²³“How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You give God a tenth of your spices, like mint, dill and cummin. But you have not practiced the more important things of the law, like fairness, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first. ²⁴You blind guides! You remove the smallest insect from your food. But you swallow a whole camel!

²⁵“How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You clean the outside of the cup and dish. But on the inside you are full of greed. You only want to satisfy yourselves. ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish. Then the outside will also be clean.

²⁷“How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You are like tombs that are painted white. They look beautiful on the outside. But on the inside they are full of the bones of the dead. They are also full of other things that are not pure and clean. ²⁸It is the same with you. On the outside you seem to be doing what is right. But on the inside you are full of what is wrong. You pretend to be what you are not.

²⁹“How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You build tombs for the prophets. You decorate the graves of the godly. ³⁰And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of those who lived before us, we wouldn’t have done what they did. We wouldn’t have helped to kill the prophets.’ ³¹So you give witness against yourselves. You admit that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets. ³²So finish the sins that those who lived before you started!

³³“You nest of poisonous snakes! How will you escape from being sentenced to hell?

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