THEN Jesus spake to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2saying, The scribes and Pharisees are seated on the chair of Moses; 3all things therefore which they prescribe for you to observe, observe and practise; but do not according to their works, for they say, yet do not practise. 4For they bind burdens grievous, and difficultly borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they will not move them with a finger of their own. 5And all their works they do to be seen of men: they make their phylacteries broad, and deepen the fringes of their garments, 6and love the principal couch at suppers, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7and salutations in the places of public concourse, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your leader, the Messiah; and ye all are brethren. 9And call no man your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven. 10And be not called leaders; for one is your leader, the Messiah. 11But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted.
13Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven from men; for ye yourselves enter not in, and those who were coming in, ye suffer not to enter. 14Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: wherefore ye shall receive greater condemnation. 15Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained, ye make him doubly more the child of hell than yourselves. 16Wo unto you ye blind guides! who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, it is binding. 17Ye fools and blind! for which is the greater, the gold, or the temple which consecrates the gold? 18And again, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, it is binding. 19Ye fools and blind! which is the greater, the gift, or the altar which consecrates the gift? 20Whosoever therefore sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it. 21And whosoever sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him also who dwelleth in it. 22So he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him who is seated upon it.
23Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithes of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier precepts of the law, judgment, and mercy, and fidelity: these thing ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone. 24Ye blind guides! who strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel. 25Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup, and of the dish, but within they are full of rapacity and intemperance. 26Thou blind Pharisee! cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, that their outside may become clean also. 27Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye resemble tombs whitewashed, which outwardly indeed appear specious, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and all manner of impurity. 28And just so, ye without indeed appear to men righteous, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the sepulchres of the just, 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. 31Wherefore ye bear a testimony to yourselves, that ye are the children of those who killed the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33Ye serpents, ye broods of vipers! how can ye escape from the damnation of hell? 34Therefore, behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35that upon you may come all the righteous blood which hath been poured out upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come on this generation.
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest those who were sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children to me, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not? 38Behold, your habitation is left unto you desolate. 39For I tell you, Ye shall henceforth no more see me, until ye say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[CHAP. XXIV.]
AND Jesus departing was going his way from the temple: and his disciples came to him, to point out to his observation the buildings of the temple. 2But Jesus said unto them, Do you not see all these things? I tell you of a certainty, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be utterly thrown down.
3Then as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall there things be? and what is the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? 4And Jesus answering said unto them, Beware that no man deceive you. 5For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Messiah; and shall deceive multitudes. 6And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars: see that ye be not terrified: for these things must first be, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall be roused up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. 8Now all these things are the beginning of the travailing pangs. 9Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will grow cool. 13But he that endureth to the end, that man will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached through the whole world for a testimony to all the nations: and then shall come the final close. 15When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, erected in the holy place, (let him that readeth, mark this,) 16then let such as are in Judea flee into the mountains. 17Let not him who is upon the roof go down to take any thing out of his house. 18And he that is in the field, let him not turn back to take his garment. 19But wo to those who are with child, and have an infant at their breasts in those days! 20And pray that your flight be not in winter, nor on the sabbath. 21For then the tribulation will be great, such as never was from the beginning of the world, and never more shall be. 22And except those days were shortened, there would be no flesh saved: but for the elect’s sake these days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man say unto you, Lo! here is the Messiah, or there; believe it not: 24for false Messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and give out great signs and wonders; so as to deceive, if it were possible, even the elect. 25Behold, I have forewarned you. 26Therefore if they say to you, He is in the wilderness; go not out: lo! he is in the secret closets; believe it not. 27For as the lightning cometh out from the east, and flashes to the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29Then, immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun 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. 30And then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in the heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth lament bitterly, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send forth his angels with a trumpet, and a great shout, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the extremities of the heavens to the extremities of the same.
32Learn then a parable from the fig-tree; when its branch is now tender, and the leaves shoot forth, ye know that summer is nigh: 33just so ye, when ye behold these things, know that it is near, even at the gates. 34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away until all these things shall be done. 35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away. 36But of that day and hour no man knoweth, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father alone. 37But as the days of Noah were, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. 38For as they were in the days preceding the deluge, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39and they knew it not till the deluge came, and swept them all away; such also shall the coming of the Son of man be. 40Then two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other dismissed. 41Two women grinding at the mill; the one taken, the other dismissed. 42Watch therefore: for ye know not at what hour your Master cometh. 43And this observe, that if the master of the family had known in which watch of the night the thief would have come, he would have watched, and not have suffered him to break into his house. 44Therefore be ye also prepared: for in an hour that ye think not, the Son of man cometh.
45Who then is the faithful and provident servant, whom his Lord hath appointed over his household, to give them meat in the proper time? 46Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find thus occupied. 47Verily I say unto you, that he will place him over all his substance. 48But if that wicked servant say in his heart, My master will be a long while ere he comes; 49and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50the master of that servant will come in a day that he doth not expect him, and at an hour which he knoweth not. 51And will cut him asunder, and give him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.