46. Jesus answered: “How terrible for you, too, teachers of the Law! You put loads on people’s backs, which are hard to carry, but you yourselves will not stretch out a finger to help them carry those loads. 47 How terrible for you! You make fine tombs for the prophets – the very prophets your ancestors murdered. 48 You yourselves admit, then, that you approve of what your ancestors did; for they murdered the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 For this reason the Wisdom of God said: ‘I will send them prophets and messengers; they will kill some of them and persecute others.’ 50 So the people of this time will be punished for the murder of all the prophets killed since the creation of the world, 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the holy place. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will be punished for them all!

52. “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law! You have kept the key that opens the door to the house of knowledge; you yourselves will not go in, and you stop those who are trying to go in!”

53. When Jesus left that place the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to criticize him bitterly and ask him questions about many things, 54 trying to lay traps for him and catch him in something wrong he might say.

Chapter 12 A Warning against Hypocrisy

As thousands of people crowded together, so that they were stepping on each other, Jesus said first to his disciples, “Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees- I man their hypocrisy. 2 Whatever is covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. 3 So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in board daylight, and whatever you have whispered in private in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops.

Whom to Fear  

4. “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterwards do anything worse. 5 I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!

6. “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God. 7 Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

Confessing and Rejecting Christ  

8. I assure you that whoever declares publicly that he belongs to me, the Son of Man will do the same for him before the angels of God. 9 But whoever rejects me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject him before the angels of God.