Matthew · 38 verses

Matthew 23

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

Jesus likens his longing to gather Jerusalem’s children to a hen gathering her chicks, just before the house is left desolate.

The seat and the burdenvv. 1–12

Jesus speaks to the crowds and his disciples about the scribes and Pharisees, who sit in Moses’ seat. Their teaching is to be observed, but their practice is not to be copied: burdens are tied up for other shoulders while their own fingers remain remarkably unemployed. Their phylacteries are broadened, their tassels lengthened, and their preferred furniture includes the places of honour, chief seats, marketplace greetings, and the title ‘Rabbi’. Jesus turns the whole ladder upside down: the greatest is the servant, and exaltation has a habit of ending rather lower than expected.

Gnats, camels, cups, and tombsvv. 13–36

Then come the woes. The scribes and Pharisees shut the kingdom of heaven, travel land and sea for a single convert, and make a maze of oaths involving the temple, its gold, the altar, and its gifts. They tithe mint, dill, and cumin while neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness; strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Their cups are clean outside but greedy within, and their whitewashed tombs conceal dead men’s bones. They decorate the monuments of the prophets while declaring that they would never have joined their fathers in shedding prophetic blood—then testify against themselves as the sons of those who did. Jesus says prophets, wise men, and teachers will still be sent, and names the blood stretching from Abel to Zechariah.

Jerusalem, Jerusalemvv. 37–39

At the end, Jesus addresses Jerusalem itself: the city kills prophets and stones those sent to it. His longing is for its children to be gathered beneath his wings, but Jerusalem is unwilling. The house is left desolate, and Jesus says he will not be seen again until the city says, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Matt 23:1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples:
Matt 23:2“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
Matt 23:3So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matt 23:4They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matt 23:5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
Matt 23:6They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,
Matt 23:7the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.
Matt 23:8But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.
Matt 23:9And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Matt 23:10Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ.
Matt 23:11The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Matt 23:12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matt 23:13Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Matt 23:15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Matt 23:16Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
Matt 23:17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?
Matt 23:18And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’
Matt 23:19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?
Matt 23:20So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
Matt 23:21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.
Matt 23:22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.
Matt 23:23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Matt 23:24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Matt 23:25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Matt 23:26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.
Matt 23:27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
Matt 23:28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Matt 23:29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
Matt 23:30And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
Matt 23:31So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Matt 23:32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.
Matt 23:33You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
Matt 23:34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.
Matt 23:35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Matt 23:36Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Matt 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Matt 23:38Look, your house is left to you desolate.
Matt 23:39For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 395 passages were voted onto 35 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

23 Luke 11:42Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
12 1 Peter 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
12 James 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
12 Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 Proverbs 29:23A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
23 Micah 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
12 Matthew 18:4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
12 Luke 18:14I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
11 1 Corinthians 9:19Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
12 Proverbs 15:33The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
12 Matthew 5:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
13 Luke 11:52Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
23 Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
23 Matthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
37 Luke 13:34–35O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
11 John 13:14–15So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

Onward

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