Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁹ “Woe betide you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and you decorate the memorials of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, ‘If we’d lived in the days of our ancestors, we wouldn’t have gone along with them in killing the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of the people who murdered the prophets! ³² Well then, go ahead: complete the work your ancestors began! ³³ You snakes, you nest of vipers, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna?”

Judgment on Jerusalem and its leaders

³⁴ “Because of all this,” Jesus concluded, “I’m sending you prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will whip in your synagogues. You’ll chase them from town to town. ³⁵ That’s how all the righteous blood that’s been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah—you murdered him between sanctuary and altar—all that blood will come upon you. ³⁶ I’m telling you the solemn truth: it will all come on this generation.