¹⁵ who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets^[a] and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone^(A)

¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.^(A)

²³ this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.^(A)

⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.^(A)

⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’^{(A) 50} so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.^{(B) 52} Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”^(C)

⁵³ When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things,

²⁰ and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.

³³ Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!^(A)

²⁵ Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”^(A)

The Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

³¹ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. ³³ You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell?^{[a] 34} For this reason I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, ³⁵ so that upon you may come 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 sanctuary and the altar.