Matthew 23:13

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.

Matthew 23:15

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ⁵  and when you get one, ⁶  you make him twice as much a child of hell ⁷  as yourselves!

[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.”

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

[23:15]  ⁵ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ⁷ 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.”