Old/New Testament
The sign of Jonah
29 The crowds kept increasing. Jesus began to say to them, “This generation is an evil generation! It looks for a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
30 “Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh; just so, the son of man will be a sign to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and will condemn them: she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and look—something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it: they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and look—something greater than Jonah is here.
33 “Nobody lights a lamp in order to hide it or put it under a jug. They put it on a lampstand, so that people who come in can see the light.
34 “Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is focused, your whole body is full of light. But if it’s evil, your body is in darkness. 35 Watch out, then, in case the light inside you turns to darkness. 36 If your whole body is illuminated, with no part in darkness, everything will be illuminated, just as you are by a flash of lightning.”
37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to have dinner at his house. So he went in and sat down. 38 The Pharisee, watching him, was surprised that he didn’t first wash before dinner.
39 “Now, you Pharisees,” said the master to him, “you clean the outside of the plate and the cup, but your insides are full of violent robbery and wickedness. 40 That’s stupid! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside as well? 41 You should give for alms what’s inside the bowl, and then everything will be clean for you.”
Woes against the Pharisees
42 “But woe betide you Pharisees!” Jesus continued. “You tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds; and you have sidestepped justice and the love of God. You should have done these, without missing out the others.
43 “Woe betide you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places.
44 “Woe betide you! You are like hidden tombs, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
45 At this, one of the legal experts spoke up. “Teacher,” he said, “when you say this you’re insulting us too!”
46 “Woe betide you lawyers, too!” replied Jesus. “You give people heavy loads to carry which they can hardly bear, and you yourselves don’t lift a finger to help!
47 “Woe betide you! You build the tombs of the prophets, and your ancestors killed them. 48 So you bear witness that you approve of what your ancestors did: they killed them, and you build their tombs.
49 “For all this, God’s Wisdom says, ‘I’m sending you prophets and ambassadors; some of them you will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets shed ever since the beginning of the world may be required from this generation— 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who died between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, let me tell you, it will all be required from this generation.
52 “Woe betide you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You didn’t go in yourselves, and when people were trying to get in you stopped them.”
53 He went outside, and the scribes and Pharisees began to be very threatening towards him. They interrogated him about several things, 54 lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.