But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye shut men out of
the kingdom of heaven, ye enter not in yourselves, and you do not allow
others to attempt to enter in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees.
Hypocrites! Ye devour widows' houses and, for a pretence, make long
prayers. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye venture over sea
and land for one proselyte and, when he is made, ye make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides
who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, is worth nothing; but
whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, makes a good pledge!
Ye fools and blind men. What is greater, the gold or the temple that
sanctifies the gold?
And ye say, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, is worth nothing; but
whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, is worthy of praise. Ye
fools and blind men. What is greater, the gift, or the altar that
sanctifies the gift? Whoso, therefore, shall swear by the altar, swears
by it and by all things upon it. And whoso shall swear by the temple,
swears by it and by Him that dwells therein. And He that shall swear by
heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him that sits thereon.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye pay tithe of mint
and anise and cummin, but ye have ignored the weightier matters of the
law; judgment, mercy, and faith. Ye blind guides who strain from your
drink a gnat and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye make the outside of
the cup and platter clean, but inside they are full of extortion and
excess. Thou blind Pharisee. Cleanse first that which is inside the cup
and platter so the outside may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye are like whited
sepulchres, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full
of dead men's bones and uncleanness. Even if ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, inside ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! Ye build the tombs for
the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. Ye say, If we
had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Be witnesses unto yourselves.
Ye are the children of those who killed the prophets and ye measure up
to your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation
of hell? I send prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them ye shall
kill and crucify. Some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and
persecute them from city to city. On your hands shall be the blood of
all the righteous shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
to the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the
temple and the altar. All these things shall come upon this generation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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