Luke 11:37-52

Luke 11

Woes and Warnings

³⁷ After Jesus spoke, a Pharisee invited him to have a meal with him. He went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first wash ^[1] before the meal. ³⁹ But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ Fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside? ⁴¹ But give those things that are inside as a gift to the poor, and see, everything will be clean for you. ⁴² But woe to you Pharisees, because you give a tenth of mint and rue and every herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the legal experts answered him, “Teacher, by saying these things you are insulting us too.”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Woe to you legal experts too, because you load people down with burdens too difficult to carry, and you yourselves do not touch these burdens with one of your fingers. ⁴⁷ Woe to you because you build monuments for the prophets, but your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and agree with what your fathers did, because they killed them, and you build their monuments. ⁴⁹ For this reason the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. Some of them they will kill and persecute, ⁵⁰ so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. ⁵² Woe to you legal experts, because you took away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were trying to enter.”