15. You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You travel over land and sea to win one follower. And when you have done so, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.
16. You are in for trouble! You are supposed to lead others, but you are blind. You teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the temple. But you say that it does matter if someone swears by the gold in the temple.
17. You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18. You also teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the altar. But you say that it does matter if someone swears by the gift on the altar.
19. Are you blind? Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20. Anyone who swears by the altar also swears by everything on it.
21. And anyone who swears by the temple also swears by God, who lives there.
22. To swear by heaven is the same as swearing by God's throne and by the one who sits on that throne.