MKJV - Matthew - 23

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

23:2  saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

23:3  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe 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-carry burdens and lay them on men's shoulders. But they will not move them with one of their finger.

23:5  But they do all their works in order to be seen of men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

23:6  And they love the first couch at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

23:7  and greetings in the market-places, and to be called, Rabbi! Rabbi! by men.

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

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

23:10  Nor be called teachers, for One is your Teacher, even Christ.

23:11  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

23:12  And whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he who shall humble himself shall be exalted.

23:13  But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men. For you neither go in, nor do you allow those entering to go in.

23:14  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and pray at length as a pretense. Therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.

23:15  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

23:16  Woe to you, blind guides, saying, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.

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

23:18  And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is 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  Therefore whoever shall swear by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.

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

23:22  And he who shall swear by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits 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 undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.

23:24  Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

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

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

23:27  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

23:28  Even so you also appear righteous to men outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

23:29  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

23:30  and 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  Therefore you are witnesses to yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets;

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

23:33  Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

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

23:35  so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

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

23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

23:38  Behold, your house is left to you desolate.

23:39  For I say to you, You shall not see Me from now on until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."