Bible Book - INDEX

MODERN LITERAL VERSION 2019 VERSION

23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,

23:2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sat upon the seat of Moses.

23:3 Therefore, all things, as many things as they would say for you* to keep, keep* and do**, but do** not do them according to their works; for* they say and are not doing*.

23:4 For* they bind burdensome and unbearable loads, and place them upon men's shoulders, but they are not willing to move them even with their finger.

23:5 And they are practicing all their works in order to be seen by men. And they widen their phylacteries and magnify the hems of their garments,

23:6 and they love the foremost-place in the suppers and the foremost seats in the synagogues,

23:7 and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi, rabbi.

23:8 But do* not be called rabbi; for* only one is your* leader, the Christ, and you* are all brethren.

23:9 Now do* not call anyone your* father upon the earth; for* only one is your* Father, the one in the heavens;

23:10 nor be called leaders; for* only one is your* leader-- the Christ.

23:11 But the greater of you* will be your* servant.

23:12 But if he exalts himself-- he will be humbling himself. And whoever humbles himself-- he will be exalting himself.

{Footnotes: Mat 23:13 & 23:14 are flipped in various Greek texts.}



23:13 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* are devouring widows' houses, and praying long prayers for a pretext, because of this, you* will be receiving even-more condemnation.



23:14 But woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* lock the kingdom of the heavens before men; for* you* are not entering in yourselves, nor are you* allowing those who are entering in, to enter either.



23:15 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* proceed all around the sea and the dry land to make* one Jewish-convert, and whenever he has become one, you* are making* him double the son of hell as you * are yourselves.



23:16 Woe to you*, you* blind guides, that say, Whoever should swear by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever should swear by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.

23:17 You are foolish and blind; for* what is greater, the gold, or the temple that makes the gold holy?

23:18 And, Whoever should swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever should swear by the gift which is upon it, he is obligated.

23:19 You * are foolish and blind; for* what is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy?

23:20 Therefore, he who has sworn by the altar, swears by it, and by all things upon it.

23:21 And he who has sworn by the temple, swears by it, and in the one who dwelt in it.

23:22 And he who has sworn by the heaven, swears by the throne of God, and in the one who is sitting upon it.


23:23 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* tithe the mint and the dill and the cumin, and yet you* left behind the weighty things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. It was essential for you * to practice these, and not to leave those undone.

23:24 You* blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!



23:25 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* cleanse the outside of the cup and the plate, but they are full from ravening and unrighteousness inside.

23:26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the cup from within and the plate, in order that the outside of them might also become clean.



23:27 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* are similar to whitewashed burial chambers, which on the outside indeed appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead men's bones, and full of all uncleanness.

23:28 So on the outside you* indeed appear also righteous to men, but inside, you* are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.



23:29 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* build the burial chambers of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous,

23:30 and say, If we were in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets.

23:31 So-then you* are testifying to yourselves, that you* are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

23:32 And you*, fill* up the measure of your* fathers.

23:33 Serpents, offsprings of vipers! How may you* flee from the judgment of hell?

23:34 Because of this, behold, I am sending to you* prophets and wise men and scribes, and you* will be killing and will be crucifying some out of them, and you* will be scourging in your* synagogues and will be persecuting from city to city some out of them,

23:35 so *that upon you* may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous {Gen 4:8} until the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you* murdered between the temple and the altar. {Zec 1:7 (?)}

23:36 Assuredly I am saying to you*, All these things will be coming upon this generation.



23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How-often I willed to gather together your children in the manner a bird gathers together its brood under her own wings, and you* did not will it!

23:38 Behold, your* house is left to you* desolate;

23:39 for* I say to you*, You* should never see me from now on, until you* should say, He who is coming in the name of the Lord has been blessed. {Psa 118:26}

{It is best to always read Luke 21 first. See also: Luk 19:41-44 & Luk 23:28-31. Mat 24:1-26, 28 & Mar 13:1-23 & Luk 21:5-24 Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.}