Matthew 23

Then spake YHWH to the multitude, and to His disciples,

2 Saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses (Mosheh)’s seat.

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not you after their works, for they say, and do not.

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

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries (tefillin), and enlarge the borders of their tassels (tzitziyot),

6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’.

8 But be not you called Teacher (Rabbi); for One is your Teacher (Rabbi), the Messiah (haMashiach); and all you are brethren.

9 And call no man your father upon the earth; for One is your Father, who is in heaven.

10 Neither be you called masters; for One is your Master, the Messiah (haMashiach).

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

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, neither allow you them that are entering to go in.

14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer; therefore you shall receive greater damnation.

15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to win one proselyte (convert), and when he is won, you make him twofold more the child of hell (gehenna) than yourselves.

16 Woe unto you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!’

17 You fools and blind! For whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.’

19 You fools and blind! For whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God (Elohim), and by Him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Torah: judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 You blind guides, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

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

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

30 And say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 Therefore you be witnesses unto yourselves, that you are the children of them who killed the prophets.

32 Fill you up then the measure of your fathers.

33 You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell (gehenna)?

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

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel (Hevel) unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias (Zekharyah ben-Berekhyah), whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

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

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), you that killest the prophets, and stonest them who are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would not!

38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. – Jer. 22:5

39 For I say unto you, ‘You shall not see Me henceforth, till you shall say, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of יהוה (YHWH)!’” – Psa. 118:26