Matthew 23:13-32

New International Reader's Version

How Terrible for the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

^13-14 “How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter. And you will not let those enter who are trying to.

¹⁵ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You travel everywhere to win one person to your faith. Then you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

¹⁶ “How terrible for you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone makes a promise in the name of the temple, it means nothing. But anyone who makes a promise in the name of the gold of the temple must keep that promise.’ ¹⁷ You are blind and foolish! Which is more important? Is it the gold? Or is it the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone makes a promise in the name of the altar, it means nothing. But anyone who makes a promise in the name of the gift on the altar must keep that promise.’ ¹⁹ You are blind! Which is more important? Is it the gift? Or is it the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ So anyone making a promise in the name of the altar makes a promise in the name of it and everything on it. ²¹ And anyone making a promise in the name of the temple makes a promise in the name of it and the one who lives in it. ²² And anyone making a promise in the name of heaven makes a promise in the name of God’s throne and the one who sits on it.

²³ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You give God a tenth of your spices, like mint, dill and cumin. But you have not practiced the more important things of the law, which are fairness, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first. ²⁴ You blind guides! You remove the smallest insect from your food. But you swallow a whole camel!

²⁵ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You clean the outside of a cup and dish. But on the inside you are full of greed. You only want to satisfy yourselves. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish. Then the outside will also be clean.

²⁷ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You are like tombs that are painted white. They look beautiful on the outside. But on the inside they are full of the bones of the dead. They are also full of other things that are not pure and ‘clean.’ ²⁸ It is the same with you. On the outside you seem to be doing what is right. But on the inside you are full of what is wrong. You pretend to be what you are not.

²⁹ “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You build tombs for the prophets. You decorate the graves of the godly. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of those who lived before us, we wouldn’t have done what they did. We wouldn’t have helped to kill the prophets.’ ³¹ So you are witnesses against yourselves. You admit that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets. ³² So go ahead and finish the sins that those who lived before you started!