² “The teachers of the law^(A) and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.^(B)

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see:^(C) They make their phylacteries^[a](D) wide and the tassels on their garments^(E) long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;^{(F) 7} they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.^(G)

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father,^(H) and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant.^{(I) 12} For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.^(J)

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!^(K) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.^{(L) [14] [b]}

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,^(M) and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell^(N) as you are.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides!^(O) You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’^{(P) 17} You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?^{(Q) 18} You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?^{(R) 20} Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells^(S) in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.^(T)

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth^(U) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.^(V) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!^(W) You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,^(X) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.^{(Y) 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,^(Z) 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^(AA) 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.^{(AB) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(AC) what your ancestors started!^(AD)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(AE) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^(AF)

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar^(A)

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians^(B) to Jesus to catch him^(C) in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[a] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”^(D)

And they were amazed at him.

Marriage at the Resurrection^(E)

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees,^(F) who say there is no resurrection,^(G) came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.^{(H) 20} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection^[b] whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures^(I) or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.^{(J) 26} Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[c]?^{(K) 27} He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

The Greatest Commandment^(L)

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law^(M) came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[d] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[e](N) 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[f](O) There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.^{(P) 33} To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^(Q)

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”^(R) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.^(S)

Whose Son Is the Messiah?^(T)(U)

³⁵ While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts,^(V) he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?^{(W) 36} David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit,^(X) declared:

³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd^(Z) listened to him with delight.

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

³⁸ As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.^{(AA) 40} They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

³⁹ Then the Lord^(A) said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.^{(B) 40} You foolish people!^(C) Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor,^(D) and everything will be clean for you.^(E)

⁴² “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth^(F) of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.^(G) You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.^(H)

⁴³ “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.^(I)

⁴⁴ “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves,^(J) which people walk over without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law^(K) answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

⁴⁶ Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.^(L)

⁴⁷ “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.^{(M) 49} Because of this, God in his wisdom^(N) said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’^{(O) 50} Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel^(P) to the blood of Zechariah,^(Q) who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.^(R)

⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”^(S)

⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ⁵⁴ waiting to catch him in something he might say.^(T)