10 Woe(A) to those who make unjust laws,
    to those who issue oppressive decrees,(B)

Read full chapter

52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”(A)

Read full chapter

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth(A) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.(B) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Read full chapter

“Will not all of them taunt(A) him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

“‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
    and makes himself wealthy by extortion!(B)
    How long must this go on?’

Read full chapter

Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;(B)
who eat my people’s flesh,(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;(D)
who chop(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?(F)

Then they will cry out to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them.(G)
At that time he will hide his face(H) from them
    because of the evil they have done.(I)

Read full chapter

Woes and Judgments

Woe(A) to you who add house to house
    and join field to field(B)
till no space is left
    and you live alone in the land.

Read full chapter

20 Can a corrupt throne(A) be allied with you—
    a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?(B)
21 The wicked band together(C) against the righteous
    and condemn the innocent(D) to death.(E)

Read full chapter

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;(A) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;(B) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.(C)

Read full chapter

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him.(A) As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”(B)

Read full chapter

22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,(A) who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out(B) of the synagogue.(C)

Read full chapter

46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.(A)

47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them.

Read full chapter

42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth(A) of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.(B) You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.(C)

43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.(D)

44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves,(E) which people walk over without knowing it.”

Read full chapter

24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.(A) But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Read full chapter

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets(A) and decorate the graves of the righteous.

Read full chapter

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,(A) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

Read full chapter

12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed(A)
    and establishes a town by injustice!

Read full chapter

“Woe to him who builds(A) his house by unjust gain,(B)
    setting his nest(C) on high
    to escape the clutches of ruin!

Read full chapter

16 You have observed the statutes of Omri(A)
    and all the practices of Ahab’s(B) house;
    you have followed their traditions.(C)
Therefore I will give you over to ruin(D)
    and your people to derision;
    you will bear the scorn(E) of the nations.[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Micah 6:16 Septuagint; Hebrew scorn due my people

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B) [14] [a]

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,(C) and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell(D) as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides!(E) You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’(F)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 23:14 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.

21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!(A) For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon,(B) they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.(C)

Read full chapter

19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
    Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’(A)
Can it give guidance?
    It is covered with gold and silver;(B)
    there is no breath in it.”(C)

Read full chapter

15 “Woe to him who gives drink(A) to his neighbors,
    pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
    so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!

Read full chapter

Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;(A)
10 who build(B) Zion with bloodshed,(C)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.(D)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,(E)
    her priests teach for a price,(F)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.(G)
Yet they look(H) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”(I)

Read full chapter

Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”(A) So King Darius put the decree in writing.

Read full chapter

13 “Woe(A) to him who builds(B) his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying(C) them for their labor.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends