Matthew 23
A
Warning Against Hypocrisy
“Then JESUS said to the
crowds and to HIS disciples:
2 ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not
do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s
shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 ‘Everything they do is done for people to
see: They make their phylacteries
wide and the tassels on their garments long;
6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most
important seats in the synagogues;
7 they love to be greeted with respect in the
marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 ‘But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have ONE TEACHER, and you
are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have ONE
FATHER, and HE is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have ONE
INSTRUCTOR, THE MESSIAH.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the
Law and the Pharisees
13 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
14You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those
enter who are trying to.
15 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when
you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
16 ‘Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone
swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of
the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the
temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means
nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar
that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it
and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by
the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by GOD’s throne and by THE ONE who sits on
it.
23 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you
have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and
faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the
former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but
swallow a camel.
25 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are
full of greed and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and
dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the
outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything
unclean.
28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of
the righteous.
30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our
ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the
prophets.’
31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the
descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors
started!
33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you
escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and
teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in
your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that
has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the
altar.
36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
37 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and
stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not
willing.
38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you
say, ‘BLESSED is HE WHO comes in the name of THE LORD.’”
