Luke 11:37-54 - Pharisees And Legal Experts Denounced
37 When he finished speaking, a Pharisee asked him to take a meal in his house; so he went in and lay down at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he had not washed before the meal, 39 but the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees do clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but your inner life is filled with rapacity and malice. 40 Foolish men! did not He who made the outside make the inside of things too? 41 Better cleanse what is within; then nothing will be unclean for you.
42 But woe to you Pharisees! you tithe mint and rue and every vegetable, but justice and the love of God you disregard; these latter you ought to have practised ??without omitting the former.
43 Woe to you Pharisees! you love the front bench in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces.
44 Woe to you! you are like unsuspected tombs; men walk over them unawares."
45 One of the jurists said to him, "Teacher, when you say this you are insulting us as well."
46 He said, "And woe to you jurists! you load men with irksome burdens, and you will not put a single finger to their burdens.
47 Woe to you! you build tombs for the prophets whom your own fathers killed: 48 thus you testify and consent to what your fathers did, for they killed and you build. 49 This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some they will kill and some they will persecute'; 50 it was that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world might be charged upon this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who was slain between the altar and the House of God ??yes, I tell you, it will all be charged upon this generation.
52 Woe to you jurists! you have taken the key that unlocks the door of knowledge; you have not entered yourselves, and you have stopped those who were entering."
53 After he had gone away, the scribes and Pharisees commenced to follow him up closely and cross-question him on many points, 54 lying in ambush to catch a word from his lips.