything will be clean for you.

⁴²“How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your garden plants, such as mint and rue. But you have forgotten to be fair and to love God. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first.

⁴³“How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most important seats in the synagogues. You love having people greet you in the market places.

⁴⁴“How terrible for you! You are like graves that are not marked. People walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵An authority on the law spoke to Jesus. He said, “Teacher, when you say things like that, you say bad things about us too.”

⁴⁶Jesus replied, “How terrible for you authorities on the law! You put such heavy loads on people that they can hardly carry them. But you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

⁴⁷“How terrible for you! You build tombs for the prophets. It was your people of long ago who killed them. ⁴⁸So you give witness that you agree with what your people did long ago. They killed the prophets, and now you build the prophets’ tombs.

⁴⁹“So God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them. They will kill some. And they will try to hurt others.’ ⁵⁰So the people of today will be punished. They will pay for all the prophets’ blood spilled since the world began. ⁵¹I mean from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I tell you, the people of today will be punished for all these things.

⁵²“How terrible for you authorities on the law! You have taken away the key to the door of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered. And you have stood in the way of those who were entering.”