Pharisaism Exposed

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ² saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; ³ therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. ⁵ But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their ^[a]phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. ⁶ They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. ⁸ But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Do not be called ^[b]leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. ¹¹ But the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Eight Woes

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven ^[c]from ^[d]people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴ [^[e]Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

¹⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one ^[f]proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of ^[g]hell as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the ^[h]temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the ^[i]temple is obligated.’ ¹⁷ You fools and blind men! Which is ^[j]more important, the gold or the ^[k]temple that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the ^[l]offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹ You blind men, which is ^[m]more important, the ^[n]offering, or the altar that sanctifies the ^[o]offering? ²⁰ Therefore, ^[p]whoever swears by the altar, swears both by ^[q]the altar and by everything on it. ²¹ And ^[r]whoever swears by the ^[s]temple, swears both by ^[t]the temple and by Him who dwells within it. ²² And ^[u]whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and ^[v]cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full ^[w]of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves, that you are ^[x]sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how ^[y]will you escape the ^[z]sentence of ^[aa]hell?

³⁴ “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the ^[ab]temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. ³⁸ Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

The Two Witnesses

11 Then there was given me a ^[a]measuring rod like a staff; ^[b]and someone said, “Get up and measure the ^[c]temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. ^2 [d]Leave out the court which is outside the ^[e]temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” ⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. ⁶ These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

⁷ When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. ⁸ And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which ^[f]mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹ Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead ^[g]bodies for three and a half days, and ^[h]will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. ¹⁰ And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹ But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. ¹² And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; ^[i]seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

The Seventh Trumpet—Christ’s Reign Foreseen

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His ^[j]Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying,

“We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. ¹⁸ And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to ^[k]reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the ^[l]saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ And the ^[m]temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His ^[n]temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great ^[o]hailstorm.