1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. 4For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them. 5But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments, 6and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi by men. 8But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. 9Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. 10Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ. 11But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. 12Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter. 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
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. 26You 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.
29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous, 30and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? 34Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. 36Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! 38Behold, your house is left to you desolate. 39For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees? There were four political and religious parties that influenced Jewish society at the time of Christ, the Sadducees and Pharisees (who were also spiritual leaders). The former, who were connected to the Temple, were theological liberals, and consorted with Rome. Conversely, the Pharisees were teachers of the law.
The Zealots wanted to overthrow Rome in favor of national independence. They were fanatical about the Law and saw themselves as warriors for God. They believed the pagan Roman Empire as the enemy of God, and thought it was their duty to engage in military resistance against Rome.
Opposite to the Zealots were the Herodians, who supported the rule of king Herod and were supporters of Roman rule.
In contrast to the Zealots were the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees are traditionally thought to have had their beginnings with Zadok, the high priest under King David, but their actual beginnings were with the Hasmonean “priest-kings” in the 2nd century B.C. At the time of Christ, they were economically affluent, politically powerful, religiously liberal, and represented by most of the high priests. Many served on the council known as the Sanhedrin. Holding only to the Law of Moses (the first five books of the OT), they denied the resurrection of the dead, life after death, eternal punishment, a literal kingdom, the existence of angels, and God's control of history (see Matt 22:23; Acts 4:1-2; 5:17; 23:6-8).
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were religious conservatives whose cause probably derived from the Hasidim, their name meaning "to separate." They arose roughly at the same time as the Sadducees, perhaps as a reaction to them. Many had a distrust of the priesthood and chose to study the law on their own, and were considered doctors of the Law. Like the Herodians, another political party in Israel, though less influential, they favored local political autonomy. Like the Sadducees, they were well represented on the Sanhedrin. Unlike the Sadducees they held to the Talmud, Mishna, oral and rabbinic tradition with fanatical zeal. They believed in God's intervention in the affairs of men through angels, and a future kingdom in literal fulfillment of God's promise to David. Their most notable difference with the Sadducees was their adamant belief in the resurrection of the body, and life after death (see Paul's exploitation of this dispute in Acts 23:5-8). For all of their differences, Jesus warned His disciples against "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," which was later identified as their teaching (Matt 16:6-12). Both groups were spiritually blind, self-righteous, sign-seeking, and hypocritical (see Matt 3:7; 16:1; 22:29; 23:1-39; Luke 12:1).