Woes to Scribes and Pharisees
(Luke 11:37-54)

1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses’ seat; 3therefore keep and observe all things whatsoever they might tell you. But do not do according to their works, for they preach and do not act. 4And they tie up burdens heavy and hard to beara and lay them on the shoulders of men; but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

5And they do all their deeds in order to be seen by men. For they broaden their phylacteries and enlarge their tassels, 6and they love the chief place at the banquets, and the first seats in the synagogues, 7and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by men.

8But you shall not be called ‘Rabbi,’ for your Teacher is One, and you are all brothers. 9And call no one your father on the earth; for One is your Father, who is in heaven. 10Neither be called instructors; since One is your instructor, the Christ. 11But the greatest among you will be your servant. 12And whoever shall exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever shall humble himself will be exalted.

13But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of the heavens before men. For you neither enter, nor even do you allow those who are entering to go in.b

15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you traverse the sea and the dry land to make one convert, and whenever it may happen, you make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves.

16Woe to you, blind guides, those saying, ‘Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’ 17Foolish and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple having sanctified the gold? 18And you say, ‘Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it is bound by his oath.’ 19Blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar sanctifying the gift? 20Therefore the one having sworn by the altar swears by it and by all things that are upon it. 21And the one having sworn by the temple swears by it and by the One dwelling in it. 22And the one having sworn by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the One sitting upon it.

23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have neglected the weightier things of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. It behooved you to do these, and not to be leaving aside those. 24Blind guides—those straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel!

25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of greed and intemperance. 26Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, that their outside might become clean also.

27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like tombs having been whitewashed, which indeed outwardly appear beautiful, but inside they are full of bones of the dead, and of all impurity. 28Thus indeed outwardly you also appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous; 30and you 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.’ 31Thus you bear witness to yourselves that you are sons of those having murdered the prophets. 32You, then, fill up the measure of your fathers. 33Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape from the sentence of Gehenna?

34Because of this, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and will crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and will persecute from town to town; 35so that upon you shall come all the righteous blood being poured out upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem
(Luke 13:31-35)

37Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those having been sent to her! How often would I have gathered together your children, the way in which a hen gathers together her chicks under the wings, and you were not willing! 38Behold, your house is left to you desolate! 39For I say to you, you shall not see Me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the One coming in the name of the Lord.’c”