LO - Matthew - 23

23:1  Then Jesus addressed the people and his disciples,

23:2  saying, The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' chair;

23:3  therefore observe and do whatsoever they enjoin you; nevertheless, follow not their example; for they say and do not.

23:4  Heavy and intolerable burdens they prepare for other men's shoulders, burdens to which they themselves will not put a finger.

23:5  But whatever they do they do to be observed by men. For this they wear broader phylacteries than others, and larger tufts on their mantles;

23:6  and love the uppermost places at entertainments, and the principal seats in the synagogues,

23:7  and salutations in public places; and to hear men addressing them, cry, Rabbi, Rabbi.

23:8  But as for you, assume not the title of Rabbi; for you have only one teacher;

23:9  and style no man on earth your father, for he alone is your Father, who is in heaven; and all you are brothers.

23:10  Neither assume the title of leaders, for you have only one leader--who is the Messiah.

23:11  The greatest of you, on the contrary, shall be your servant;

23:12  for whosoever will exalt himself, shall be humbled; and whosoever will humble himself, shall be exalted.

23:13  But alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; and will neither enter yourselves, nor permit others that would, to enter.

23:14  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrite! because you devour the families of widows; and use long prayers for a disguise. This will but aggravate your punishment.

23:15  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you traverse sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained, you make him a son of hell doubly more than yourselves.

23:16  Alas for you, blind guides, who say, To swear by the temple binds not, but swear by the gold of the temple is binding.

23:17  Foolish and blind! which is more sacred, the gold, or the temple that consecrates the gold?

23:18  and, to swear by the altar, binds not, but to swear by the offering that is upon it is binding.

23:19  Foolish and blind! which is more sacred, the offering, or the altar that consecrates the offering?

23:20  Whoever, therefore, swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.

23:21  And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it, and by Him who dwells in it;

23:22  and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits on it.

23:23  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you pay the tithe of mint, dill, and cummin, and omit the more important articles of the law, justice, humanity, and fidelity. These you ought to have practiced without omitting those.

23:24  Blind guides! you are skimming off the gnat, and swallowing the camel.

23:25  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you cleanse the outside of those cups and platters, which within are laid with rapine and iniquity.

23:26  Blind Pharisee! begin with cleansing the inside of the cup, and of the platter, if you would make even the outside clean.

23:27  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you resemble whitened sepulchers, which without indeed, are beautiful, but within are full of corruption, and of dead men's bones.

23:28  Thus you outwardly appear righteous to men; but are inwardly fraught with subtlety and injustice.

23:29  Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! because you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

23:30  and say, Had we lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in the slaughter of the prophets.

23:31  Thus you testify against yourself, that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

23:32  Fill you up, then, the measure of your fathers.

23:33  Ah! serpents, offspring of vipers! how can you escape the punishment of hell?

23:34  Therefore, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will scourge in your synagogues, and banish from city to city;

23:35  so that all the innocent blood shed upon the earth shall be charged upon you, from the blood of righteous Abel, to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the altar and the sanctuary.

23:36  Indeed, I say to you, all shall be charged upon this generation.

23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! who killest the prophets, and stonest them whom God sends to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not!

23:38  Soon shall your habitation be turned into a desert;

23:39  for know, that you shall not henceforth see me, until you say, Blessed be He, who comes in the name of the Lord.