¹THEN Jesus spoke with the people and with his disciples. ²And he said to them, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the chair of Moses. ³Therefore, what they tell you to obey, obey and do it, you should do what they say, not what they do. ⁴And they bind heavy burdens, and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to touch them, even with their finger. ⁵And all their works they do, just to be seen by men; for they widen the fringes of their garments, and they lengthen the ends of their robes, ⁶And they like the chief places at feasts, and the front seats in the synagogues, ⁷And the greetings in the streets, and to be called by men, Rabbi. ⁸But you do not be called, Rabbi; for one is your Master, and you are all brothers. ⁹And call no one on earth, father, for one is your Father in heaven. ¹⁰Nor be called leaders, for one is your leader, the Messiah. ¹¹But he who is great among you, will be your servant. ¹²For whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You embezzle the property of widows, with the pretense that you make long prayers; because of this you will receive a greater judgment. ¹⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You have shut off the kingdom of heaven against men; for you do not enter into it yourselves, and do not permit those who would enter. ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice the son of hell than yourselves. ¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides, for you say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold which is in the temple, he is guilty. ¹⁷Fools and blind men. Which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering that is on it, he is guilty. ¹⁹Fools and blind men. Which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? ²⁰Therefore, he who swears by the altar, he swears by it and by everything that is on it. ²¹And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who lives in it. ²²And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it. ²³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites. You take tithes on mint, dill, and cummin, and you have overlooked the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy, and trustworthiness. These were necessary for you to have done, and the same by no means to have left undone. ²⁴Blind guides, who strain at gnats and swallow camels. ²⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside are full of extortion and iniquity. ²⁶Blind Pharisees. First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that their outside may also be clean. ²⁷Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like tombs painted white, which look beautiful from the outside, but inside are full of dead bones and all kinds of corruption. ²⁸Even so, from the outside you appear to men to be righteous, but from inside you are full of iniquity and hypocrisy. ²⁹Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and you decorate the graves of the righteous; ³⁰And you say, If we had been living in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹Now you testify concerning yourselves, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets. ³²You also fill up the measure of your fathers. ³³Serpents, and seed of scorpions, how can you flee from the judgment of hell? ³⁴Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and pursue from city to city; ³⁵So that all the blood of the righteous shed on the ground may come on you, from the blood of Abel the righteous down to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, who you killed between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Truly I say to you, All of these things will come on this generation. ³⁷Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murderess of the prophets, and stoner of those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather together your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, yet you would not. ³⁸Look, your house will be left to you desolate. ³⁹For I say to you, from now you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.