1Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to his disciples.
2He said, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat."
3"So do everything they tell you to keep, and keep it. But do not do what they do. For they talk, and do not act."
4"They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and lay them on people's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."
5"They do all their works to be seen by people. They make their phylacteries wide, and they make the borders of their clothes large."
6"They love the best places at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues."
7"They love greetings in the markets, and to be called by people, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'"
8"But do not let yourselves be called Rabbi. For one is your Master, that is, Christ, and you are all brothers and sisters."
9"And call no man on earth your father. For one is your Father, who is in heaven."
10"Do not let yourselves be called masters. For one is your Master, that is, Christ."
11"The greatest among you shall be your servant."
12"Whoever lifts himself up shall be brought low. And whoever makes himself humble shall be lifted up."
13"But how terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven against people. You do not go in yourselves, and you do not allow those who are entering to go in."
14"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you eat up widows' houses, and for a show you make long prayers. So you shall receive the greater judgment."
15"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel over sea and land to make one convert. And when he is made one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."
16"How terrible for you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he must keep his oath.'"
17"You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gold, or the temple that makes the gold holy?"
18"And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gift that is on it is guilty.'"
19"You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy?"
20"So whoever swears by the altar swears by it, and by everything on it."
21"And whoever swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who lives in it."
22"And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it."
23"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay a tithe of mint and anise and cummin, but you have left out the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. These you should have done, and not left the others undone."
24"You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel."
25"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and excess."
26"You blind Pharisee, first clean what is inside the cup and dish, so that the outside of them may be clean too."
27"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like tombs painted white. Outside they look beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean."
28"In the same way, on the outside you appear righteous to people. But inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
29"How terrible for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 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 shared with them in the blood of the prophets.'"
31"So you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the children of those who killed the prophets."
32"Then fill up the measure of your fathers."
33"You snakes, you family of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of hell?"
34"So look, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will whip in your synagogues, and chase them from city to city."
35"So on you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar."
36"I tell you the truth, all these things shall come upon this generation."
37"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I would have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not."
38"Look, your house is left to you empty."
39"For I say to you, you shall not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"