Matthew 23
23
Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.#23:2 Greek and the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses. 3So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. # 23:5 Greek They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’#23:7 Rabbi, from Aramaic, means “master” or “teacher.”
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. # 23:8 Greek brothers. 9And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11The greatest among you must be a servant. 12But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. # 23:13 Some manuscripts add verse 14, What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished. Compare Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.
15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell # 23:15 Greek of Gehenna; also in 23:33. you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.
23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, # 23:23 Greek tithe the mint, the dill, and the cumin. but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!#23:24 See Lev 11:4, 23, where gnats and camels are both forbidden as food.
25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,#23:26 Some manuscripts do not include and the dish. and then the outside will become clean, too.
27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’
31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.
Jesus Grieves over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.#23:38 Some manuscripts do not include and desolate. 39For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’#23:39 Ps 118:26.”
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Matthew 23: NLT
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Matthew 23
23
Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees
1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2saying: #Deut. 33:3; Ezra 7:6, 25; Neh. 8:4, 8; (Mal. 2:7); Mark 12:38; Luke 20:45“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for #(Rom. 2:19)they say, and do not do. 4#(Matt. 11:29, 30); Luke 11:46; Acts 15:10; Rom. 2:17–24; (Gal. 5:1; 6:13; Col. 2:16, 17)For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5But all their works they do to #(Matt. 6:1–6, 16–18)be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6#Mark 12:38, 39; Luke 11:43; 20:46; 3 John 9They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8#(2 Cor. 1:24; James 3:1; 1 Pet. 5:3)But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9Do not call anyone on earth your father; #(Mal. 1:6); Matt. 5:16, 48; 6:1, 9, 14, 26, 32; 7:11for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11But #Matt. 20:26, 27he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12#Job 22:29; Prov. 15:33; 29:23; Luke 14:11; 18:14; James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13“But #Luke 11:52woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! #Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47; (2 Tim. 3:6; Titus 1:10, 11)For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16“Woe to you, #Matt. 15:14; 23:24blind guides, who say, #(Matt. 5:33, 34)‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold #Ex. 30:29or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift #Ex. 29:37or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by #1 Kin. 8:13; 2 Chr. 6:2; Ps. 26:8; 132:14Him who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven, swears by #Ps. 11:4; Is. 66:1; Matt. 5:34; Acts 7:49the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! #Matt. 23:13; Luke 11:42; 18:12For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and #(1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6; Mic. 6:8); Matt. 9:13; 12:7have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! #Mark 7:4; Luke 11:39For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! #Luke 11:44; Acts 23:3For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29#Luke 11:47, 48“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that #Matt. 23:34, 37; (Acts 7:51, 52); 1 Thess. 2:15you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32#Gen. 15:16; (1 Thess. 2:16)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33Serpents, #Matt. 3:7; 12:34; Luke 3:7brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34#Matt. 21:34, 35; Luke 11:49Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: #John 16:2; Acts 7:54–60; 22:19some of them you will kill and crucify, and #Matt. 10:17; Acts 5:40; 2 Cor. 11:24, 25some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35#Rev. 18:24that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, #Gen. 4:8; Heb. 11:4; 1 John 3:12from the blood of righteous Abel to #2 Chr. 24:20, 21the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
37#Luke 13:34, 35“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets #2 Chr. 24:20, 21; 36:15, 16; Neh. 9:26; Matt. 21:35, 36and stones those who are sent to her! How often #Deut. 32:11, 12; Matt. 11:28–30I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks #Ps. 17:8; 91:4; Is. 49:5under her wings, but you were not willing! 38See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, #Ps. 118:26; Matt. 21:9‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.