Final answer:
Jesus suggested that the Pharisees would be their own judges because of their actions, as spoken in Matthew 23. Additionally, figures like the Queen of the South and the men of Nineveh, who responded to prophetic messages, would also condemn the Pharisees for not recognizing Jesus as greater than the prophets they acknowledged.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to a religious and historical event where Jesus confronts the Pharisees and describes their judgment. In the synoptic Gospels, particularly in Matthew 23, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of hypocrisy and lawlessness. His statements imply that the Pharisees, who were strict adherents to the law and often held positions of power and influence, would receive judgment for their actions. Jesus called out the Pharisees for focusing on the minutiae of the law while neglecting more important issues such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Specifically, in Matthew 23:31-32, Jesus suggests that they are judges upon themselves: "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets." He suggests they follow the patterns of their ancestors who killed the prophets and will thus judge themselves by their actions. Ultimately, the Pharisees' own actions were to be their judgment, according to Jesus. In Luke 11:31-32, Jesus also mentions that the Queen of the South and the men of Nineveh would rise at the judgment with the generation of the Pharisees and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Solomon and Jonah, but the Pharisees ignored a greater than Jonah or Solomon, that is, Jesus himself.