The Concordant Literal New Testament

Matthew’s Account

1

Chapter 23

¹ Then Jesus speaks to the throngs and to His disciples,
² saying, "On Moses' seat are seated the scribes and the Pharisees.
³ All, then, whatever they should be saying to you, do and keep it. Yet according to their acts do not be doing, for they are saying and not doing.
⁴ "Now they are binding loads, heavy and hard to bear, and are placing them on men's shoulders, yet they are not willing to stir them with their finger.
⁵ Now all their works are they doing to be gazed at by men, for they are broadening their amulets and magnifying the tassels.
⁶ Now they are fond of the first reclining place at the dinners, and the front seats in the synagogues,
⁷ and the salutations in the markets, and to be called by men 'Rabbi.'
⁸ "Now you may not be called 'Rabbi,' for One is your Teacher, yet you all are brethren.
⁹ And 'father' you should not be calling one of you on the earth, for One is your Father, the heavenly.
¹⁰ Nor yet may you be called preceptors, for One is your Preceptor, the Christ.
¹¹ "Now the greatest one among you shall be your servant.
¹² Yet anyone who shall be exalting himself shall be humbled, and anyone who shall be humbling himself shall be exalted.
¹³ "Now woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are locking the kingdom of the heavens in front of men. For you are not entering, neither are you letting those entering to enter.
¹⁴ (no verse 14)
¹⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are going about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he may be becoming one, you are making him more than double a son of Gehenna than you are.
¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides! who are saying, 'Whoever should be swearing by the temple, it is nothing; yet whoever should be swearing by the gold of the temple is owing.'
¹⁷ Stupid and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hallows the gold?
¹⁸ And, 'Whoever should be swearing by the altar, it is nothing; yet whoever should be swearing by the approach present upon it is owing.'
¹⁹ Stupid and blind! for which is greater, the approach present, or the altar that is hallowing the approach present?
²⁰ He, then, who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by all which is upon it.
²¹ And he who swears by the temple is swearing by it and by Him Who is dwelling in it.
²² And he who swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and by Him Who is sitting upon it.
²³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are taking tithes from the mint and the dill and the cumin, and leave the weightier matters of the law, judging and mercy and faith. Now these it was binding for you to do, and not leave those.
²⁴ Blind guides! straining out a gnat, yet swallowing a camel!
²⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are cleansing the outside of the cup and the plate, yet inside they are brimming with rapacity and incontinence.
²⁶ Blind Pharisee! Cleanse first the inside of the cup and the plate, that their outside also may be becoming clean!
²⁷ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are resembling the whitewashed sepulchers which outside, indeed, are appearing beautiful, yet inside they are crammed with the bones of the dead and all uncleanness.
²⁸ Thus you, also, outside, indeed, are appearing to men to be just, yet inside you are distended with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
²⁹ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are building the sepulchers of the prophets and adorning the tombs of the just,
³⁰ and you are saying, 'If we were in the days of our fathers, we would not be participants with them in the blood of the prophets.'
³¹ So that you are testifying to yourselves that you are the sons of those who murder the prophets.
³² And you! Fill full the measure of your father!
³³ "Serpents! Progeny of vipers! How may you be fleeing from the judging of Gehenna?
³⁴ Therefore, lo! I am dispatching to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Of them, some you will be killing and crucifying, and of them, some you will be scourging in your synagogues and persecuting from city to city,
³⁵ so that on you should be coming all the just blood shed on the earth, from the blood of just Abel until the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murder between the temple and the altar.
³⁶ Verily, I am saying to you: All these things will be arriving on this generation.
³⁷ "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! who art killing the prophets and pelting with stones those who have been dispatched to her! How many times do I want to assemble your children in the manner a hen is assembling her brood under her wings-and you will not!
³⁸ Lo! left is your house to you desolate.
³⁹ For I am saying to you: You may by no means be perceiving Me henceforth, till you should be saying, 'Blessed is He Who is coming in the name of the Lord!'"

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