Matthew 23:27-39

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹  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. ²  23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ⁴  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ⁵  of the righteous. 23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ⁶  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ⁷ 

23:34 “For this reason I ⁸  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ⁹  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ¹⁰  and some you will flog ¹¹  in your synagogues ¹²  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ¹³  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ¹⁵ 

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹⁶  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁷  How often I have longed ¹⁸  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹⁹  you would have none of it! ²⁰  23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate! 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ²¹ 

[23:27]  ¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ⁴ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[23:30]  ⁶ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).

[23:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”

[23:34]  ⁸ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[23:34]  ⁹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ¹² sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ¹³ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[23:37]  ¹⁶ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ¹⁷ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ¹⁸ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁰ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[23:39]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.