Matthew 23:27

| Matt 23 |

27 n “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like o whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and p all uncleanness.

Acts 23:3

| Acts 23 |

3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you a whitewashed b wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet c contrary to the law you c order me to be struck?”

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Matt. 21:1–23:39 The Messiah Asserts His Authority over Jerusalem. Jesus' authority over Jerusalem is revealed in his triumphal entry (21:1–11), actions in the temple (21:12–17), cursing the fig tree (21:18–22), debates with religious leaders (21:23–22:46), and woes pronounced on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1–39).

Matt. 23:13–36 Woes of Judgment against the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Jesus now addresses the scribes and Pharisees directly, declaring a series of seven “woes” upon them that echoes the criticisms he has repeated throughout his ministry. These seven woes stand in contrast to the first seven “blessings” that introduce the Sermon on the Mount and describe Jesus' true disciples (5:3–9). (For a similar list of woes, see Luke 11:37–54.)

Matt. 23:27–28 Sixth woe: whitewashed tombs. The Pharisees were like tombs, which in Jesus' day could be outwardly very beautiful but within held nothing but death and decay. These tombs were customarily whitewashed to identify them clearly to passersby, since people would be rendered unclean for seven days through any contact with them (Num. 19:16; cf. Luke 11:44).