Daily Bread

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,^(A) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.^{(B) 26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,^(C) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(D) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(E) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(F) what your ancestors started!^(G)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(H) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^{(I) 34} Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(J) others you will flog in your synagogues^(K) and pursue from town to town.^{(L) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(M) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(N) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^{(O) 36} Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.^(P)

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(Q) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(R) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^{(S) 39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[a]”^(T)