³⁹ He also told them a parable: ^(A)“Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(A)they are blind guides.^[a] And ^(B)if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹³ while ^(A)evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and ^(B)being deceived.

³ If anyone ^(A)teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with ^(B)the sound^[a] words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching ^(C)that accords with godliness, ^4 (D)he is puffed up with conceit and ^(E)understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for ^(F)controversy and for ^(G)quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant friction among people ^(H)who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, ^(I)imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

¹⁶ “Woe to ^(A)you, ^(B)blind guides, who say, ^(C)‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or ^(D)the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by ^(E)the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or ^(F)the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by ^(G)him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by ^(H)heaven swears by ^(I)the throne of God and by ^(J)him who sits upon it.

^23 (K)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(L)you tithe mint and dill and ^(M)cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: ^(N)justice and mercy and faithfulness. ^(O)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing ^(P)a camel!

^25 (Q)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(R)you clean the outside of ^(S)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of ^(T)greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of ^(U)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although ^(A)I did not send them, and who say, ^(B)‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: ^(C)By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, ^(D)with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^(A)a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^(B)who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^(C)devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.