1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2saying, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have taken Moses’ place of authority.
3So, do and observe everything they tell you, but don’t do what they do, because they preach but don’t practice.
4They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to help them.
5They do everything to be seen by people. They make their prayer boxes wide and wear extra-long tassels on their clothes.
6They love the best seats at banquets and the most important places in the synagogues.
7They love to be greeted respectfully in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by others.
8But you should not be called ‘Rabbi,’ because you have only one Teacher, the Christ, and all of you are equal as brothers.
9Don't call anyone on earth ‘father,’ because you have only one Father, who is in heaven.
10Do not be called ‘masters,’ because you have only one Master, the Christ.
11The greatest among you will be your servant.
12Anyone who promotes himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be honored.
13How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You cheat widows out of their homes, and then you make long prayers in public to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive a much harsher judgment.
14How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves don’t go in, and you prevent others who are trying to enter from doing so.
15How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel across seas and continents to gain one convert, and when you succeed, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.
16How terrible it will be for you, you blind guides! You say, ‘If someone swears an oath by the temple, it means nothing; but if they swear by the gold of the temple, they are bound by their oath.’
17You blind fools! Which is more important: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold holy?
18You also say, ‘If someone swears an oath by the altar, it means nothing; but if they swear by the offering on the altar, they are bound by their oath.’
19You blind fools! Which is more important: the offering, or the altar that makes the offering holy?
20So, when someone swears by the altar, they are swearing by the altar and by everything on it.
21When someone swears by the temple, they are swearing by the temple and by God who lives in it.
22And when someone swears by heaven, they are swearing by God’s throne and by God who sits on it.
23How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You meticulously tithe even tiny herbs like mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect the most important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced these things, without neglecting the others.
24You blind guides! You filter out a gnat but swallow a camel!
25How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees—you hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cups and plates, but inside they are full of what you have gotten through greed and selfishness.
26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and plate, so that the outside may become clean as well.
27How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees—you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and every kind of uncleanness.
28In the same way, on the outside you appear righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees—you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of righteous people.
30You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in killing the prophets.’
31So you admit that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32Go ahead then, finish what your ancestors started!
33You snakes! You offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34Therefore, I am sending you prophets, wise men, and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will whip in your synagogues and chase from town to town.
35As a result, you will be held responsible for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple sanctuary and the altar.
36I assure you, all these things will happen to this generation.
37“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you—how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
38Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”