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Matthew 23:13

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

14

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16

Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which 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

Ye 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

Ye 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, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23

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

24

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25

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

26

Thou 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 ye 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 ye also ° outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye 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

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32

Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye 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 unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye 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, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy ° children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39

For 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.

Matthew 23:13

23:13 woe unto you. Jesus pronounces eight “woes” on the scribes (or lawyers) and Pharisees in this chapter (Matthew 23:13,14,15,16,23,25,27,29). Seven times He calls them “hypocrites” and five times He says they are “blind.” He calls each a “child of hell” (Matthew 23:15), and says they are like “whited sepulchres…full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27), and also “full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:28). They are, He says, “serpents” and a “generation of vipers” (Matthew 23:33). One receives the impression that God hates the sin of hypocrisy in religious leaders more than most other sins! This New Testament language used here by the Lord Jesus is as severely condemnatory as anything found in the Old Testament. Religionists such as these have all though history persecuted genuine believers, especially faithful teachers and preachers.

Matthew 23:23

23:23 tithe of mint and anise. Tithing as such is nowhere commanded in the New Testament, although this verse is often used as such a commandment. However, the context is that of the law, rather than grace. Even under the law, Jesus stressed that judgment, mercy and faith were more important than tithing. The New Testament principle of money stewardship is deduced from such Scriptures as I Corinthians 16:2; II Corinthians 9:6-11; Philippians 4:10-19; Galatians 6:6; Hebrews 13:16; etc.

Matthew 23:35

23:35 Zacharias. The identity of this Zacharias is uncertain. He was not the Zechariah who was the author of the book of Zechariah, but possibly may have been the priest Zechariah who was stoned in the temple court by order of King Joash (II Chronicles 24:20-21).

Matthew 23:37

23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. When a name is repeated like this by God, the message is always urgent. See note on Acts 9:4.

Matthew 23:38

23:38 desolate. This prophecy was fulfilled in grim detail when the Romans destroyed the temple in A.D. 70 and the city in A.D. 135, sending the Jewish survivors into worldwide exile for almost two thousand years.

Matthew 23:39

23:39 Blessed is he. This affirmation, prophesied in Psalm 118:26, had been sung by the Jerusalem crowds when Jesus entered the city just a few days before, but they did not really understand who He was, and their enthusiasm was quickly rejected and dampened by the priests. The result was the age-long exile and suffering of the Jews. Finally, however, when Christ comes again, in power and great glory, the nation will recognize Him in deep repentance and will, indeed, say “Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

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