Matthew 22:34-23:12

Tree of Life Version

The Greatest Mitzvot

³⁴ But the Pharisees, when they heard that Yeshua had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together in one place. ³⁵ And testing Him, one of them, a lawyer, asked, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?”

³⁷ And He said to him, “‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ^{[b] 40} The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Yeshua Overturns the Arguments

⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Yeshua asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose Son is He?”^[c]

“David’s,” they say to Him.

⁴³ “Then how is it,” He says to them, “that David by the Ruach calls him ‘Lord’?

⁴⁵ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” ⁴⁶ No one was able to answer Him a word. Nor did anyone dare from that day on to question Him any longer.

Seven Woes

23 Then Yeshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ² saying, “The Torah scholars and Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³ So whatever they tell you, do and observe. But don’t do what they do; for what they say, they do not do. ⁴ They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry,^[e] and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ All their works they do to be noticed by men. They make their tefillin wide and their tzitziyot long. ^{[f] 6} They love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi by men.

⁸ “But you are not to be called rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no man on earth your father; for One is your Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Messiah. ¹¹ But the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.