Luke 11:37-12:12

New American Standard Bible

Woes upon the Pharisees

³⁷ Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ^[a](A)ceremonially washed before the ^[b]meal. ³⁹ But ^(B)the Lord said to him, “Now ^(C)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. ^40 (D)You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(E)give that which is within as a charitable gift, and ^[c]then all things are ^(F)clean for you.

⁴² “^(G)But woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(H)pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ^[d]ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(I)love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces. ^44 (J)Woe to you! For you are like ^[e]unseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵ One of the ^[f](K)lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” ⁴⁶ But He said, “Woe to you ^(L)lawyers as well! For ^(M)you load people with burdens that are hard to bear, ^[g]while you yourselves will not even ^[h]touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (N)Woe to you! For you build the ^[i]tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their ^[j]tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason also, ^(O)the wisdom of God said, ‘^(P)I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will ^[k]persecute, ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^(Q)since the foundation of the world, may be charged ^[l]against this generation, ⁵¹ from ^(R)the blood of Abel to ^(S)the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged ^[m]against this generation.’ ⁵² Woe to you ^[n](T)lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^(U)you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects, ^54 (V)plotting against Him ^(W)to catch ^[o]Him in something He might say.

God Knows and Cares

12 Under these circumstances, after ^[p]so many thousands of ^[q]people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “^(X)Beware of the ^[r]leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ^2 (Y)But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. ³ Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have ^[s]whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on ^(Z)the housetops.

⁴ “Now I say to you, ^(AA)My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵ But I will warn you whom to fear: ^(AB)fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into ^[t](AC)hell; yes, I tell you, fear ^[u]Him! ⁶ Are ^(AD)five sparrows not sold for two ^[v]assaria? And yet not one of them has gone unnoticed in the sight of God. ^7 (AE)But even the hairs of your head are all counted. ^[w]Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.

⁸ “Now I say to you, everyone who ^(AF)confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God; ⁹ but ^(AG)the one who denies Me before people will be denied ^(AH)before the angels of God. ^10 (AI)And everyone who ^[x]speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. ¹¹ Now when they bring you before ^(AJ)the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not ^(AK)worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; ¹² for ^(AL)the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”