Matthew 23 is Jesus’s seven-fold confrontation with religious hypocrisy - delivered in the Jerusalem temple courts, days before the crucifixion.
Full sung version coming soon.
Lyrics
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe Observe and do
But don’t do their works For they say and don’t do For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne And lay them on men’s shoulders But they themselves will not lift a finger to help them Whoever exalts himself will be humbled Whoever humbles himself will be exalted
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites For you devour widows’ houses And as a pretence you make long prayers Therefore you will receive greater condemnation Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men
For you don’t enter in yourselves Neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin But have left undone the weightier matters of the law
Justice, mercy, and faith You ought to have done these and not left the other undone You blind guides, who strain out a gnat And swallow a camel Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter But within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside That its outside may become clean also Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
For you are like whitened tombs Which outwardly appear beautiful But inwardly are full of dead men’s bones And of all uncleanness Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men But inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity
You serpents, you offspring of vipers How will you escape the judgement of Gehenna? Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets Some of them you will kill and crucify Some of them you will scourge in your synagogues And persecute from city to city
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets And stones those who are sent to her How often I would have gathered your children together Even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings And you would not Behold, your house is left to you desolate
For I tell you, you will not see me from now on Until you say, Blessed is he who comes In the name of the Lord Woe, woe Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees
Listen
Matthew 23 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.