Chapter 23

Then Jesus addressed the crowds and His disciples.

'The Scribes,' He said, 'and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses.

Therefore do and observe everything that they command you; but do not imitate their lives, for though they tell others what to do, they do not do it themselves.

Heavy and cumbrous burdens they bind together and load men's shoulders with them, while as for themselves, not with one finger do they choose to lift them.

And everything they do they do with a view to being observed by men; for they widen their phylacteries and make the tassels large,

and love the best seats at a dinner party or in the synagogues,

and like to be bowed to in places of public resort, and to be addressed by men as 'Rabbi.'

'As for you, do not accept the title of 'Rabbi,' for one alone is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.

And call no one on earth your Father, for One alone is your Father--the Heavenly Father.

And do not accept the name of 'leader,' for your Leader is one alone--the Christ.

He who is the greatest among you shall be your servant;

and one who exalts himself shall be abased, while one who abases himself shall be exalted.

'But alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you lock the door of the Kingdom of the Heavens against men; you yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those to enter who are seeking to do so.

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'Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you scour sea and land in order to win one convert--and when he is gained, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

'Alas for you, you blind guides, who say, ''Whoever swears by the Sanctuary it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Sanctuary, is bound by the oath.'

'Blind fools! Why, which is greater? --the gold, or the Sanctuary which has made the gold holy?

And you say, ''Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering lying on it is bound by the oath.'

'You are blind! Why, which is greater? --the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?

He who swears by the altar swears both by it and by everything on it;

he who swears by the Sanctuary swears both by it and by Him who dwells in it;

and he who swears by Heaven swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

'Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay the tithe on mint, dill, and cumin, while you have neglected the weightier requirements of the Law--just judgement, mercy, and faithful dealing. These things you ought to have done, and yet you ought not to have left the others undone.

You blind guides, straining out the gnat while you gulp down the camel!

'Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee, first wash clean the inside of the cup or dish, and then the outside will be clean also.

'Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean.

The same is true of you: outwardly you seem to the human eye to be good and honest men, but, within, you are full of insincerity and disregard of God's Law.

'Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and keep in order the tombs of the righteous,

and your boast is, ''If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'

'So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets.

Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.

O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna?

'For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town;

that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.

I tell you in solemn truth that all these things will come upon the present generation.

'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee! how often have I desired to gather thy children to me, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not come!

See, your house will now be left to you desolate!

For I tell you that you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.''