⁹ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.^{(A) 10} You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers.^{(B) 11} As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹² urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.^(C)

¹³ We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.^(D)

Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat;^{(A) 3} therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^[a] and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.^{(B) 5} They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.^{(C) 6} They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues^{(D) 7} and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.^{(E) 9} And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father, the one in heaven.^{(F) 10} Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.^{[b] 11} The greatest among you will be your servant.^{(G) 12} All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.^(H)