23:14. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.
23:15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte. And when he is made, you make him the child of h.e.l.l twofold more than yourselves.
23:16. Woe to you, blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple is a debtor.
23:17. Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
23:18. And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it is a debtor.
23:19. Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
23:20. He therefore that sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by all things that are upon it.
23:21. And whosoever shall swear by the temple sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth in it.
23:22. And he that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of G.o.d and by him that sitteth thereon.
23:23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you t.i.the mint and anise and c.u.mmin and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone.
23:24. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.
23:25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
23:26. Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.
23:27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful but within are full of dead men"s bones and of all filthiness.
23:28. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just: but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
23:29. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that build the sepulchres of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the just,
Build the sepulchres, etc... This is not blamed, as if it were in itself evil to build or adorn the monuments of the prophets: but the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is here taxed; who, whilst they pretended to honour the memory of the prophets, were persecuting even unto death the Lord of the prophets.
23:30. And 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.
23:31. Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.
23:32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
23:33. You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of h.e.l.l?
23:34. Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify: and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.
23:35. That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
That upon you may come, etc... Not that they should suffer more than their own sins justly deserved; but that the justice of G.o.d should now fall upon them with such a final vengeance, once for all, as might comprise all the different kinds of judgments and punishments, that had at any time before been inflicted for the shedding of just blood.
23:36. Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
23:37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?
23:38. Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate.
23:39. For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matthew Chapter 24
Christ foretells the destruction of the temple, with the signs that shall come before it and before the last judgment. We must always watch.
24:1. And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple.
24:2. And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you, there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed.
24:3. And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the consummation of the world?
24:4. And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you.
24:5. For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ. And they will seduce many.
24:6. And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pa.s.s: but the end is not yet.
24:7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And there shall be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in places.
24:8. Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows.
24:9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name"s sake.
24:10. And then shall many be scandalized and shall betray one another and shall hate one another.
24:11. And many false prophets shall rise and shall seduce many.
24:12. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
24:13. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations: and then shall the consummation come.
24:15. When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
24:16. Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:
24:17. And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:
24:18. And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.
24:19. And woe to them that are with child and that give suck in those days.
24:20. But pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath.