Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 23 (Seven Woes To the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law)

Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 23 (Seven Woes To the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law)

Then Jesus said this to the crowds around,
and also to, disciples, his, aloud:

“The teachers of the law and Pharisees,
those who are sitting there, in Moses’ seat.
You must be careful to do everything
they tell you to do. But you should refrain
from what they do, for, practice, they do not,
what they preach. Their loads are both heavy, great,
they’re cumbersome; they tie them up and place
them, other people’s shoulders, on, but they
themselves aren’t willing, to alleviate
a single finger, lift, the burden, to.

“For people to see, everything they do,
is done: they make phylacteries, their, wide,
and they, their garments’ tassels’ length, extend;
they love the place of honor, banquets, at,
and, in the synagogues, important seats,
the most; they love it when you, them, would greet,
out in the marketplace, with great respect,
and to be called, by others, ‘Rabbi.’ But
you are not to be, ‘Rabbi’, called, for just
one Teacher, you have, and you, brothers, all,
are. And don’t anyone here, ‘father’, call,
on earth, for you, a single Father, have,
and it’s in heaven, that place where he lives.
Nor are you to be, e’er, instructors, called,
for only one Instructor that you have,
him, the Messiah. He among you all
who is the greatest will your servant be.
For they’ll be humbled, who, themselves, exalt,
and those, themselves, who humble, you will see,
they’ll be exalted, honored, be, they will.

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
In people’s faces, how it is you shut
the door of heaven’s kingdom. You do not
yourselves, there, enter, nor will you permit
those others’ entrance who make the attempt.

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
To win, you travel o’er the land and sea,
a single convert, and when you succeed,
you make them twice as much, again, a child
of hell as you are. Woe to you, blind guides!
You say, ‘If, by the temple, swear, would anyone,
that nothing is what that commitment means,
but if someone swears by the temple’s gold,
then binding is the nature of their oath.’
You blind fools! Which is greater: first, the gold,
or that, the temple, by which, sacred, made,
it is? You also say, ‘If anyone
would, by the altar swear, naught would it mean;
but anyone who’d swear by that, the gift,
the altar, on, they’re bound by it, that oath.
You blind men! Which, its greatness, is it more:
the gift you place upon the altar or,
the altar that, the gift, will, sacred, make?
Therefore, if any, by the altar, swears,
swears by it and aught that on it might lay.
And, whoe’er, by the temple, swears, as well
swears by it, too, the one who in it dwells.
And any who by heaven they would swear,
swears by God’s throne, the one who’s sitting there.’

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
You give a tenth of all your spices, herbs–
mint, dill, and cumin. But what you ignore,
the, matters of the law, important, most–
to render justice, mercy, faithfulness.
The latter ones, you should have practiced them,
while none of them, the former, you’d neglect.
You blind guides! You would outwards strain a gnat,
but swallow whole a camel like a snack.

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
The outside of the cup and dish, you clean,
but they, inside, are filled up with great greed
and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee!
First, clean the inside of the cup and dish,
and then your outside, clean, condition, its.

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
You are like whitewashed tombs, which, beautiful,
look, on the outside, but inside they’re full
with bones, the dead’s, and everything unclean.
In the same way, as righteous, you will seem
to people on the outside, but inside
you, wickedness, hypocrisy reside.

“You teachers of the law and Pharisees,
woe to you for your gross hypocrisy!
You build tombs for the prophets, decorate
the gravesites of the righteous. And you say,
‘If we had lived in our ancestors’ days,
we never would, a part, in that, e’er played
with them in shedding any prophet’s blood.’
So testify against yourselves, you would,
that you’re descendants of those ones who had,
the prophets, murdered. Go ahead, then and
complete what you ancestors once began!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How, you, will,
escape your condemnation into hell?
Therefore, I’m sending prophets out to you,
with sages, also teachers, tell the truth.
Some of them you will kill and crucify;
and others, in your synagogues, you’ll flay,
and, them, you will pursue from town to town.
And so, on you, will all of it come down,
the righteous blood that’s e’er, on earth, been shed,
to that of him, from righteous Abel’s blood,
the blood of Zechariah, he’s the son
of Berekiah whom you murdered there,
between the temple and the altar, where.
I tell you truly, all of this will come
this generation, on. Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, you who, the prophets, kill,
and stone those sent to you, this, how I feel:
how often I have longed to gather them,
your children, all together, as a hen
would gather up, beneath her wings, her chicks,
and you were willing, not. Look, your house is
left to you, desolate. For I confess,
you won’t see me again until these words,
about the prophets, that you would say, ‘Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”