Bible / Matthew

Matthew 23

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

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

2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Fathers

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. Fathers

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. Fathers

5 But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and 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 you are not to 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. CCC · Fathers

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. CCC

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 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.’ CCC

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

18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’ CCC

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

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

21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living in it. CCC

22 He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it. CCC

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. Fathers

24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Fathers

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. Fathers

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. Fathers

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

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? Fathers

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. Fathers

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! CCC · Fathers

38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. Fathers

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!’” CCC

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Fathers
    • “For they bind heavy burdens, and lay them upon men's shoulders; but they themselves will not so much as move them with a finger.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Read the Fathers
    • “For they bind heavy burdens, and lay them upon men's shoulders; but they themselves will not so much as move them with a finger.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  3. Read the Fathers
    • “For they bind heavy burdens, and lay them upon men's shoulders; but they themselves will not so much as move them with a finger.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  4. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2367 “Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God. "Married couples should regard it as their proper…”
    • “Jesus, therefore, will be to them the author and teacher of such transgression, inasmuch as He commanded that one Being should be called Father,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter I. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 526 “To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and…”
  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  7. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  9. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  10. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  12. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2111 “Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer…”
  13. Read the Fathers
    • “… not into conversation with us; will they not deserve to hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: Whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward, and within are full of dead men's bones; which pay tithe of mint, and swallow a camel: ye blind guides!”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  14. Read the Fathers
    • “… not into conversation with us; will they not deserve to hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: Whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward, and within are full of dead men's bones; which pay tithe of mint, and swallow a camel: ye blind guides!”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  15. Read the Fathers
    • “And saying similar things to these men, He declares: "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse that which is within the cup, that the outside may be clean also.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  16. Read the Fathers
    • “… not into conversation with us; will they not deserve to hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: Whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward, and within are full of dead men's bones; which pay tithe of mint, and swallow a camel: ye blind guides!”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “For the sepulchre appears beautiful outside, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness; even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of wickedness and hypocrisy.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  17. Read the Fathers
    • “For the sepulchre appears beautiful outside, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness; even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of wickedness and hypocrisy.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  18. Read the Fathers
    • “Wherefore they cannot receive His inheritance: as David says, "Sinners are alienated from the womb; their anger is after the likeness of a serpent." And therefore did the Lord term those whom He knew to be the offspring of men "a generation of vipers;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XLI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  19. Read the Fathers
    • “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  20. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 558 “Jesus recalls the martyrdom of the prophets who had been put to death in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he persists in calling Jerusalem to…”
    • “Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “This expression [of our Lord], "How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldest not,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “Wherefore your house shall be left unto you desolate.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  21. Read the Fathers
    • “Wherefore your house shall be left unto you desolate.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  22. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 674 “The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come…”