Matthew 23:27-39

New American Standard Bible

²⁷“^(A)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“^(B)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹So you testify against yourselves, that you ^(C)are ^[a]sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²^[b]Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³You snakes, ^(D)you ^[c]offspring of vipers, how ^[d]will you escape the ^[e]sentence of ^[f]^(E)hell?

³⁴“^(F)Therefore, behold, ^(G)I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will ^(H)flog in your synagogues, and ^(I)persecute from city to city, ³⁵so that upon you will fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(J)Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the ^(K)son of Berechiah, whom ^(L)you murdered between the ^[g]temple and the altar. ³⁶Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon ^(M)this generation.

Grieving over Jerusalem

³⁷“^(N)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who ^(O)kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^(P)the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. ³⁸Behold, ^(Q)your house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘^(R)Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!’”