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SCRIPTURES
Chapter 44
Yeshua cleanses the temple – Whited sepulchers – False and pretentious disciples
– God shall demand an accounting – False oaths – The weightier matters of the law
– Denunciation of hypocrisy – How the prideful rule – Beware of titles or positions
– Caiaphas plots to kill Yeshua
1 In the courts of the temple did the money changers and sellers of sacrifice make merchandise the worship of the Lord.
2 And there came into the courts of the Gentiles, Yeshua of Nazareth, the Beloved of God, who, making a whip of strong cord, went in among them;
3 Driving from the courts those which sold sheep, and oxen, and doves, and the money changers which sat amidst all their gain;
4 And the Lord did scourge them, and beat them, and did drive them through the gates of the temple, casting down wheresoever he went the stalls of the sheep and the oxen, and breaking in pieces the cages of the doves, and overturning the tables of the money changers.
5 And the Lord spoke aloud unto all which were in the temple, saying: “Get these things hence, and make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
6 Now there came out on the balcony of the temple, Caiaphas and Ananas his father-in-law; and with them also were certain of the chief priests and scribes.
7 And the Lord, seeing the prideful looking scornfully upon him, spoke before all the people, saying:
8 “Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchers which appear all white and comely on the outward part, but inwardly you are filled with dead men’s bones, being in your inward part filled with all manner of corruption.
9 For you are they which appear outwardly to be righteous, but inwardly you are filled with hypocrisy and iniquity.
10 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and make as beautiful the sepulchers of the righteous, and speak among yourselves, saying:
11 ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the deaths of the prophets.’
12 Be you, therefore, as witnesses against yourselves, for you are the children of them which killed the prophets.
13 See then how you are become in full measure, like unto your fathers which were before you.
14 You serpents! You generation of vipers! How can you escape the coming of the Lord?
15 For the Lord shall send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some you shall stone to death and crucify, and some you shall scourge in your synagogues, and some you shall persecute from city to city.
16 Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you: Behold, an accounting shall I demand of you, and a balancing and a compensation shall I require at your hands; for all your house shall I leave unto you desolate.
17 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you are become as blind guides which say: ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, has committed but a small offense.
18 But whosoever shall swear by the gold which is in the temple, he has committed the greater sin, and he shall be made as a debtor unto the temple.’
19 You fools, ignorant and blind! Which, therefore, is the greater: the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold?
20 And again you say: ‘Whosoever shall swear by the altar, has committed but a small offense; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty of the greater sin.’
21 You fools, ignorant and blind! Which of these two is the greater: the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift?
22 Whosoever, therefore, shall swear by the altar, the same swears also by the gift which is on the altar; and whosoever shall swear by the temple, the same has sworn by all things in it.
23 And whosoever shall swear by Heaven, the same has sworn by the throne of God, and by the Father which sits thereon.
24 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of all which you possess, but the weightier matters of the law have you forgotten altogether.
25 Consider, therefore, these three: justice, mercy, and faith. These things ought you to have done already, and not leave the other undone also.
26 You fools, ignorant and blind! See then how you are become as blind guides; for you are they which strain hard against the gnat, and swallow whole the camel every whit.
27 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but inwardly you are full of extortion and excess.
28 You blind fools! Cleanse first that which is within both cup and platter, then shall the outside be clean also.
29 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you would shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men;
30 For you yourselves go not into it, neither would you permit them which are entering to go in either.
31 Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you encompass the world round about that you might make one proselyte, and when he is made, behold, he is become twofold more the child of hell than you yourselves.”
32 And speaking aloud unto the multitudes, and unto the disciples, the Lord continued speaking, saying:
33 “Behold how the prideful have taken unto themselves the seat of Moses, as though they were someone great.
34 Whatsoever these shall bid you do, that thing will you observe to do in righteousness before God; but do not according to their works: for they say, and do not themselves likewise.
35 For they bind upon you a heavy burden too grievous to be borne, and lay upon the shoulders of men the yoke of the law that they might rule over you, as though they themselves were righteous;
36 But to undo the heavy burden, to lift up the fallen which are among you, to comfort and make whole again those which are lost, these things, for your sake, will they not so much as lift their little finger to do.
37 But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad the borders of their phylacteries, and enlarge overmuch the hems of their garments to cover with gold;
38 Seeking for themselves the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplace wherein men shall call unto them, saying: ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
39 But seek you not yourselves to be called Rabbi: for there is but one who is your Rabbi, even the Messiah; and you are all brethren.
40 And call no man your father upon the earth; for you have but one which is your Father, and in Heaven does he dwell continually, that he might make place for the righteous which are even now among you.
41 Therefore, let no man call you Master: for you have but one which is your Master, for him alone has the Father appointed unto you.
42 For whosoever among you would be as someone great, then be you as a servant unto all the rest;
43 For whosoever shall exalt himself, even he shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself even as a servant, the same shall the Father exalt on high.”
44 Now when the Lord had finished speaking, he went forth from the temple, and no man laid a hand against him, for the press of the crowd was great and all the people loved him.
45 Now when it was but three days before the feast of the Passover, there assembled secretly together in the house of Caiaphas, the chief priests and elders; but many which were of the Pharisees would not consent;
46 For many which were of the Sanhedrin believed in Yeshua and would not permit that any evil should fall upon him.
47 But they which were of the Sadducees and the scribes consulted whereby they might take Yeshua by subtlety and put him to death according to the law.
48 And one spoke unto Caiaphas, saying: “Let us kill him secretly and be done with him altogether quickly.” But Caiaphas answered him, saying:
49 “Would you make him equal to the prophets which our fathers killed in like manner?
50 Let us be wise and do all things in similitude of the law for appearance sake. For if this man continues, then shall we lose all our station, and Israel shall be destroyed because of him.”
51 So counseled they among themselves, and they sent forth a commandment throughout all the city, that if any man should know where the Lord would be, then should he show it unto them whereby they might take him by force.
YESHUA 44