26. Pharisees, you are blind! First make the inside of the cup clean and good. Then the outside of the cup will also be clean.
27. “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside they look fine, but inside they are full of dead people’s bones and all kinds of filth.
28. It is the same with you. People look at you and think you are godly. But on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evil.
29. “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets. And you show honor to the graves of the godly people who were killed.
30. And you say, ‘If we had lived during the time of our ancestors, we would not have helped them kill these prophets.’
31. So you give proof that you are descendants of those who killed the prophets.
32. And you will finish the sin that your ancestors started!
33. “You are snakes! You are from a family of poisonous snakes! You will not escape God. You will all be judged guilty and go to hell!
34. So I tell you this: I send to you prophets and teachers who are wise and know the Scriptures. You will kill some of them. You will hang some of them on crosses. You will beat some of them in your synagogues. You will chase them from town to town.
35. “So you will be guilty for the death of all the good people who have been killed on earth. You will be guilty for the killing of that godly man Abel. And you will be guilty for the killing of Zechariah son of Berachiah. He was killed between the Temple and the altar. You will be guilty for the killing of all the good people who lived between the time of Abel and the time of Zechariah.
36. Believe me when I say that all these things will happen to you people who are living now.