²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,^(A) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.^{(B) 26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,^(C) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(D) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^(E)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness^(A) and looked down on everyone else,^(B) Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray,^(C) one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(D) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast^(E) twice a week and give a tenth^(F) of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(G) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(H)

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(I)

⁶ and to knowledge, self-control;^(A) and to self-control, perseverance;^(B) and to perseverance, godliness;^{(C) 7} and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.^{(D) 8} For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive^(E) in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.^{(F) 9} But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind,^(G) forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.^(H)

⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: