LITV - Matthew - 23

23:1  Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to His disciples,

23:2  saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sat down on Moses' seat.

23:3  Then all things, whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.

23:4  For they bind heavy and hard to bear burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they do not desire to move them with their finger.

23:5  And they do all their works to be seen by men. And they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their robes.

23:6  And they love the first couch in the suppers, and the first seats in the synagogues,

23:7  and the greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

23:8  But do not you be called Rabbi, for One is your Leader, the Christ, and you are all brothers.

23:9  And call no one your father on earth, for One is your Father, the One in Heaven.

23:10  Nor be called leaders, for One is your Leader, the Christ.

23:11  But the greater of you shall be your servant.

23:12  And whoever will exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever will humble himself shall be exalted.

23:13  But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven before men; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those entering to go in.

23:14  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour the houses of widows, and pray at length as a pretext. Because of this you will receive more abundant judgment.

23:15  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you go about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he has become so, you make him twofold more a son of Hell than yourselves.

23:16  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the Holy Place, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Holy Place is a debtor.

23:17  Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the Holy Place that sanctifies the gold?

23:18  And you say , Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on it, he is a debtor.

23:19  Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

23:20  Then the one swearing by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.

23:21  And the one swearing by the Holy Place swears by it, and by the One dwelling in it.

23:22  And the one swearing by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by the One sitting on it.

23:23  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left aside the weightier matters of the Law: judgment, and mercy, and faith. It was right to do these, and not to have left those aside.

23:24  Blind guides, straining out the gnat, but swallowing the camel!

23:25  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within they are full of robbery and excess.

23:26  Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside of them may become clean also.

23:27  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened graves which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness.

23:28  So you also indeed outwardly appear righteous to men, but within are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous.

23:30  And you say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

23:31  So you witness to yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

23:32  And you fill up the measure of your fathers.

23:33  Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Hell?

23:34  Because of this, behold, I send to you prophets and wise ones and scribes. And some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will persecute from city to city;

23:35  so that should come on you all the righteous blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Holy Place and the altar.

23:36  Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation.

23:37  Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her. How often I desired to gather your children in the way a bird gathers her chicks under her wings! And you did not desire it.

23:38  Behold, "your house is left to you desolate." Jer. 22:5

23:39  For I say to you, In no way shall you see Me from now on, until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Psa. 118:26