Matius 23:13-15

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ⁴ 

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁵  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ⁶  and when you get one, ⁷  you make him twice as much a child of hell ⁸  as yourselves!

Matius 23:23

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ¹⁰  of mint, dill, and cumin, ¹¹  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ¹²  should have done these things without neglecting the others.

Matius 23:25

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Matius 23:29

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ¹⁵  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ¹⁶  of the righteous.

[23:13]  ¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ³ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[23:14]  ⁴ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.

[23:15]  ⁵ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ⁶ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:15]  sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

[23:23]  ⁹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ¹¹ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ¹² tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[23:25]  ¹³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ¹⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).