18. You also teach, ‘If someone swears by the altar, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is bound.’
19. How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?
20. So then, when a person swears by the altar, he is swearing by it and by all the gifts on it;
21. and when he swears by the Temple, he is swearing by it and by God, who lives there;
22. and when someone swears by heaven, he is swearing by God's throne and by him who sits on it.
23. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give to God a tenth even of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practise, without neglecting the others.
24. Blind guides! You strain a fly out of your drink, but swallow a camel!
25. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have obtained by violence and selfishness.
26. Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too!
27. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside.
28. In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins.
29. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You make fine tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who lived good lives;