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Matthew 23 - American Standard Version bible

Matthew 23

¹Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples,

²saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat:

³all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.

⁴Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.

⁵But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

⁶and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

⁷and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi.

⁸But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren.

⁹And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.

¹⁰Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

¹¹But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

¹²And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.

¹³But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter.

¹⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.

¹⁶Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.

¹⁷Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?

¹⁸And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor.

¹⁹Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

²⁰He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

²¹And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

²²And he that sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

²³Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.

²⁴Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!

²⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess.

²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.

²⁷Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

²⁸Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,

³⁰and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

³¹Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.

³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

³³Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?

³⁴Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:

³⁵that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.

³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.