Matthew 23
23
Jesus Condemns the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law of Moses
(Mark 12.38-40; Luke 11.37-52; 20.45-47)
1Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
2The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3So obey everything they teach you, but don't do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.
4They pile heavy burdens on people's shoulders and won't lift a finger to help. 5#Mt 6.1; Dt 6.8; Nu 15.38. Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels#23.5 wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms … tassels: As a sign of their love for God and his teachings, the Jewish people often wore Scripture verses in small leather boxes. But the Pharisees tried to show off by making the boxes bigger than necessary. The Jewish people were also taught to wear tassels on the four corners of their robes to show their love for God. for everyone to see. 6They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues. 7And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.
8But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. 9Don't call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. 10None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader. 11#Mt 20.26,27; Mk 9.35; 10.43,44; Lk 22.26. Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. 12#Lk 14.11; 18.14. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.
13-14You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You won't go in yourselves, and you keep others from going in.#23.13,14 from going in: Some manuscripts add, “You Pharisees and teachers are in for trouble! And you're nothing but show-offs! You cheat widows out of their homes and then pray long prayers just to show off. So you will be punished most of all.”
15You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You travel over land and sea to win one follower. And when you have done so, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.
16You are in for trouble! You are supposed to lead others, but you are blind. You teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the temple. But you say it does matter if someone swears by the gold in the temple. 17You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18You also teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the altar. But you say it does matter if someone swears by the gift on the altar. 19Are you blind? Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Anyone who swears by the altar also swears by everything on it. 21And anyone who swears by the temple also swears by God, who lives there. 22#Is 66.1; Mt 5.34. To swear by heaven is the same as swearing by God's throne and by the one who sits on that throne.
23 #
Lv 27.30. You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the important things you should have done, though you should not have left the others undone either. 24You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel.
25You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes, while inside there is nothing but greed and selfishness. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of a cup, and then the outside will also be clean.
27 #
Ac 23.3. You Pharisees and teachers are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You're like tombs that have been whitewashed.#23.27 whitewashed: Tombs were whitewashed to keep anyone from accidentally touching them. A person who touched a dead body or a tomb was considered unclean and could not worship with the rest of the Jewish people. On the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and filth. 28That's what you are like. Outside you look good, but inside you are evil and only pretend to be good.
29You Pharisees and teachers are nothing but show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You build monuments for the prophets and decorate the tombs of good people. 30And you claim you would not have taken part with your ancestors in killing the prophets. 31But you prove you really are the relatives of the ones who killed the prophets. 32So keep on doing everything they did. 33#Mt 3.7; 12.34; Lk 3.7. You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?
34I will send to you prophets and wise people and experts in the Law of Moses. You will kill them or nail them to a cross or beat them in your synagogues or chase them from town to town. 35#Gn 4.8; 2 Ch 24.20-22. That's why you will be held guilty for the murder of every good person, beginning with the good man Abel. This also includes Barachiah's son Zechariah,#23.35 Zechariah: Genesis is the first book in the Jewish Scriptures, and it tells that Abel was the first person to be murdered. Second Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish Scriptures, and the last murder that it tells about is that of Zechariah. the man you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I can promise that you people living today will be punished for all these things!
Jesus Loves Jerusalem
(Luke 13.34,35)
37Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed the prophets and have stoned the messengers who were sent to you. I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you wouldn't let me. 38#Jr 22.5. And now your temple will be deserted. 39#Ps 118.26. You won't see me again until you say,
“Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.”
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Matthew 23: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
S. Matthew 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 for 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, which 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.#23.13 Some authorities insert here, or after ver. 12, ver. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, even while for a pretence ye make long prayers: therefore ye shall receive greater condemnation. See Mark 12.40. Luke 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, 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 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 whether 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, judgement, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, which 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 judgement 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, which 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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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society