Woes of the Pharisees

James Tissot, Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees, Brooklyn Museum

The Woes of the Pharisees are series of criticisms by Jesus against scribes and Pharisees recorded in Luke 11:37–54 and Matthew 23:1–39.[1] Mark 12:35–40 and Luke 20:45–47 also include warnings about scribes.

Eight are listed in Matthew, and hence Matthew's version is known as the eight woes. These are found in Matthew 23 verses 13–16, 23, 25, 27 and 29. Only six are given in Luke, whose version is thus known as the six woes: three are directed to the Pharisees and three to the scribes.[2] The woes mostly criticise the Pharisees for hypocrisy and perjury. They illustrate the differences between inner and outer moral states.[1]

  1. ^ a b Kupfer, Marcia Ann, ed. (2008). The Passion Story: From Visual Representation to Social Drama. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 223–224. ISBN 978-0-271-03307-5. OCLC 180190788.
  2. ^ Stucker, A. C. (2022), Leading Cultural Change in the Established Church through Preaching: Select Discourses from the Teaching Ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, p. 52, accessed 22 September 2023