And they having been sent were of the Pharisees.
O blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, and side dish of sweetmeats, that also their outside might be clean.
And he saying these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to hold on greatly, and to put questions to him of many things:
And the Pharisees heard all these things, being avaricious: and they derided him.
And the Pharisees, and they pertaining to the law, rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not immersed by him.
He said, I the voice of him crying in the desert, Make ye straight the way of the Lord, as said Esaias the prophet.
And they asked him, and said to him, Why immersest thou then, if thou art not Christ, neither Elias, neither a prophet?
For truly the Sadducees say there is no rising up, neither messenger, nor spirit: and the Pharisees acknowledge both.
Knowing me beforehand, from a former period, if they would testify, that according to the most strict sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.