2 23:13But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in. 23:15Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 23:16Woe to you blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. 23:17Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold? 23:18If a man swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if he swears by the gift which is on it, he is bound. 23:19Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift? 23:20He then that swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things on it; 23:21and he that swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him that inhabits it; 23:22and he that swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits on it.
3 23:23Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others. 23:24Blind guides! who strain out a gnat and swallow down a camel. 23:25Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess. 23:26Blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter, that its outside may be clean also. 23:27Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear fair without, but within are full of the bones of the dead and of all impurity. 23:28So also you on the outside appear just to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 23:29Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, 23:30and 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. 23:31So that you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets; 23:32and you have filled up the measure of your fathers. 23:33Serpents, offspring of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell?
4 23:34Therefore, behold, I send 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; 23:35that all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Bararchiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar, may come upon you. 23:36I tell you truly, that all these [crimes] shall come on this generation.
5 23:37Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets, and stoning those sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not! 23:38Behold, your house is left to you desolate; 23:39for I tell you that you shall not see me henceforth, till you say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!
CHAPTER XXII.
CHRIST PREDICTING THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS KINGDOM.
1 24:1AND Jesus went out and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 24:2And he answered and said to them, Do you not see all these things? I tell you truly, there shall not be left here stone upon stone that shall not be thrown down. 24:3And as he sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us when these things shall be; and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the consummation of the world? 24:4And Jesus answered and said to them, See that no man deceives you; 24:5for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many. 24:6And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you be not terrified, for all things must be accomplished; but the end is not yet. 24:7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in different places; 24:8but all these things are the beginning of sorrows.
2 24:9Then they shall deliver you to affliction, and kill you, and you shall be hated by all nations on my account; 24:10and then many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another; 24:11and many false prophets shall be raised up and deceive many, 24:12and because wickedness shall abound the love of the many shall become cold: 24:13but he that endures to the end shall be saved. 24:14And this good news of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a testimony to all nations; and then shall the end come.
3 24:15When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place—let him that reads understand—24:16then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. 24:17Let not him that is on his house come down to take the things from his house; 24:18and let not him that is in the field return back to take his clothes; 24:19and woe to those with child and giving nurse in those days! 24:20But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, nor on the Sabbath; 24:21for at that time there shall be great affliction, such as has not been from the beginning of the world even till now, nor ever shall be. 24:22And unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved: but on account of the elect those days shall be shortened.
4 24:23Then if one says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or there! believe it not. 24:24For false Christs and false prophets shall be raised up, and shall show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 24:25Behold, I have told you before. 24:26If, therefore, they say to you, Behold he is in the wilderness, go not forth; Behold he is in private rooms, believe it not. 24:27For as the lightning comes forth from the East, and shines even to the West, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. 24:28Wherever the dead body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
5 24:29And immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 24:30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 24:31And he shall send his angels with a loud sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other.
6 24:32But learn the parable of the fig tree. When its branch is now green, and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is nigh. 24:33So also when you see all these things, know that [the Son of man] is nigh, at the doors. 24:34I tell you truly, that this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be accomplished. 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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