John 9:40

¹⁷Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;

¹²Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

⁴⁷The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is cursed.”

⁵⁰Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, ⁵¹“Does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”

⁵²They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. ²¹You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? ²²You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

¹⁶“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living^[+] in it. ²²He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin,^[+] and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. ²⁴You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.^26[+] You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. ²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

³⁴They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.

³⁹The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. ⁴⁰You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. ⁴²But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”

⁴⁵One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.”

⁴⁶He said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won’t even lift one finger to help carry those burdens. ⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute, ⁵⁰that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. ⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”

⁵³As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him, ⁵⁴lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.