The Hypocritical Scribes.

1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples and said, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat on Moses’ seat.” 3 Therefore, everything they tell you to keep, keep and do, but do not act like their deeds, because they say, but do not do. 4 They tie up heavy and hard burdens and place them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them even with their finger. 5 And they do all their works to be seen by people. They widen their phylacteries and enlarge the fringes of their garments. 6 They love the places of honor at dinners, the foremost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces. 7 and to be called by people, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' 8 But you, do not allow yourselves to be called “Rabbi,” for One is your Teacher, Christ, and you are all brothers. 9 And on earth call no one your “father,” because One is your Father: He who is in heaven. 10 Nor be called “teachers,” because One is your Teacher: Christ. 11 The greatest among you must be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, because you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You do not enter, and you do not allow those who desire to enter to go in. 14 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, for you devour the houses of widows and for show you make long prayers. For this you will be punished severely. 15 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, for you cross sea and land to make one person a convert, and when it happens, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. 16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound.” 17 Fools and blind men, which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 You also say, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it means nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it is bound.' 19 Fools and blind ones, which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? 20 So then, whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by all the things that are on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears both by the temple and by the One who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the One who sits on it. 23 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, because you give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you do not keep the weightiest matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done, and also to have kept the others. 24 Blind guides, you strain out the gnat but swallow the camel. 25 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside it is full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside also may be clean. 27 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of uncleanness. 28 In the same way, you also appear righteous to people outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 Woe to you, hypocrites, scribes and Pharisees, for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been participants with them in the killing of the prophets”. 31 So you yourselves testify about yourselves that you are sons of those who killed the prophets. 32 So you, fill up what your fathers left unfinished. 33 Snakes, children of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? 34 For this reason, now, I am sending to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. 35 In this way, the responsibility for all the righteous blood poured out on the earth will fall on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation. 37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How many times I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house will be left to you in ruins. 39 For I tell you that from now on you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (Ps. 118:26, Matt. 21:9).