Old Testament

New Testament

Matthew 23:7-21 God's Word Translation (GW)

7. They love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have people call them Rabbi.

8. But don’t make others call you Rabbi, because you have only one teacher, and you are all followers.

9. And don’t call anyone on earth your father, because you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.

10. Don’t make others call you a leader, because you have only one leader, the Messiah.

11. The person who is greatest among you will be your servant.

12. Whoever honors himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be honored.

13. “How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter it yourselves, and you don’t permit others to enter when they try.

15. “How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You cross land and sea to recruit a single follower, and when you do, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.

16. “How horrible it will be for you, you blind guides! You say, ‘To swear an oath by the temple doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gold in the temple means a person must keep his oath.’

17. You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the temple that made the gold holy?

18. Again you say, ‘To swear an oath by the altar doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gift on the altar means a person must keep his oath.’

19. You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?

20. To swear an oath by the altar is to swear by it and by everything on it.

21. To swear an oath by the temple is to swear by it and by the one who lives there.

Read complete chapter Matthew 23