Matthew 23
23
Religious Hypocrites Denounced
1Then#Mk 12:38–39; Lk 20:45–46 Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples:#Mt 10:42; 28:19; Lk 14:26; Jn 8:31; 13:35; 15:8; Ac 6:1 2“The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses.#Ezr 7:6,25; Neh 8:4 3Therefore do whatever they tell you, and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach.#Mt 5:20; 15:3–9; Rm 2:17–23 4They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry#23:4 Other mss omit that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them.#Lk 11:46; Ac 15:10; Gl 6:13 5They do everything#23:5 Lit do all their works to be seen by others: They enlarge their phylacteries#Ex 13:9; Dt 6:8; 11:18; Mt 6:1,5,16 and lengthen their tassels.#23:5 Other mss add on their robes#Mt 9:20; 14:36; Mk 6:56; Lk 8:44 6They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues,#Lk 11:43; 14:7; 20:46 7greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by people.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ because you have one Teacher, # 23:8 Other mss add the Christ and you are all brothers and sisters.#Mk 9:5; 10:51; Jn 1:38,49; 11:8; Jms 3:1 9Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven.#Mal 1:6; Mt 6:9; 7:11 10You are not to be called instructors either, because you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11The greatest among you will be your servant.#Mt 20:26–27; Mk 9:35; 3Jn 9 12Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.#Pr 29:23; Ezk 21:26; Lk 14:11; 18:14; Jms 4:6,10; 1Pt 5:5–6
13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in. # 23:13 Some mss include v. 14: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ houses and make long prayers just for show. This is why you will receive a harsher punishment. #
Mt 23:15,23,25; Lk 11:52
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, #
Ac 2:11; 6:5; 13:43 and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are!
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, #
Mt 15:14; 23:24; Ac 1:16; Rm 2:19 who say, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the temple, it means nothing. But whoever takes an oath#Lv 19:12; Nm 30:2; Dt 23:21; Mt 5:33; 14:7; 26:63,72 by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’#23:16 Lit is obligated, also in v. 18 17Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18Also, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it means nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gift that is on it is bound by his oath.’ 19Blind people!#23:19 Other mss read Fools and blind For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?#Ex 29:37; 30:29 20Therefore, the one who takes an oath by the altar takes an oath by it and by everything on it. 21The one who takes an oath by the temple takes an oath by it and by him who dwells#1Kg 8:13; 2Ch 6:2; Ps 26:8; 132:14 in it. 22And the one who takes an oath by heaven takes an oath by God’s throne#Ex 17:16; Ps 11:4; Mt 5:34; Heb 8:1 and by him who sits on it.#Ps 47:8; Mt 19:28; Rv 4:2
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of # 23:23 Or You tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice,#1Sm 15:22; Ps 33:5; Jr 5:1; Mc 6:8; Zch 7:9; Lk 11:42 mercy, and faithfulness.#23:23 Or faith These things should have been done without neglecting the others. 24Blind guides!#Mt 15:14; 23:16 You strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed # 23:25 Or full of violence and self-indulgence.#Mk 7:4; Lk 11:39 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup,#23:26 Other mss add and dish so that the outside of it#23:26 Other mss read of them may also become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, #
Lk 11:44; Ac 23:3 which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. 28In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, 30and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we wouldn’t have taken part with them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ 31So you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors’ sins!#Gn 15:16; Ac 7:51; 1Th 2:15–16
33 “Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell? # 23:33 Lit escape from the judgment of gehenna #
Mt 3:7; 5:22; 12:34 34This is why I am sending you prophets,#Ac 13:1; 1Co 12:28 sages, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues#2Ch 36:15–16; Mt 10:17; Ac 22:19 and pursue from town to town. 35So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you,#23:35 Lit will come on you from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah,#2Ch 24:21; Zch 1:1 son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.#Gn 4:8; Heb 11:4; 1Jn 3:12; Rv 18:24 36Truly I tell you, all these things will come on this generation.#Mt 10:23; 16:28; 24:34
Jesus’s Lamenting over Jerusalem
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, #
Lk 13:34–35
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks#23:37 Or as a mother bird gathers her young under her wings, but you were not willing!#Dt 32:11–12; Ru 2:12; Mt 5:12 38See, your house is left to you desolate.#1Kg 9:7; Is 64:11; Jr 12:7; 22:5 39For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!” #23:39Ps 118:26#Ps 118:26; Mt 21:9
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Matthew 23: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Matthew 23
23
Jesus Denounces the Scribes and Pharisees
(Mark 12.38-40; Luke 11.37-54; 20.45-47)
1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 3all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5#Matt 6.1; Deut 6.8; Num 15.38. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11#Matt 20.26,27; Mark 9.35; 10.43,44; Luke 22.26. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12#Luke 14.11; 18.14. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22#Isa 66.1; Matt 5.34. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 #
Lev 27.30. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 #
Acts 23.3. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30and 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. 31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33#Matt 3.7; 12.34; Luke 3.7. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35#Gen 4.8; 2 Chr 24.20,21. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechari´ah son of Berechi´ah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
(Luke 13.34,35)
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39#Ps 118.26. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.