1 T hen Jesus talked to the many people and to His followers.

Then Jesus said to the multitudes and to His disciples,

2 H e said, “The teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers have put themselves in Moses’ place as teachers.

The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.

3 D o what they tell you to do and keep on doing it. But do not follow what they do. They preach but do not obey their own preaching.

So observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do what they do, for they preach, but do not practice.

4 T hey make heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men. But they will not help lift them with a finger.

They tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and place them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help bear them.

5 E verything they do, they do to be seen of men. They have words from the Holy Writings written in large letters on their left arm and forehead and they make wide trimming for their clothes.

They do all their works to be seen of men; for they make wide their phylacteries ( small cases enclosing certain Scripture passages, worn during prayer on the left arm and forehead) and make long their fringes.

6 T hey like to have the important places at big suppers and the best seats in the Jewish places of worship.

And they take pleasure in and love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,

7 T hey like to have people show respect to them as they stand in the center of town where people gather. They like to be called teacher.

And to be greeted with honor in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi.

8 “ But you are not to be called teacher. There is only one Teacher, and all of you are brothers.

But you are not to be called rabbi (teacher), for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers.

9 D o not call any man here on earth your father. There is only one Father and He is in heaven.

And do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one Father, Who is in heaven.

10 Y ou are not to be called leader. There is only one Leader and He is Christ.

And you must not be called masters (leaders), for you have one Master (Leader), the Christ.

11 “ He who is greatest among you will be the one to care for you.

He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 T he person who thinks he is important will find out how little he is worth. The person who is not trying to honor himself will be made important. Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Proud Religious Law-Keepers

Whoever exalts himself '> with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low), and whoever humbles himself shall be raised to honor.

13 “ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You keep men from going into the holy nation of heaven. You are not going in yourselves, and you do not allow those to go in who are about to go in.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so.

14 I t is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! (You take houses from poor women whose husbands have died. Then you try to cover it up by making long prayers. You will be punished all the more because of this.)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you swallow up widows’ houses and for a pretense to cover it up make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation and the heavier sentence.

15 I t is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You go over land and sea to win one follower. When you have him, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him doubly as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are.

16 “ It is bad for you, blind leaders! You say, ‘Whoever makes a promise by the house of God, his promise is worth nothing. But whoever makes a promise by the gold of the house of God, then his promise has to be kept.’

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, If anyone swears by the sanctuary of the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, he is a debtor.

17 Y ou fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gold or the house of God that makes the gold holy?

You blind fools! For which is greater: the gold, or the sanctuary of the temple that has made the gold sacred?

18 Y ou say, ‘Whoever will promise by the altar, his promise does not have to be kept. But whoever makes a promise by the gift on the altar, then his promise has to be kept.’

You say too, Whoever swears by the altar is not duty bound; but whoever swears by the offering on the altar, his oath is binding.

19 Y ou fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy?

You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar which makes the gift sacred?

20 W hoever makes a promise by the altar, promises by it and by everything on it.

So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

21 W hoever makes a promise by the house of God, promises by it and by Him Who is in it.

And he who swears by the sanctuary of the temple swears by it and by Him Who dwells in it.

22 W hoever makes a promise by heaven, promises by the throne of God and by Him Who sits there.

And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him Who sits upon it.

23 “ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You give one-tenth part of your spices, and have not done the most important things of the Law, such as thinking what is right and wrong, and having pity and faith. These you should have done and still have done the other things also.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you give a tenth of your mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected and omitted the weightier (more important) matters of the Law—right and justice and mercy and fidelity. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

24 Y ou blind leaders, you take a small bug out of your cup but you swallow a camel!

You blind guides, filtering out a gnat and gulping down a camel!

25 “ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but leave the inside full of strong bad desires and are not able to keep from doing sinful things.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence.

26 Y ou blind proud religious law-keepers! Clean the inside of the cup and plate, then the outside will be clean also.

You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also.

27 “ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You are like graves that have been made white and look beautiful on the outside. But inside you are full of the bones of dead men and of every sinful thing.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything impure.

28 A s men look at you, you seem to be good and right but inside you are full of sin. You pretend to be someone you are not.

Just so, you also outwardly seem to people to be just and upright but inside you are full of pretense and lawlessness and iniquity.

29 “ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You make buildings for the graves of the early preachers, and you make the graves beautiful of those who are right with God.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

30 Y ou say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our early fathers, we would not have helped kill the early preachers.’

Saying, If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have aided them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

31 I n this way, you are showing that you are the sons of those who killed the early preachers.

Thus you are testifying against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

32 Y ou might as well finish what your early fathers did.

Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ sins to the brim '> that nothing may be wanting to a full measure].

33 Y ou snakes! You family of snakes! How can you be kept from hell?

You serpents! You spawn of vipers! How can you escape the penalty to be suffered in hell (Gehenna)?

34 “ Because of this, I am going to keep on sending to you men who speak for God and wise men and teachers of the Law. Some of them you will kill and nail to a cross. Some of them you will beat in your places of worship. You will make it very hard for them as they go from city to city.

Because of this, take notice: I am sending you prophets and wise men (interpreters and teachers) and scribes (men learned in the Mosaic Law and the Prophets); some of them you will kill, even crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue and persecute from town to town,

35 B ecause of this, you will be guilty of the blood of all those right with God on the earth. It will be from the blood of Abel who was right with God to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachias. He was the one you killed between the house of God and the altar.

So that upon your heads may come all the blood of the righteous ( those who correspond to the divine standard of right) shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

36 F or sure, I tell you, all these things will come on the people of this day. Jesus Sorrows Over Jerusalem

Truly I declare to you, all these '> evil, calamitous times] will come upon this generation.

37 “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the men who speak for God and throw stones at those who were sent to you. How many times I wanted to gather your children around Me, as a chicken gathers her young ones under her wings. But you would not let Me.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!

38 S ee! Your house is empty.

Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate (abandoned and left destitute of God’s help).

39 I say to you, you will not see Me again until you will say, ‘Great is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

For I declare to you, you will not see Me again until you say, Blessed (magnified in worship, adored, and exalted) is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!