¹ Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

² And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter by these gates:

³ Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter, by the gates of this house, kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

⁵ But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

⁶ For thus saith the LORD to the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

⁷ And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

⁸ And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why hath the LORD done thus to this great city?

⁹ Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.

¹⁰ Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but Weep bitterly for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

¹¹ For thus saith the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place; He shall not return thither any more:

¹² But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

¹³ Woe to him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

¹⁴ That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵ Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

¹⁷ But thy eyes and thy heart are only for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

¹⁹ He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

²¹ I spoke to thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidest, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou hast not obeyed my voice.

²² The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

²⁴ As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

²⁵ And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bore thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

²⁷ But to the land to which they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

²⁹ O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

³⁰ Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

¹ Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,

² saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat.

³ All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for they say, and don't do.

⁴ For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

⁵ But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,

⁶ and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

⁷ the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men.

⁸ But don't you be called 'Rabbi,' for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.

⁹ Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.

¹⁰ Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.

¹¹ But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.

¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁴ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don't enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.

¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

¹⁶ "Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.'

¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

¹⁸ 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?'

¹⁹ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

²⁰ He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.

²¹ He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it.

²² 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! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

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 platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.

²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

²⁷ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

²⁹ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

³⁰ and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

³¹ Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.

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

³³ You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

³⁴ Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, 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 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.

³⁶ Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

³⁸ Behold, your house is left to you desolate.

³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"