Matthew 23:13-22

13“How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter it yourselves, and you don’t permit others to enter when they try.

15“How horrible it will be for you, experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You cross land and sea to recruit a single follower, and when you do, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.

16“How horrible it will be for you, you blind guides! You say, ‘To swear an oath by the temple doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gold in the temple means a person must keep his oath.’

17You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the temple that made the gold holy?

18Again you say, ‘To swear an oath by the altar doesn’t mean a thing. But to swear an oath by the gift on the altar means a person must keep his oath.’

19You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?

20To swear an oath by the altar is to swear by it and by everything on it.

21To swear an oath by the temple is to swear by it and by the one who lives there.

22And to swear an oath by heaven is to swear by God’s throne and the one who sits on it.