Matthew 23
23
Superficial Spirituality versus Genuine Humility
1Then Jesus addressed both the crowds and his disciples and said, 2“The religious scholars and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat # 23:2 Moses’ seat was a special seat in the ancient synagogues where the most respected elders of the people would sit to instruct them. See Deut. 17:10–11; John 9:28–29. as the authorized interpreters of the Law. 3So listen and follow what they teach, but don’t do what they do, for they tell you one thing and do another. 4They tie on your backs an oppressive burden of religious obligations and insist that you carry them, but will never lift a finger to help ease your load. 5Everything they do is done for show and to be noticed by others. They want to be seen as holy, so they wear oversized prayer boxes on their arms and foreheads with Scriptures inside, and wear extra-long tassels on their outer garments. # 23:5 See Num. 15:38; Deut. 22:12. 6They crave the seats of highest honor at banquets and in their meeting places. 7And how they love to be admired by men with their titles of respect, aspiring to be recognized in public and have others call them ‘Reverend.’ # 23:7 Or “rabbi,” an Aramaic word that means “master,” “chief,” “great one,” or “teacher.”
8“But you are to be different from that. You are not to be called ‘master,’ # 23:8 Or “rabbi.” for you have only one Master, and you are all brothers and sisters. 9And you are not to be addressed as ‘father,’ # 23:9 As translated from the Hebrew Matthew and the Aramaic. The Greek is “Call no one father.” for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be addressed as ‘teacher,’ # 23:10 Or “leader.” for you have one Teacher, the Anointed One. # 23:10 Jesus is emphasizing the priority of God over titles of men and over all teachers, fathers, and leaders. He is not teaching us to be disrespectful to teachers, fathers, and leaders, but that God must be in first place over all others. See Deut. 17:9–10. 11The greatest among you will be the one who always serves others. 12Remember this: If you have a lofty opinion of yourself and seek to be honored, you will be humbled. But if you have a modest opinion of yourself and choose to humble yourself, you will be honored.”
Jesus Pronounces Seven Woes
13“Great sorrow awaits # 23:13 Or “woe.” you religious scholars and you Pharisees—such frauds and pretenders! You do all you can to keep people from experiencing the reality of heaven’s kingdom realm. # 23:13 The Hebrew Matthew is “You have hidden the keys of knowledge and shut the kingdom of heaven from the children of men.” Not only do you refuse to enter in, you also forbid anyone else from entering in!
14“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and you Pharisees—frauds and pretenders! For you eat up the widow’s household with the ladle of your prayers. Because of this, you will receive a greater judgment. # 23:14 As translated from the Aramaic and the Hebrew Matthew. The most reliable Greek manuscripts do not include this verse, and it is omitted by modern translations.
15“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and you Pharisees—such frauds and pretenders! For you will travel over land and sea to find one disciple, only to make him twice the child of hell # 23:15 Or “son of Gehenna.” Gehenna is an Aramaic word for the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem, which became a metaphor for hell. as yourselves.
16“You blind guides! # 23:16 The Aramaic is “blind rescuers.” Great sorrow awaits you, for you teach that there’s nothing binding when you swear by God’s temple, but if you swear by the gold of the temple, you are bound by your oath. 17You are deceived and blind! # 23:17 Or “you blind fools.” Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18And you say that whoever takes an oath by swearing, ‘By the altar,’ it is nothing. But if you swear, ‘By the gift upon the altar,’ then you are obligated to keep your oath. 19What deception! For what is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Whoever swears by the altar swears by the altar and everything offered on it. 21And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 22And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by God, who sits upon it.
23“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and Pharisees—frauds and pretenders! For you are obsessed with peripheral issues, like insisting on paying meticulous tithes on the smallest herbs that grow in your gardens. # 23:23 Or “You tithe on mint, dill, and cumin [caraway seed].” See Lev. 27:30; Num. 18:12; Deut. 14:22–23. The law of Moses only obligated tithing on grain, wine, and oil. The religious scholars added to the law their interpretation, which added vegetables and herbs to their list of what should be tithed. These matters are fine, yet you ignore the most important duties of all: to walk in the love of God, to display mercy to others, and to live with integrity. # 23:23 Or “faithfulness.” The Hebrew Matthew is “justice, loving-kindness, and truth.” The Aramaic is “justice, grace, and faith.” See Mic. 6:8; Zech. 7:9. Readjust your values and place first things first. 24What blind guides! Nitpickers! You will spoon out a gnat from your drink, yet at the same time you’ve gulped down a camel without realizing it! # 23:24 This is best seen as an Aramaic pun, because the Aramaic word for gnat is qamla, and the word for camel is gamla. The gnat becomes a metaphor of what is least and insignificant, for swallowing a gnat will not hurt you. But the camel becomes a picture of self-righteousness. To swallow a camel would indeed kill you.
25“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and Pharisees—frauds and imposters! You are like one who will only wipe clean the outside of a cup or bowl, leaving the inside filthy. You are foolish to ignore the greed and self-indulgence that live like germs within you. 26You are blind to your evil. Shouldn’t the one who cleans the outside also be concerned with cleaning the inside? You need to have more than clean dishes; you need clean hearts!
27“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and Pharisees—frauds and imposters! You are nothing more than tombs painted over with white paint—tombs that look shining and beautiful on the outside but filled with rotting corpses on the inside. 28Outwardly you masquerade as righteous people, but inside your hearts you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29“Great sorrow awaits you religious scholars and Pharisees—frauds and imposters! You build memorials for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors murdered. 30Then you boast, ‘If we had lived back then, we would not have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31But your words and deeds testify that you are just like them and prove that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started! 33You are nothing but snakes in the grass, the offspring of poisonous vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell if you refuse to turn in repentance?
34“For this reason I will send you more prophets and wise men and teachers of truth. Some you will crucify, and some you will beat mercilessly with whips in your meeting houses, abusing and persecuting them from city to city. 35As your penalty, you will be held responsible for the righteous blood spilled and the murders of every godly person throughout your history—from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, # 23:35 As translated from the Hebrew Matthew. See 2 Chron. 24:20–21. This strengthens the argument that the original manuscript of Matthew was written in Hebrew. The Greek erroneously lists Zechariah’s father as Barachiah. There was indeed a Zechariah son of Barachiah, but he didn’t live until after the crucifixion of Christ and was killed in a massacre in AD 69 by zealots inside the temple. See Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lost and Hostile Gospels (Williams & Norgate, 1874), 138. It is also recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus that Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada. B. J. 4.6.4. Furthermore, Jerome, in his commentary on Matthew, says, “In the [Hebrew] Gospel [of Matthew] which the Nazarenes use, for ‘son of Barachiah’ we find written, ‘son of Jehoiada.’ ” Quoted from http://www.textexcavation.com. whom you killed as he stood in the temple between the brazen altar and the Holy Place. 36I tell you the truth: the judgment for all these things will fall upon this generation!”
Jesus Prophesies Judgment Coming to Jerusalem
37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem—you are the city that murders your prophets! You are the city that stones the very messengers who were sent # 23:37 Or “apostles” (sent ones). to deliver you! So many times I have longed to gather a wayward people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings—but you were too stubborn to let me. 38And now it is too late, since your city will be left in ruins. # 23:38 See Jer. 12:7; 22:5. 39For you will not see me again until you are able to say, ‘We welcome the one who comes to us in the name of the Lord.’ ” # 23:39 See Ps. 118:26.
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Matthew 23: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationMatthew 23
23
1Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat: 3all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not. 4Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. 5But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi. 8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. 9And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. 10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ. 11But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter. 14#23:14 Some authorities insert here, or after v. 12, v. 14 Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, even while for a pretence ye make long prayes: therefore ye shall receive greater condemnation. See Mrk 12:40; Luk 20:47.
15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.
16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that 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 which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold? 18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor. 19Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22And he that sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!
25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.
27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, 30and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? 34Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. 36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! 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. 39For 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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