But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Then John's disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast?"

But the Pharisees said, "By the ruler of demons he casts out demons."

But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath."

But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.

But when the Pharisees heard this they said, "He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!"

Then some of the experts in the law along with some Pharisees answered him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,

Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?"

Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

"Watch out," Jesus said to them, "beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"

Then they understood that he had not told them to be on guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?"

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.

Then the Pharisees went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words.

Now when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together.

While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them a question:

"The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.

"But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves!

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law -- justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean.

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

The next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate

When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?"

So the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?"

So the Pharisees went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him.

Now the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who came from Jerusalem gathered around him.

(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders.

The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?"

Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for a sign from heaven to test him.

And Jesus ordered them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!"

Then some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to trap him with his own words.

Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, "Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

But the Pharisees and their experts in the law complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

Then they said to him, "John's disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours continue to eat and drink."

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?"

The experts in the law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they could find a reason to accuse him.

However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Now one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

Then when a woman of that town, who was a sinner, learned that Jesus was dining at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfumed oil.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."

As he spoke, a Pharisee invited Jesus to have a meal with him, so he went in and took his place at the table.

The Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus did not first wash his hands before the meal.

But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

"But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and every herb, yet you neglect justice and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others.

Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces!

When he went out from there, the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, and to ask him hostile questions about many things,

Meanwhile, when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you."

Now one Sabbath when Jesus went to dine at the house of a leader of the Pharisees, they were watching him closely.

So Jesus asked the experts in religious law and the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"

But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

The Pharisees (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed him.

Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector.

I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,

Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was winning and baptizing more disciples than John

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things about Jesus, so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why didn't you bring him back with you?"

Then the Pharisees answered, "You haven't been deceived too, have you?

None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?

The experts in the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them

So the Pharisees objected, "You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!"

They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.

So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. He replied, "He put mud on my eyes and I washed, and now I am able to see."

Then some of the Pharisees began to say, "This man is not from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such miraculous signs?" Thus there was a division among them.

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, "We are not blind too, are we?"

But some of them went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs.

(Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should report it, so that they could arrest him.)

Thus the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!"

Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.

So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. They came to the orchard with lanterns and torches and weapons.

But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.

But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to observe the law of Moses."

Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!"

When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

(For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)

There was a great commotion, and some experts in the law from the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.

I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.