I tell you, then, that you will be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in doing what God requires.

When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?"

Jesus said to them, "Take care; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

How is it that you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"

Then the disciples understood that he was not warning them to guard themselves from the yeast used in bread but from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Pharisees went off and made a plan to trap Jesus with questions.

That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and claimed that people will not rise from death.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together,

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go in, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter!

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You sail the seas and cross whole countries to win one convert; and when you succeed, you make him twice as deserving of going to hell as you yourselves are!

Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy?

How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?

and when he swears by the Temple, he is swearing by it and by God, who lives there;

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give to God one tenth even of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practice, without neglecting the others.

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have gotten by violence and selfishness.

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside.

(For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;

So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"

"Take care," Jesus warned them, "and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions.

Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said,

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law rejected God's purpose for themselves and refused to be baptized by John.

So the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of your cup and plate, but inside you are full of violence and evil.

But give what is in your cups and plates to the poor, and everything will be ritually clean for you.

"How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the reserved seats in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.

When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money.

The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.

The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees,

When the guards went back, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"

"Did he fool you, too?" the Pharisees asked them.

This crowd does not know the Law of Moses, so they are under God's curse!"

Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this and asked him, "Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?"

Peter and John were still speaking to the people when some priests, the officer in charge of the Temple guards, and some Sadducees arrived.

They were annoyed because the two apostles were teaching the people that Jesus had risen from death, which proved that the dead will rise to life.

Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action.

But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses."

When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, "Fellow Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!"

(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.)

They have always known, if they are willing to testify, that from the very first I have lived as a member of the strictest party of our religion, the Pharisees.

You snakes---how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.

which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.

Come here to be judged, you sinners! You are no better than sorcerers, adulterers, and prostitutes.

Who are you making fun of ? Who are you liars jeering at?

The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake! But your plots will do you no good---they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!

Crowds of people came out to John to be baptized by him. "You snakes!" he said to them. "Who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

The ax is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire."

You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now God's salvation has come! Now God has shown his power as King! Now his Messiah has shown his authority! For the one who stood before our God and accused believers day and night has been thrown out of heaven.

I answered, "Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.

Run away from Babylonia! Run for your lives! Do not be killed because of Babylonia's sin. I am now taking my revenge and punishing it as it deserves.

If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

"If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins---I will not remember the good he did---and I will hold you responsible for his death.

When he sees the enemy approaching, he sounds the alarm to warn everyone.

His death is his own fault, because he paid no attention to the warning. If he had paid attention, he could have escaped.

"Now, mortal man, I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You must pass on to them the warnings I give you.

Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known.

It was faith that made Noah hear God's warnings about things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a boat in which he and his family were saved. As a result, the world was condemned, and Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith.

By his blood we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger!

and to wait for his Son to come from heaven---his Son Jesus, whom he raised from death and who rescues us from God's anger that is coming.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might,

when he comes on that Day to receive glory from all his people and honor from all who believe. You too will be among them, because you have believed the message that we told you.

There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us.

They called out to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the eyes of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb!

The terrible day of their anger is here, and who can stand up against it?"