Matthew 23:14-15

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ¹ 

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ³  and when you get one, ⁴  you make him twice as much a child of hell ⁵  as yourselves!

Matthew 23:27

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁶  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ⁷ 

Matthew 23:29

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁸  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ⁹  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ¹⁰  of the righteous.

Isaiah 9:14-15

9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,

both the shoots and stalk ¹¹  in one day.

9:15 The leaders and the highly respected people ¹²  are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

Isaiah 33:14

33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic ¹³  grips the godless. ¹⁴ 

They say, ¹⁵  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ¹⁶  fire?’

Zechariah 11:17

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd

who abandons the flock!

May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye!

May his arm wither completely away,

and his right eye become completely blind!”

Luke 11:43-44

11:43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats ¹⁷  in the synagogues ¹⁸  and elaborate greetings ¹⁹  in the marketplaces! 11:44 Woe to you! ²⁰  You are like unmarked graves, and people ²¹  walk over them without realizing it!” ²² 

[23:14]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ³ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ⁴ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ⁵ 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.”

[23:27]  ⁶ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ⁷ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[23:29]  ⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ⁹ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[9:14]  ¹¹ sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.

[9:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the elder and the one lifted up with respect to the face.” For another example of the Hebrew idiom, see 2 Kgs 5:1.

[33:14]  ¹³ tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

[33:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

[33:14]  ¹⁵ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[33:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:43]  ¹⁷ tn Or “seats of honor.” The term here is plural and is not a reference only to the lead “seat of Moses” in the synagogue, but includes the front seats near the ark.

[11:43]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

[11:43]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and the greetings.”

[11:44]  ²⁰ tc Most mss (A [D] W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï it) have “experts in the law and Pharisees, hypocrites” after “you,” but this looks like an assimilation to the parallel in Matt 23:25, 27, 29. The shorter reading has earlier attestation from a variety of reliable mss (Ì^45,75 א B C L ˹ 33 1241 2542 lat sa).

[11:44]  ²¹ tn Grk “men.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:44]  ²² sn In Judaism to come into contact with the dead or what is associated with them, even without knowing it, makes one unclean (Num 19:11-22; Lev 21:1-3; Mishnah, m. Demai 2:3). To Pharisees, who would have been so sensitive about contracting ceremonial uncleanness, it would have been quite a stinging rebuke to be told they caused it.