Part 29

023:006 and love the best seats at a dinner party or in the synagogues,

023:007 and like to be bowed to in places of public resort, and to be addressed by men as `Rabbi.'

023:008 "As for you, do not accept the title of `Rabbi,' for one alone is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.

023:009 And call no one on earth your Father, for One alone is your Father-- the Heavenly Father.

023:010 And do not accept the name of `leader,' for your Leader is one alone--the Christ.

023:011 He who is the greatest among you shall be your servant;

023:012 and one who exalts himself shall be abased, while one who abases himself shall be exalted.

023:013 "But alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you lock the door of the Kingdom of the Heavens against men; you yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those to enter who are seeking to do so.

023:014 []

023:015 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you scour sea and land in order to win one convert--and when he is gained, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

023:016 "Alas for you, you blind guides, who say, "`Whoever swears by the Sanctuary it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Sanctuary, is bound by the oath.'

023:017 "Blind fools! Why, which is greater?--the gold, or the Sanctuary which has made the gold holy?

023:018 And you say, "`Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering lying on it is bound by the oath.'

023:019 "You are blind! Why, which is greater?--the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?

023:020 He who swears by the altar swears both by it and by everything on it;

023:021 he who swears by the Sanctuary swears both by it and by Him who dwells in it;

023:022 and he who swears by Heaven swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

023:023 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay the tithe on mint, dill, and cumin, while you have neglected the weightier requirements of the Law--just judgement, mercy, and faithful dealing. These things you ought to have done, and yet you ought not to have left the others undone.

023:024 You blind guides, straining out the gnat while you gulp down the camel!

023:025 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

023:026 Blind Pharisee, first wash clean the inside of the cup or dish, and then the outside will be clean also.

023:027 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean.

023:028 The same is true of you: outwardly you seem to the human eye to be good and honest men, but, within, you are full of insincerity and disregard of God's Law.

023:029 "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and keep in order the tombs of the righteous,

023:030 and your boast is, "`If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'

023:031 "So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets.

023:032 Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.

023:033 O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna?