Bible Chapter Summary
Matthew 23 Summary
Woes Against Scribes and Pharisees
Jesus addresses the multitudes and His disciples, exposing the hypocrisy of scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat but do not practice what they preach. He pronounces eight woes against them: binding heavy burdens, doing works for show, loving honor, shutting the kingdom, devouring widows' houses, misleading converts, making oaths by lesser things while blindly trusting in the greater, and neglecting judgment and mercy. Jesus laments over Jerusalem, wishing to gather her children as a hen gathers chicks, but they would not; their house is left desolate.
Key themes
Key verses
Matthew 23:13
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”
Matthew 23:23
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
Matthew 23:25-27
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
Matthew 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
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