MODERN LITERAL VERSION

23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
23:2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit upon the seat of Moses.
23:3 Therefore, as many things as they may say for you* to keep, keep and do, but do not do them according to their works; for* they say and are not doing.
23:4 For* they bind burdensome and unbearable loads and place them upon men's shoulders, but they are not willing to move them even with their finger.
23:5 And they are doing all their works to be seen by men. And they widen their phylacteries and magnify the hems of their garments,
23:6 and they love the foremost-places in the suppers and the foremost seats in the synagogues,
23:7 and the greeting in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
23:8 But do not be called Rabbi; for* only one is your* leader, the Christ and you* are all brethren.
23:9 And do not call anyone your* father upon the earth; for* only one is your* Father, who is in the heavens;
23:10 nor be called leaders; for* only one is your* leader– the Christ.
23:11 But the greatest of you* will be your* servant.
23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

23:13 {F} Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* devour widows' houses, even while you* are praying long prayers for a pretext, because of this, you* will receive even-more condemnation.

23:14 {F} But woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* lock the kingdom of heaven in front of men; for* you* are not entering in yourselves, nor are you* allowing those who are entering in, to enter either.

23:15 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* go all around the sea and the dry land to make* one Jewish-convert, and whenever he has become one, you* are making* him double the son of hell as you * are yourselves.

23:16 Woe to you*, you* blind guides, that say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.
23:17 You* are foolish and blind; for* which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
23:18 And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift which is upon it, he is obligated.
23:19 You* are foolish and blind; for* which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
23:20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it, and by all things upon it.
23:21 And he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it.
23:22 And he who swears by the heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who is sitting upon it.

23:23 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* tithe mint and dill and cumin and yet have left behind the weighty things of the law: justice and mercy and faith. You* ought to do these and not to have left behind those other things either.
23:24 You* blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

23:25 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* cleanse the outside of the cup and the plate, but they are full from swindling and unrighteousness inside.
23:26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the cup from within and the plate, that* the outside of them might also become clean.

23:27 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* are similar to whitewashed burial chambers, which on the outside indeed appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead men's bones and full of all uncleanness.
23:28 So on the outside you* indeed appear also righteous to men, but inside, you* are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29 Woe to you*, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* build the burial chambers of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
23:30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we might not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets.
23:31 So-then you* are testifying to yourselves, that you* are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
23:32 And you*, fill up the measure of your* fathers.
23:33 You* serpents, you* offspring of vipers, how may you* escape from the judgment of hell?
23:34 Therefore, behold, I am sending to you* prophets and wise men and scribes and out of them you* will kill and crucify, and some of them you* will scourge in your* synagogues and persecute from city to city,
23:35 so *that upon you* may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous {Gen. 4:8} to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you* murdered between the temple and the altar. {Zech 1:7 (?)}
23:36 Assuredly I say to you*, All these things will come upon this generation.

23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How many times I willed to have gathered your children together, in the manner a bird gathers her brood under her wings and you* did not will it!
23:38 Behold, your* house is left to you* desolate;
23:39 for* I say to you*, You* may never* see me from now on, until you* should say, He who is coming in the name of the Lord is blessed. {Ps. 118:26}
{Footnotes: Mt 23:13 & 23:14 are flipped in various translations.}
{Mt 24:1-26, 28 & Mk 13:1-23 & Lk 21:5-24 Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It is best to read Luke 21 first. See also: Lk 19:41-44 & Lk 23:28-31.}