Matthew 23:21-35 Modern English Version (MEV)

21. But he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.

22. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

23. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.

24. You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and greed.

26. You blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may also be clean.

27. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

28. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the memorials of the righteous,

30. and say, ‘If we lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have partaken with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

31. Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

33. “You serpents! You generation of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell?

34. Therefore I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city,

35. that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Matthew 23