Modern Literal Version
[Matthew 23]




     {Mar 12:38-40 & Mat 23:1-39 & Luk 20:45-47 Courts of the Temple, Tues.}



     23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, 23:2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sat upon the seat of Moses.23:3Therefore, all things, as many things as they would say for you* to keep, keep* and do**, but do** not do them according to their works; for* they say and are not doing*.23:4For* they bind burdensome and unbearable loads, and place them upon men's shoulders, but they are not willing to move them even with their finger. 23:5And they are practicing all their works in order to be seen by men. And they widen their phylacteries and magnify the hems of their garments, 23:6and they love the foremost-place in the suppers and the foremost seats in the synagogues, 23:7and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi, rabbi. 23:8 But do* not be called rabbi; for*only one is your* leader, the Christ, and you* are all brethren. 23:9Now do* not call anyoneyour* father upon the earth; for*only one is your* Father, the one in the heavens; 23:10nor be called leaders; for*only one is your* leaderС the Christ. 23:11But the greater of you* will be your* servant.23:12But if he exalts himselfС he will be humbling himself. And whoever humbles himselfС he will be exalting himself.




     {Footnotes: Mat 23:13 & 23:14 are flipped in various Greek texts.}



     23:13Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* are devouring widows' houses, and praying long prayers for a pretext, because of this, you* will be receiving even-more condemnation.



     23:14But woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* lock the kingdom of the heavens before men; for* you* are not entering in yourselves, nor are you* allowing those who are entering in, to enter either.



     23:15Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* proceed all around the sea andthe dry land to make* one Jewish-convert, and whenever he has become one, you* are making* him double the son of hell as you* are yourselves.



     23:16Woe to you*, you* blind guides, that say, Whoever should swear by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever should swear by the gold of the temple, he is obligated. 23:17You are foolish and blind; for* what is greater, the gold, or the temple that makes the gold holy?23:18And, Whoever should swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever should swear by the gift which is upon it, he is obligated. 23:19You* are foolish and blind; for* what is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy? 23:20Therefore, he who has sworn by the altar, swears by it, and by all things upon it. 23:21And he who has sworn by the temple, swears by it, and in the one who dwelt in it. 23:22And he who has sworn by the heaven, swears by the throne of God, and in the one who is sitting upon it.



     23:23Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* tithe the mint and the dill and the cumin, and yet you* left behind the weighty things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. It was essential for you* to practice these, and not to leave those undone. 23:24You* blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!



     23:25Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* cleanse the outside of the cup and the plate, but they are full from ravening and unrighteousness inside. 23:26Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the cup from within and the plate, in order that the outside of them might also become clean.



     23:27Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* are similar to whitewashed burial chambers, which on the outside indeed appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead men's bones, and full of all uncleanness. 23:28So on the outside you* indeed appear also righteous to men, but inside, you* are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.



     23:29Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* build the burial chambers of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous, 23:30 and say, If we were in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets. 23:31So-then you* are testifying to yourselves, that you* are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32And you*, fill*up the measure of your* fathers. 23:33Serpents, offsprings of vipers! How may you* flee from the judgment of hell? 23:34Because of this, behold, I am sending to you* prophets and wise men and scribes, and you* will be killing and will be crucifying some out of them, and you* will be scourging in your* synagogues and will be persecuting from city to city some out of them, 23:35so*that upon you* may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous{Gen 4:8}until the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you* murdered between the temple and the altar. {Zec 1:7 (?)}23:36 Assuredly I am saying to you*, All these things will be coming upon this generation.




     23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How-often I willed to gather together your children in the manner a bird gathers together its brood under her own wings, and you* did not will it! 23:38Behold, your* house is left to you* desolate; 23:39for* I say to you*, You* should never see me from now on, until you* should say, He who is coming in the name of the Lord has been blessed.{Psa 118:26}





Modern Literal Version Preface & Appendix , copyright 1987, 1999, 2013 by G. Allen Walker for the MLV New Testament Committee.
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