⁵² “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

¹³ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.^[a]

⁷ “The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁷ But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.” ¹⁸ So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

⁴⁵ “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

⁴⁶ “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.

²⁴ So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this,^[a] because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

²⁵ “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

²⁶ “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”

²⁷ “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

²⁸ Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

³⁰ “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? ³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. ³² Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

³⁴ “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

⁴⁷ “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. ⁴⁸ “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? ⁴⁹ This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”

⁵⁰ Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. ⁵¹ “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes^[a] from Galilee!”

⁴⁰ The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.

³⁹ But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

⁴⁰ He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”