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The Gospel of

MATTHEW

Chapter 1

The Royal Genealogy of Jesus

^¹A record of the genealogy of Jesus the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

^²Abraham begot Isaac,

      and Isaac begot Jacob,

      and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers,

^³and Judah begot Perez and Zerah,

            by Tamar,

      and Perez begot Hezron,

      and Hezron begot Ram,

^⁴and Ram begot Amminadab,

      and Amminadab begot Nahshon,

      and Nahshon begot Salmon,

^⁵and Salmon begot Boaz, by Rahab,

      and Boaz begot Obed, by Ruth,

      and Obed begot Jesse,

^⁶and Jesse begot David the King.

    David begot Solomon, by her who belonged to Uriah,

^⁷and Solomon begot Rehoboam,

      and Rehoboam begot Abijah,

      and Abijah begot Asa,

^⁸and Asa begot Jehoshaphat,

      and Jehoshaphat begot Joram,

      and Joram begot Uzziah,

^⁹and Uzziah begot Jotham,

      and Jotham begot Ahaz,

      and Ahaz begot Hezekiah,

^¹⁰and Hezekiah begot Manasseh,

      and Manasseh begot Amon,

      and Amon begot Josiah,

^¹¹and Josiah begot Jeconiah                             

      and his brothers at the time of                                          

      the exile to Babylon.

^¹²After the exile to Babylon:

      Jeconiah begot Shealtiel,

      and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel,

^¹³and Zerubbabel begot Abiud,

      and Abiud begot Eliakim,

      and Eliakim begot Azor,

^¹⁴and Azor begot Zadok,

      and Zadok begot Akim,

      and Akim begot Eliud,

^¹⁵and Eliud begot Eleazar,

      and Eleazar begot Matthan,

      and Matthan begot Jacob,

^¹⁶and Jacob begot Joseph,

            the husband of Mary,

      of whom was born Jesus,

      the one called the Christ.

^¹⁷Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Anointed One.

The Birth of Jesus

^¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.  His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they consummated, she was found to be pregnant, from the Holy Spirit.  ^¹⁹But her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, did not want to disgrace her, and planned to divorce her secretly.

^²⁰But while he was mulling these things over, an angel of the Lord appeared to him by means of a dream, and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit.  ^²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

^²²All this took place in order that what was said by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says: ^²³"Behold, the virgin shall be pregnant, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which when translated is, "God with us."

^²⁴And when Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he took his bride home.  ^²⁵But he did not know her until she gave birth to her firstborn son.  And he called his name Jesus.

Chapter 2

The Visit of the Magi

^¹Now after Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from out of the east showed up in Jerusalem, ^²saying, "Where is the one born king of the Jews?  For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

^³Upon hearing this, King Herod was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  ^⁴And having assembled all the chief priests and Torah scholars of the people, he inquired of them as to where the Messiah was to be born.

^⁵And they told him, "In Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what has been written through the prophet:

^⁶" 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land

            of Judah,

      are by no means least among

            the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

      who will be the shepherd of

            my people Israel.'"

^⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.  ^⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child.  And when you have found him, bring word back to me, so I may come and worship him also." 

^⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and lo, the star, the one they had seen in the east, kept moving on in front of them, until it arrived and stopped above where the child was.  ^¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with a surpassingly great joy.  ^¹¹And upon coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell prostrate and worshipped him.  Then they opened their treasures, and presented him with gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh.  ^¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

^¹³And when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I tell you, for Herod intends to search for the child to destroy him."

^¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped into Egypt, ^¹⁵and was there until the death of Herod, in order that the thing spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

^¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been fooled by the Magi, he was extremely enraged, and sent orders and did away with all the male children in Bethlehem and all its environs who were two years old or under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi.  ^¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, which says:

^¹⁸"A voice heard in Ramah,

      a weeping and loud wailing,

Rachel weeping for her children

      and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more."

The Return to Nazareth

^¹⁹And after Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appears by a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ^²⁰saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."

^²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and entered the land of Israel.  ^²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.  And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ^²³and went and lived in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Chapter 3

John the Baptizer Prepares the Way

^¹In those days John the Baptizer appears, preaching in the desert, ^²saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near."  ^³This is the one spoken of through Isaiah the prophet:

"A voice calling in the wilderness,

      'Prepare the way for the Lord,

      make the paths straight for him.

^⁴This man John had clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.  ^⁵At that time Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan went out to him.  ^⁶And confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

^⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the baptism, he said to them, "You spawn of snakes!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  ^⁸Then produce fruit characteristic of repentance.  ^⁹And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  ^¹⁰And the ax is already set to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

^¹¹"I baptize you in water for repentance, but after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to remove.  He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire: ^¹²his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear out his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with fire unquenchable."

The Baptism of Jesus

^¹³At that time Jesus arrives at the Jordan, out of Galilee, to John, to be baptized by him.  ^¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and you are coming to me?"

^¹⁵In reply, Jesus said to him, "Permit it now; it is proper for us to complete all righteousness this way."  Then John consented.

^¹⁶As soon as he was baptized, Jesus came up out of the water, and behold, heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Holy Spirit of God coming down like a dove, coming onto him.  ^¹⁷And behold, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased."

Chapter 4

The Temptation of Jesus

^¹Then Jesus was led up into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil.  ^²And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.  ^³And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."

^⁴But he in answer said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word coming out of the mouth of God.'"

^⁵Then the devil takes him into the holy city and had him stand on the gable of the temple, ^⁶and he says to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.  For it is written:

'He will command his angels

      concerning you;

and they will lift you up on their hands,

      so you will not strike your

            foot against a stone.'"

^⁷Jesus said to him, "It is also written: 'You shall not put Yahweh your God to a test.'"

^⁸Again, the devil led him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, ^⁹and said to Jesus, "All these I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me."

^¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan!   For it is written: 'You shall worship Yahweh your God, and him only shall you serve.'^"

^¹¹Then the devil left him alone, and lo, angels had come and were attending him.

Jesus Begins to Preach

^¹²And when he heard that John had been arrested, he went away to Galilee.  ^¹³And forsaking Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, beside the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ^¹⁴so that the thing spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which says:

^¹⁵"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

      the road by the sea,

            on the other end of the Jordan,

      Galilee of the Gentiles—

^¹⁶the people sitting in darkness

      have seen a great light;

and on those sitting in the land of the

                  shadow of death

            a light has dawned."

^¹⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

The Calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John

^¹⁸And walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.

^¹⁹And he says to them, "Come you two, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."  ^²⁰And they followed him immediately, leaving the nets.

^²¹And going on from there, he saw another set of two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.  ^²²And they immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father.

Jesus Heals the Sick

^²³And he went around through all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  ^²⁴And news about him spread all over Syria, and they brought to him all who were ill with various diseases and severe pain, and the demon-possessed, and epileptics and the paralyzed, and he healed them.  ^²⁵And many crowds followed him, from Galilee and the Ten Cities, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 5

The Beatitudes

^¹And seeing the crowds, he went up to the mountainside.  And when he sat down his disciples came to him, ^²and opening his mouth, he began to teach them, saying:

^³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

^⁴Blessed are those who mourn,

      for they will be comforted.

^⁵Blessed are the meek,

      for they will inherit the earth.

^⁶Blessed are they who hunger and thirst

            for righteousness,

      for they will be satisfied.

^⁷Blessed are the merciful,

      for they will be shown mercy.

^⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,

      for they will see God.

^⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,

      for they will be called

            the children of God.

^¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted

            because of righteousness,

      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

^¹¹"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  ^¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you."

Salt and Light

^¹³"You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt is blanded down, with what will it be made salty?  It is no longer potent enough for anything except to be thrown outside and trampled underfoot of people.

^¹⁴"You are the light of the world.  A city founded on a hill cannot be hidden.  ^¹⁵Neither do they light a lamp to put it under a basket, but rather on the stand, so it enlightens all those in the house.  ^¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine in the view of people, such that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The Fulfillment of the Law

^¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  ^¹⁸For truly I say to you, until the sky and the earth pass away, not one iota, not one serif, will by any means pass away from the Law until everything is carried out.  ^¹⁹Therefore, whoever looses one of the least of these commandments, and teaches people the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices them and teaches them, this one will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  ^²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Torah scholars and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Adversaries

^²¹"You have heard that it was said to the people of long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'  ^²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.   And anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,^' is answerable to the council.  But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.

^²³"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, ^²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar, and first go be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

^²⁵"Get on good terms with your legal adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown in prison.  ^²⁶Truly I tell you, by no means will you come out of there until you have paid the last penny.

Adultery

^²⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.^{' ²⁸}But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  ^²⁹So if your right eye causes you to fall, rip it out and cast it away from you.  For it is expedient for you that one of your parts be destroyed and not your whole body be cast into Gehenna.  ^³⁰And if your right hand causes you to fall, cut it off and cast it away from you.  For it is expedient for you that one of your parts be destroyed and not your whole body go away into Gehenna.

^³¹"And it has been said, 'Anyone who releases his wife must give her a "release of interest form".'  ^³²But I tell you that anyone who releases his wife, except for grounds of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a released woman commits adultery.

Oaths

^³³"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people of long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but pay out to the Lord your oaths.'  ^³⁴But I tell you not to promise with an oath at all: neither by heaven, because it is God's throne; ^³⁵nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the Great King.  ^³⁶Neither swear by your head, since you have not the power to make a single hair white or black.  ^³⁷But let your word be 'Yes' for 'Yes,' 'No' for 'No,' and beyond these is from evil.

An Eye For an Eye

^³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'  ^³⁹But I tell you not to resist the evil.  On the contrary, whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  ^⁴⁰And the one wanting to sue and take your shirt, surrender to him your jacket as well.  ^⁴¹And whoever conscripts you for one mile, go with him two miles.  ^⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love For Enemies

^⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  ^⁴⁴But I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you are are persecuting you, ^⁴⁵so that you be children of your Father who is in heaven.  For he causes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and rains upon the righteous and the unrighteous.  ^⁴⁶For if you love the ones who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the revenue agents do the same?  ^⁴⁷And if you greet your own kind only, what are you doing beyond the ordinary?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  ^⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Chapter 6

Giving to the Needy

^¹"Be careful not to do your acts of tzedakah in front of people, trying to be seen by them, for in that case you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

^²"So when you do your charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the lanes, so they may be esteemed by people.  Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full.  ^³But you, when you do your giving to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ^⁴so that your giving may be in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Prayer

^⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the boulevards, so they will be seen by people.  Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full.  ^⁶But you when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret.  Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

^⁷But when you pray, do not speak thoughtless repetition like the Gentiles do.  For they suppose that because of the greater number of their words they will be heard.  ^⁸Do not be like them therefore.  You see, your Father knows what you need before you ever ask him.

^⁹"This, then, is how you should pray:

" 'Our Father in heaven,

      hallowed be your name.

^¹⁰Your kingdom come,

      your will be done

      on earth as it is in heaven.

^¹¹Give us today our daily bread.

^¹²And forgive us our debts,

      as we also have forgiven

            our debtors.

^¹³And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.^'

For yours is the kingdom,

            and the power,

and the glory, for ever.  Amen.”^'

^¹⁴For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  ^¹⁵But if you are not forgiving to people, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.

Fasting

^¹⁶"And when you fast, do not become of somber countenance like the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces so that they will appear to people as fasting.  Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full.  ^¹⁷But you when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ^¹⁸so that you do not appear to people as fasting, but rather to your Father, who is in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Treasures in Heaven

^¹⁹"Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and corrosion eat away, and thieves break through and steal.  ^²⁰But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor corrosion eat away, and thieves do not break through and steal.  ^²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

^²²"The eye is the lamp of the body.  So if your eye is open and generous, your whole body will be bright.  ^²³But if your eye is suspicious and stingy, your whole body will be dark.  If then darkness is the light in you, how great the darkness!

^²⁴"No one can serve two masters.  Either you will spurn the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Mammon.

Do Not Worry

^²⁵"Considering this, I tell you, do not worry for your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or for your body, what you will put on.  Does not life mean more than food, and the body more than clothes?  ^²⁶Look at the birds of the sky, that they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Do you not matter more than they?  ^²⁷And who of you by worrying is able to add onto his life span one foot?

^²⁸"And about dress, why do you worry?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.  They neither labor nor weave.  ^²⁹Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  ^³⁰Now if God so dresses the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the stove, how much more would he rather dress you, O you of little faith?  ^³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What would we eat?' or 'What would we drink?' or 'What would we wear?'  ^³²For the Gentiles are pursuing all those things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need all those things.  ^³³But pursue first rather the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all those things will be included for you as well.

^³⁴"Do not worry, then, for the next day, because the next day will have worries of itself.  Today's trouble is enough for the day.

Chapter 7

Correcting Others

^¹"Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.  ^²For with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged, and with what measure you are measuring out, it will be measured to you.

^³"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but the log in your own eye you do not consider?  ^⁴Or how will you say to your brother, 'Let me pluck the speck out of your eye,' and behold, in your own eye is a log?  ^⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to pluck the speck out of your brother's eye.

^⁶"Do not give to curs what is sacred, and do not toss your pearls before swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock

^⁷"Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.  ^⁸For everyone who keeps asking receives, and the one who keeps seeking finds, and to the one who keeps knocking, it will be opened.

^⁹"Or is there a man among you who if his child asks for a loaf, will give him a rock?  ^¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  ^¹¹If you therefore, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

^¹²"In all things, then, whatever you would want people to do to you, this you also should do to them, for this is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.

False Prophets

^¹³"Enter through the narrow gate.  How wide the gate and broad the road that leads to destruction, and how many are those going through it!

^¹⁴How narrow the gate and troubled the road that leads to life, and how few are those finding it!

^¹⁵"Be on your guard against false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  ^¹⁶By their fruits you will find them out.  Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or sweet figs from thistles?  ^¹⁷In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but the weed tree produces evil fruit.  ^¹⁸A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor a weed tree bear good fruit.  ^¹⁹Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  ^²⁰Thus by their fruits you will find them out.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

^²¹"Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in heaven.  ^²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?'  ^²³And then I will declare to them on record: 'I have never known you.  Away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'

^²⁴"Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them shall be likened to a prudent man who built his house on the bedrock.  ^²⁵And the rain came down, and the rivers came up, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

^²⁶"And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  ^²⁷And the rain came down and the rivers came up and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall."

^²⁸And it came about that when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ^²⁹for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like their Torah scholars.

Chapter 8

A Man With Leprosy

^¹And when he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.  ^²And behold, a leper approached and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me."

^³And stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, "I am willing.  Be cleansed."  And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  ^⁴And Jesus says to him, "See that you tell no one.  But go instead and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

The Faith of the Centurion

^⁵And when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him entreating him, ^⁶and saying, "My servant is laid up in the house a paralytic, being tormented terribly."

^⁷Jesus says to him, "I will come and heal him."

^⁸But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you enter under my roof.  But just say a word, and my servant will be healed.  ^⁹For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under myself.  And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does."

^¹⁰And Jesus was astonished hearing this, and he said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found faith like this from anyone in Israel.  ^¹¹And I tell you, many will come from east and west, and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  ^¹²But natural heirs of the kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness. Out there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth."

^¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go.  As you believed let it be for you."  And in that hour the servant was healed.

Jesus Heals Many

^¹⁴And coming into Peter's house, Jesus saw Peter's mother-in-law bedridden and fever-stricken.  ^¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began to wait on him.

^¹⁶And when evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he drove out the spirits with a word.  And all those who had an illness he healed, ^¹⁷so that the thing spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, which says:

"Our infirmities he took,

      and our diseases he carried."

The Cost of Following Jesus

^¹⁸But when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave the order to leave to the other side of the lake.

^¹⁹And one Torah scholar approached him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

^²⁰And Jesus says to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere he can lay his head."

^²¹And another man, one of the disciples, said to him, "Lord, allow me first to leave and bury my father."

^²²But Jesus says to him, "You follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Jesus Calms the Storm

^²³And his disciples followed him as he embarked in the boat.  ^²⁴And behold a great storm arose in the sea, such that the boat was getting covered over by the waves.  But he himself was sleeping.

^²⁵And coming up to him, they roused him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"

^²⁶And he says to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?"

    Then, once he was up, he rebuked the wind and the sea, and there came a complete calm.

^²⁷And the men marvelled, saying, "What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

The Legion of Demons Near Gadara

^²⁸And when he came to the other side to the region of the Gadarenes, two men coming out of the tombs met him, demon-possessed, extremely dangerous, such that no one was able to pass that way.

^²⁹And behold they cried out saying, "What business do you have with us, O Jesus, you son of God?  Have you come here to torture us before the time?"

^³⁰Now some distance from them there was a herd of many pigs feeding.  ^³¹And the demons begged him saying, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."

^³²And he said to them, "Go!"  So coming out they went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and died in the waters.

^³³And the herders fled.  And when they had gone into the town they reported all things, including the things about the demon-possessed men.  ^³⁴And behold all the town came out to have a meeting with Jesus.  And when they saw him they begged him that he would move out of their borders.

Chapter 9

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

^¹And embarking in the boat, he crossed over and came into his own town.  ^²And behold they brought to him a paralytic placed on a mat.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

^³And behold, some of the Torah scholars said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"

^⁴And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you think evil things in your hearts?  ^⁵For which is easier: to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say: 'Get up and walk'?  ^⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..."  Then he says to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go to your house."  ^⁷And he stood up and went away to his house.  ^⁸After seeing this, the crowd feared and praised the God who had given such authority to humans.

The Calling of Matthew

^⁹And moving on from there, Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the taxes post, and he says to him, "Follow me."  And he got up and followed him.

^¹⁰And it came about that Jesus and his disciples were reclining at table in the house of Matthew, and behold a large crowd of revenue agents and sinners came and were eating with them.  ^¹¹And seeing this the Pharisees said to his disciples, "Why does your rabbi eat with revenue agents and sinners?"

^¹²But he heard, and said, "The healthy have no need of a doctor, but only those who have something bad.  ^¹³But go learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

^¹⁴Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why is it we and the Pharisees are fasting, but your disciples are not fasting?"

^¹⁵And Jesus said to them, "Are the members of the bridegroom's party able to mourn while the bridegroom is with them?  But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; and then they will fast.

^¹⁶"Now no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment.  For the patch of it tears away from the garment, and a worse tear results.  ^¹⁷Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise, the wineskins will burst, the wine will spill out, and the wineskins will be ruined.  Rather, they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

A Dead Damsel and a Sick Woman

^¹⁸While he was speaking these things to them, behold a certain ruler came, prostrating himself to him, saying, "My daughter has just now died.  But come and put your hand on her and she will revive."  ^¹⁹And getting up Jesus followed him, including his disciples.

^²⁰And behold a woman suffering a twelve year flow of blood came up behind and touched the tassel of his cloak.  ^²¹For she was saying to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."

^²²And Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you."  And the woman was healed from that time on.

^²³And Jesus came into the ruler's house, and when he saw the flute players and the crowd in commotion, ^²⁴he said, "Go your ways.  For the maiden has not died but sleeps."  And they laughed at him with scorn.

^²⁵And when the crowd was put out, he went in and took hold of her hand, and the maiden was raised from the dead.  ^²⁶And this news went out into all that region.

Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute

^²⁷And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on us, O Son of David!"

^²⁸And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus says to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"

    They say to him, "Yes, Lord."

^²⁹Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be done for you."  ^³⁰And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus warned them sternly, saying, "See that no one knows about this."  ^³¹But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that whole region.

^³²And as they were going out, behold a mute who was demon-possessed was brought to him.  ^³³And when the demon was expelled, the mute spoke.  The crowd was amazed, and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!"

^³⁴But the Pharisees said, "By the prince of the demons he expels the demons."

The Workers Are Few

^³⁵And Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.  ^³⁶And when he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd: harried and laid down in resignation.  ^³⁷Then he says to his disciples, "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the workers are few.  ^³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, that he send out workers into his harvest."

Chapter 10

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

^¹And calling forward his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, so as to expel them, and to heal every disease and every illness.  ^²And these are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, the one called Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James the son of Zebedee and John his brother; ^³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the revenue agent; James son of Halphaeus and Thaddaeus; ^⁴Simon of Cana and Judas of Kerioth, the one who also betrayed him.

^⁵These Twelve Jesus sent out, giving orders to them, saying: "Do not go down a Gentile road, and do not enter a town of Samaritans.  ^⁶But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  ^⁷And as you go, preach saying: 'The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.'  ^⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out the demons.  Freely you have received; freely give.  ^⁹Pack neither gold nor silver nor copper in your belts, ^¹⁰neither a bag for the trip, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for the worker is worthy of his food.

^¹¹"And whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.  ^¹²But when entering the house, greet it.  ^¹³And if indeed the house is worthy, let your peace arrive upon it.  But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  ^¹⁴And whoever does not welcome you or listen to your words, go outside that house or town and shake their dust off your feet.  ^¹⁵Truly I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and the land of Gomorrah, than for that town.

^¹⁶"Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves.  Be shrewd as snakes therefore, yet innocent as doves.  ^¹⁷And be on your guard against people.  For they will hand you over to councils, and they will flog you in their synagogues.  ^¹⁸And also before governors and kings you will be brought, because of me, to be a testimony to them and to the nations.  ^¹⁹But when they deliver you over to trial, do not worry how or what you might say.  For it will be given to you at that hour what you should say; ^²⁰because you are not the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is the one speaking, through you.

^²¹"And brother will betray brother to death, and a father a child; and children will rise up against parents and put them to death.  ^²²And you will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who holds out to the end, this one will be rescued unharmed.  ^²³But when they persecute you in this town, flee to a new one; for truly I tell you, you will not finish all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man has come.ß

^²⁴"A disciple is not above the rabbi, nor a servant above his lord.  ^²⁵It is sufficient for the disciple that he become like his rabbi, and the servant like his lord.  If the head of the house has been called Baal-zibbul, how much more the members of his household.

^²⁶"So do not fear them.  For there is nothing veiled that will not be unveiled, or hidden that will not be made known.  ^²⁷What I say to you in the dark, you are to say in the light; and what you hear whispered into your ear, you are to proclaim on the housetops.  ^²⁸And do not fear because of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.  But do fear on the other hand the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.  ^²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  ^³⁰And as for you, even the hairs of your heads are all numbered.  ^³¹So fear not; you matter more than many sparrows.

^³²"Everyone therefore who shall acknowledge me before people, I also shall acknowledge them before my Father in heaven.  ^³³And whoever disowns me before people, I also shall disown that person before my Father in heaven.

^³⁴"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  ^³⁵For I have come to turn

                    " 'a man against his father,

                    and a daughter against her mother,

              and a daughter-in-law against her

                          mother-in-law—

^³⁶ a man's enemies will be

              members of his own household.

^³⁷"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ^³⁸and he who does not take up his cross and follow behind me is not worthy of me.  ^³⁹The person who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.

^⁴⁰"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.  ^⁴¹He who receives a prophet because of the title of prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous one because of the title of righteous one will receive a righteous one's reward.  ^⁴²Truly I tell you, whoever gives even just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because of the title of disciple, will certainly not lose his reward."

Chapter 11

Jesus and John the Baptizer

^¹And it came about that when Jesus had finished giving orders to his twelve disciples, he removed himself from there to teach and preach in their towns.

^²And when John was hearing in prison about the works of Christ, he, sending word through his disciples, ^³said to him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect another?"

^⁴And in answer, Jesus said to them, "Go and report back to John what things you are hearing and seeing: ^⁵The blind see again and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor.  ^⁶And tell him, 'Blessed be whoever is not offended on account of me.' "

^⁷And as they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see?  A reed being swayed to and fro by the wind?  ^⁸On the contrary, what did you go out to see?  Someone dressed in delicate finery?  Behold, those wearing delicate finery are in kings' houses.  ^⁹On the contrary, what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes indeed I tell you, and more than a prophet.  ^¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written:

'Behold, I am sending my messenger

            before your face,

      who will prepare your way

            before you.'

^¹¹Truly I tell you: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptizer.  But the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  ^¹²And from the days of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been aggressively advancing, and the aggressive are seizing it.  ^¹³For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.  ^¹⁴And if you are willing to receive it, he is the Elijah who was to come.  ^¹⁵Let the one who has ears, hear."

^¹⁶"To what, then, shall I compare this generation?  It is like children sitting in the marketplace, who call out to the others. They say:

^¹⁷ " 'We played the flute for you,

      and you didn't dance;

we sang a dirge,

      and you didn't mourn.'

^¹⁸For John the Baptizer came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.'  ^¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold a glutton and a wino, a friend of revenue agents and sinners.'  Well, wisdom is vindicated by her works."

Woe on Unrepentant Cities

^²⁰Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had occurred, because they had not repented: ^²¹"Woe to you, Korazin!  Woe to you, Bethsaida!  For if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  ^²²Regardless, I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.  ^²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted up to heaven?  No, you will sink as far as Hades.  Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  ^²⁴Regardless, I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Sodom than for you."

Rest for the Weary

^²⁵At that time Jesus continued, and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the sophisticated and learned, and revealed them to little children.  ^²⁶Yes, Father, for it was pleasing this way in your sight.

^²⁷"All things have been handed over to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

^²⁸"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ^²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  ^³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Chapter 12

Lord of the Sabbath

^¹At that time Jesus on a Sabbath was going through the grain fields.  And his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck and eat some heads of grain.  ^²And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look!  Your disciples are doing what on a Sabbath is not permissible to do!"

^³And he said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he and those with him were hungry?  ^⁴How he entered the house of God, and the loaves of offering he ate, which for him was not permissible to eat, neither for those with him, but only for the priests?  ^⁵Or haven't you read in the Torah that on the Sabbath the priests can, in the temple, desecrate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent?  ^⁶And I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  ^⁷But if you had known what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.  ^⁸For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

^⁹And going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ^¹⁰and behold, a man with a shriveled hand.  And they questioned him, in order that they might accuse him, saying, "Is it permissible to heal on the Sabbath?"

^¹¹Then he said to them, "Is there anyone among you who, if he has one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift?  ^¹²And how much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!  Therefore, it is permissible to do good on the Sabbath."

^¹³Then he says to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  So he stretched it out, and it was restored, just as sound as the other.  ^¹⁴And the Pharisees went out and began to plot against him, as to how they might kill him.

Crowds Follow Jesus

^¹⁵But being aware of this, Jesus departed from there, and many crowds followed him, and he healed them all, ^¹⁶and ordered them not to make him manifest, ^¹⁷so that the thing spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, which says:

^¹⁸"Behold, my servant whom I

      have chosen,

my beloved, in whom my soul

            is well pleased;

I will put my Spirit upon him,

      and he will announce

            righteous judgment

      to the nations.

^¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry out;

      nor will anyone hear his voice in

            the streets.

^²⁰A bruised reed he will not break,

      and a smoldering wick he will

            not snuff out,

till he leads righteous judgment

      to victory.

^²¹And in his name the Gentiles will

            put their hope."

Jesus and Baalzibbul

^²²Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him so that the mute man spoke and saw.  ^²³And all the multitudes were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

^²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "Only by Ba'al-zibbul, the ruler of the demons, is this fellow driving out the demons."

^²⁵But knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  ^²⁶And if Satan is driving out Satan, he is divided against himself, so how will his kingdom stand?

^²⁷"And if I am driving out the demons by Baal-zibbul, by whom are your disciples driving them out?  Therefore, they will be your judges.  ^²⁸But if I am driving out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

^²⁹"Or how can anyone enter the house of the strong man and carry away his things, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.

^³⁰"The person who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me is scattering.

^³¹"Therefore I tell you, all kinds of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven.  ^³²And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, that will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.

^³³"Either call the tree good and its fruit good, or call the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

^³⁴"You spawn of vipers, how are you able to speak good things, since you are evil?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  ^³⁵The good person brings forth good things out of his treasure of good, and the evil person brings forth evil out of his treasure of evil.  ^³⁶And I tell you, every idle word which human beings will speak, they will have to give an explanation for it on the day of judgment.  ^³⁷For out of your words you will be justified, and out of your words you will be condemned."

The Sign of Jonah

^³⁸Then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees responded to him saying, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."

^³⁹But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign.  And no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  ^⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge sea creature, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

^⁴¹ "Men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.  ^⁴²The Queen of the South will be resurrected at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

^⁴³"Now when an unclean spirit comes out from a human being, it goes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.  ^⁴⁴Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'  And when it arrives, it finds the house standing empty, swept clean and put in order.  ^⁴⁵Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter inside and live there.  And the final condition of that human is worse than the first.  That is also how it will be with this evil generation."

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^⁴⁶While he was still speaking to the crowd, behold, his mother and brothers had been standing outside, wanting to talk to him.  ^⁴⁷And someone said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers have been standing outside, wanting to talk to you."

^⁴⁸And he replied to the one who informed him, and said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"  ^⁴⁹And extending his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers.  ^⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, that person is my brother and sister and mother."

Chapter 13

The Parable of the Sower

^¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the lake.  ^²And such large crowds gathered around him, he got into a boat to sit in it, and all the people stood on the shore.

^³And he spoke many things to them in parables, and said: "Behold, the sower went out to sow.  ^⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell beside the way, and the birds came and ate them up.  ^⁵And other seed fell on the rocky spots, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, because it did not have depth of soil.  ^⁶And when the sun came up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it dried up.  ^⁷And others fell on the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  ^⁸And others fell on the good soil, and yielded fruit, one a hundredfold, the other sixty, and another thirty.  ^⁹Let the one who has ears, hear."

The Parable of the Sower Explained

^¹⁰And the disciples came to him and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"

^¹¹And he answered and said to them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.  ^¹²For to the one who has, it will be given, and he will have an abundance.  As for the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  ^¹³For this reason I speak to them in parables, that

'Though looking they do not see,

      and though listening

they neither hear nor understand.'

^¹⁴In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

'With an ear you will hear

      and never understand;

and looking, you will see,

      and not at all perceive.

^¹⁵For this people's heart

      has become impervious;

they hardly hear with the ears,

      and they have shut up their eyes,

lest they see with the eyes

      and hear with the ears

      and understand with the heart,

                  and turn,

      and I would heal them.'

^¹⁶"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear.  ^¹⁷For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous ones longed to see what you are seeing, but did not see it, and to hear what you are hearing, but did not hear it.

^¹⁸ "Hear then the parable of the sower: ^¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is the seed sown beside the way.  ^²⁰And what was sown on the rocky spots, this is someone who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it.  ^²¹But having no root in himself, he is alive only a short time.  For when tribulation comes, or persecution because of the word, he quickly falls away.  ^²²And what was sown in the thorns, this is someone who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  ^²³And what was sown on the good soil, this is someone who hears the word and understands, who does bear fruit and produces; one a hundredfold, the other sixty, and another thirty."

The Parable of the Look-alike Weeds

^²⁴He put before them another parable, as follows: "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man sowing good seed in his field.  ^²⁵But while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed zizania in between the wheat, and went away.  ^²⁶And when the wheat grass had sprung up and formed seed, at that same time the zizania became apparent.

^²⁷"So the owner's servants came to him and said to him, 'Sir, you sowed good seed in your field, did you not?  How then does it have zizania?'

^²⁸"And he said to them, 'A hateful person did this.'

    "And the servants say to him, 'Do you want us to go out, then, and collect them?'

^²⁹"But he says, 'No, in case while collecting the zizania you uproot the wheat along with them.  ^³⁰Leave both to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers: Collect the zizania first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.' "

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

^³¹Another parable he put before them, and said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a person took and sowed in his garden, ^³²which indeed is smaller than all the seeds, but when it grows, it becomes a tree, larger than all the herbs, such that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches."

^³³He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and buried into three measures of dough, until the whole batch was leavened."

^³⁴Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables; indeed he would typically speak nothing to them without a parable, ^³⁵so that the thing spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, which says:

"I will open my mouth in parables,

      I will utter things hidden

since the creation of the world."

The Parable of the Look-alike Weeds Explained

^³⁶Then, leaving the crowds, he went into the house.  And his disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of zizania in the field."

^³⁷And he answered and said, "The one sowing the good seed is the Son of Man, ^³⁸and the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the children of the kingdom.  The zizania are the children of the evil one, ^³⁹and the enemy who sows them is the devil.  The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

^⁴⁰"And as the zizania are collected and consumed by fire, so it will be at the end of the age.  ^⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all the things that lead to sin and those who practice lawlessness; ^⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire.  There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth.  ^⁴³At that time, the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Let the one who has ears, hear.

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

^⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man found it, he hid it again.  Then out of his joy he goes and sells what things he has, and buys that field.

^⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who was looking for fine pearls.  ^⁴⁶And when he found a single valuable pearl, he went away and sold every thing that he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

^⁴⁷"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea and catching every kind of fish, ^⁴⁸which when full, the fishers pulled up onto the shore, and sitting down, they collected the good kinds into baskets, but threw away the bad.  ^⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will go forth and will separate the evil ones from out of the midst of the righteous, ^⁵⁰and throw them into the furnace of fire.  There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth."

^⁵¹Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?"

    They are saying to him, "Yes, Lord."

^⁵²And he said to them, "Therefore every Torah scholar discipled into the kingdom of heaven is like a person who owns a house, who puts forward out of his treasure room items both new and old."

A Prophet Without Honor

^⁵³And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.  ^⁵⁴And coming into his home town, he taught them in their synagogue, such that they were astounded, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?  ^⁵⁵Isn't this the son of the carpenter?  Isn't his mother named Mary, and his brothers Jacob and Joseph and Simon and Judah?  ^⁵⁶And aren't all his sisters here with us?  Where then did this man get all these things?"  ^⁵⁷And they were offended by him.

    And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and among his relatives."

^⁵⁸And he did not do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.

Chapter 14

John the Baptizer Beheaded

^¹At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus, ^²and said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptizer!  He is risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him!"

^³Now Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him away in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.  ^⁴For John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."  ^⁵And though wanting to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.

^⁶And when Herod's birthday celebration took place, the daughter of Herodias danced among them, and she pleased Herod; ^⁷for which reason he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask for.

^⁸So after being instructed by her mother, she says, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer."

^⁹Though greatly distressed, the king because of his words of oath and those reclining with him, commanded that it be given, ^¹⁰and sent orders and beheaded John in the prison.  ^¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she carried it to her mother.  ^¹²And his disciples came and took the corpse and buried him.  Then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

^¹³And hearing this, Jesus went away from there, in a boat, to a remote place by himself.  And the crowds heard, and followed him on foot from the towns.

^¹⁴And when he got out, he saw the large crowd, and was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

^¹⁵Now as evening came on, the disciples came to him, saying, "The place is remote, and the hour is already late.  Therefore, dismiss the crowds, so they can go away into the villages and buy food for themselves."

^¹⁶But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."

^¹⁷But they are saying to him, "We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish."

^¹⁸And he said, "Bring them here to me."  ^¹⁹And having directed the crowds to recline on the grass, he takes the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed God.  And after he broke the loaves, he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.

^²⁰And all ate and were satisfied.  And they picked up the extra of the fragments, twelve large baskets full.  ^²¹Now the ones eating were about five thousand men, without women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^²²And he immediately ordered his disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he would dismiss the crowds.  ^²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray.  And as evening came on he was alone there.

^²⁴The boat was now in the middle of the lake, being battered by the waves, because the wind was contrary.  ^²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he went out toward them, walking on the lake.  ^²⁶And when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, "It's a ghost!"  And they cried out in fear.

^²⁷Jesus immediately spoke to them and said: "Take heart, it is I.  Don't be afraid."

^²⁸And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it's you, order me to come to you on the water."

^²⁹And he said, "Come."

    And Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water, and went toward Jesus.  ^³⁰But when he saw the violent wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

^³¹And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him, and says to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

^³²And when they had climbed into the boat, the wind died down.  ^³³Then those in the boat worshipped him, saying, "You truly are the Son of God."

^³⁴And once they had crossed over, they came ashore at Gennesaret.  ^³⁵And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into that whole area, and they brought to him all those who were sick.  ^³⁶And they were entreating him that they could just touch the tassel of his cloak; and as many as touched were completely healed.

Chapter 15

Clean and Unclean

^¹Then some Pharisees and Torah scholars from Jerusalem come to Jesus, saying, ^²"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat."

^³And in response he said to them, "And you, why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?  ^⁴For God said, 'Honor father and mother' and 'The one who curses father or mother must be put to death.'  ^⁵But you say, whoever says to father or mother: 'Whatever you might be owed from me is a gift vowed to God,' ^⁶he will not at all honor his father or his mother with it, and you have annulled the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

^⁷"You hypocrites!  Isaiah has prophesied rightly about you, in saying,

^⁸" 'This people honor me with the lips,

              but their heart is far away from me.

^⁹They worship me in vain,

                    teaching as Torah

                    the decrees of human beings.'

^¹⁰And calling the crowd forward, he said to them, "Listen, and understand: ^¹¹The thing entering into the mouth does not make a human being unclean, but rather the thing coming forth out of the mouth, that is what makes the human being unclean."

^¹²Then the disciples came and are saying to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?"

^¹³And he in answer said, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  ^¹⁴Leave them; they are blind leaders of the blind.  And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit."

^¹⁵And in response Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us."

^¹⁶And he said, "Are you also this unintelligent?  ^¹⁷Do you not understand that everything entering the mouth goes into the stomach, and then is ejected into the sewer?  ^¹⁸But the things coming forth out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things make the human being unclean.  ^¹⁹For out of the heart, come forth evil reasoning, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false testimony, slander.  ^²⁰Those are the things making the human being unclean; but the eating with unwashed hands, that does not make the human being unclean."

The Faith of the Canaanite Dog

^²¹And leaving there, Jesus departed to the areas of Tyre and Sidon.  ^²²And behold a Canaanite woman from those borders, after coming forward, kept crying, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is suffering terribly from a demon."

^²³But he answered not a word to her.  So his disciples are coming to him and urging him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps crying out behind us."

^²⁴And in response to her he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

^²⁵But she comes and bows down to him saying, "Lord, help me."

^²⁶And he in answer said, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

^²⁷And she said, "True, Lord; yet the dogs certainly eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table."

^²⁸Then in answer Jesus said to her, "Oh, woman, great is your faith!  Let it be for you as you desire."  And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

^²⁹And when he departed from there, Jesus came near the Sea of Galilee; and having gone up into the mountain, he was sitting there.  ^³⁰And many large crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the mute, the cheiroplegic, and many others, and they laid them down at his feet, and he healed them, ^³¹causing the crowd to marvel, seeing the mute speaking, the impaired of hand whole, and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

^³²And calling forward his disciples, Jesus said, "I feel for the crowd, because they have been staying with me three days now and do not have anything to eat.  And to dismiss them without eating, I am not willing, lest they collapse on the journey."

^³³And the disciples say to him, "Where in the desert could we obtain so many loaves of bread, enough to satisfy so large a crowd?"

^³⁴And Jesus says to them, "How many loaves do you have?"

    And they said, "Seven, and a few fish."

^³⁵And having ordered the crowd to recline on the ground, ^³⁶he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.  ^³⁷And all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments that were left over, seven full baskets.  ^³⁸Now the ones eating were four thousand men, apart from women and children.  ^³⁹And after he dismissed the crowd, he embarked in the boat, and went into the territory of Magadan.

Chapter 16

The Yeast of the Pharisees, Sadducees,
and Herod

^¹And the Pharisees and Sadducees approach him, and testing him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

^²But he in answer said to them, ["When evening comes, you say 'Fair weather; the sky is red.' 3And in the morning, 'Today, stormy weather; for the sky is read and threatening. [[You hypocrites.]] The face of the sky you know how to judge, but the signs of the times you are not able to?] ^⁴"A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, and no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah."  And he left them and went away.

^⁵And when the disciples were going to the other side, they forgot to take bread loaves.  ^⁶And Jesus said to them, "Watch out.  Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

^⁷And they were deliberating among themselves, saying, "We didn't bring bread loaves."

^⁸And Jesus knowing, said, "You of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, 'We have no bread loaves'?  ^⁹Do you still not understand nor remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you got?  ^¹⁰Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you got?  ^¹¹How do you not understand that it was not about bread that I was speaking to you?  But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  ^¹²Then they understood, that he had not meant they should be on their guard against yeast [of bread], but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter's Confession of Messiah

^¹³And upon entering into the area of the Caesarea that was in Philip's jurisdiction, Jesus queried his disciples, saying, "Who are the people saying the Son of Man is?"

^¹⁴And they said, "Some, John the Baptizer; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of The Prophets."

^¹⁵He says to them, "And you, who do you say I am?"

^¹⁶And Simon Peter answered, and said to him, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God."

^¹⁷And Jesus in response said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of John, because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven.  ^¹⁸And I also say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  ^¹⁹And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you declare to be forbidden on earth shall have been forbidden in heaven, and whatever you declare to be permitted on earth shall have been permitted in heaven."  ^²⁰Then he admonished the disciples, that they not tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Jesus Predicts His Death

^²¹From that point on, Jesus began to reveal to his disciples that he had to leave for Jerusalem, and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and Torah scholars, and be killed, and on the third day rise again.  ^²²And after pulling Jesus aside, Peter began correcting him, saying, "God forbid, Lord!  This will never happen to you."

^²³But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!  A hindrance you are to me, because you are not considering the concerns of God, but the concerns of mortals."

^²⁴Then, Jesus said to his disciples, "If someone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.  ^²⁵For whoever tries to keep his life will lose it.  But whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it.  ^²⁶For what will it gain a human being, if he acquires the whole world, but is penalized his soul?  In other words, what shall a human being pay, in trade for his soul?  ^²⁷For the Son of Man will soon come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then, he will pay back to each one, according to the way of life of each.  ^²⁸Truly I tell you, There are some of those present here, who will certainly not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingship."

Chapter 17

The Transfiguration

^¹And after six days Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and he is leading them up into a high mountain, by themselves.  ^²And he was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became bright as the daylight.  ^³And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him.

^⁴And in response, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here.  If you want, I will make three shelters here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

^⁵While he was still speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud, saying as follows: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him."  ^⁶And when they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, and were extremely frightened.

^⁷And Jesus approached them, and after touching them reassuringly, he said, "Stand up, and do not be afraid."  ^⁸And when they opened their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus himself alone.

^⁹And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus was admonishing them, as follows: "Do not tell anyone about the vision, until such time the Son of Man is raised from the dead."

^¹⁰And the disciples queried him, as follows, "So why do the Torah scholars say that Elijah has to come first?"

^¹¹In answer, he said, "Elijah does indeed come first, and will restore all things.  ^¹²But I am telling you, that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did with him whatever they wished."  ^¹³Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptizer.

The Healing of a Boy Who Had an Evil Spirit

^¹⁴And when they had returned to the crowd, a man came up to him, kneeling down to him, ^¹⁵and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is lunatic and suffering horribly.  For example, he often falls into fire, and often into water.  ^¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples, and they were not able to heal him."

^¹⁷And in answer, Jesus said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation!  How long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you?  Bring him here to me."  ^¹⁸And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon departed from him, and the child was healed from that time on.

^¹⁹At that time, the disciples came to him in private, and said, "Why were we not able to drive it out?"

^²⁰And he says to them, "Because of your lack of faith.  For truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.  In fact, nothing will be impossible to you."

^²²And when they were gathering back together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of human beings, ^²³and they will kill him, and during the third day he will rise again."  And they were very sad.

The Two Drachma Tax

^²⁴And when they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachmas approached Peter, and they said, "Does your rabbi not pay the two drachmas?"

^²⁵He says, "Yes he does."

    And when Peter had come into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon: the kings of the earth, from whom do they collect toll and tribute— from their sons, or from others?"

^²⁶And when he answered, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Alright then, the sons are free.  ^²⁷But, so that we not scandalize them, go to the lake, cast a hook, and the first fish that comes up, take, and when you have opened its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin.  Take that, and give it to them, as mine and yours."

Chapter 18

Who Is the Greatest?

^¹In that same hour, the disciples approached Jesus, saying, "So who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

^²And calling a child over, he stood him in the midst of them, ^³and he said, "I tell you truly: unless you change and become like little children, there is no way you will enter into the kingdom of heaven.  ^⁴Whoever therefore humbles himself like this child, that is the one who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  ^⁵And whoever receives one little child such as this on the basis of my name, is receiving me.

More About Little Ones

^⁶As for that person through whom one of these little ones who believe in me might ever be scandalized, it would be better for that person that a mill stone be hung around his neck and be sunk in the bottom of the sea.  ^⁷Woe to the world, because of those scandalizings.  Certainly, the scandalizings are bound to come.  Nevertheless, woe to the person through whom the scandalizing comes.

^⁸And if your hand or your foot scandalizes you, cut it off, and throw it away from you.  It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, than to be thrown into everlasting fire having both hands or both feet.

^⁹And if your eye scandalizes you, tear it out, and throw it away from you.  It is better for you to enter into life one-eyed, than be thrown into fiery Gehenna with two eyes.

^¹⁰See that you not despise or overlook even one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels through it all are seeing the face of my Father who is in heaven.

^¹²What do you think?  Suppose a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them is lost.  Will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain, and go look for the one that is wandering?  ^¹³And if he happens to find it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than the ninety-nine that were not lost.

^¹⁴That is how undesirable it is, in the eyes of your Father in heaven, that even one of these little ones be lost.

A Brother Who Sins

^¹⁵Now if your brother sins, go show him his fault, just between you and him.  If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.  ^¹⁶But if he does not listen, take with you one or two others, so that 'upon the mouths of two or three witnesses every matter be established.'  ^¹⁷And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly.  And if he refuses to listen to the assembly, he should be considered by you as no different than a gentile or a revenue agent.

^¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you apostles on earth declare to be forbidden, shall have been forbidden in heaven; and whatever you on earth declare to be permitted, shall have been permitted in heaven.  ^¹⁹Again I say to you, if two of you on earth agree with one voice concerning any and all matters about which you make request, it will be brought about for you by my Father who is in heaven.  ^²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

^²¹At that time Peter approached and said to him, "Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?"

^²²Jesus says to him, "I tell you, not up to seven times, but up to seventy [times] seven times.

^²³"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man in ruling power who desired to settle accounts with his servants.  ^²⁴So he proceeded to settle, and had one of his debtors brought to him, one who owed him ten thousand talants.  ^²⁵But since he did not have the means to repay, the master ordered him to be sold as a slave, and also his wife and children and everything he had, and then to be paid back.

^²⁶"The servant therefore fell down, and was entreating him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything.'  ^²⁷And moved with compassion, the master of that servant released him, and forgave his debt.

^²⁸"But then after he went out, that servant found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he seized him, and was choking him, saying, 'Pay me back everything you owe.'

^²⁹"The fellow servant therefore fell down at his feet, and was begging him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'  ^³⁰But he was not willing, and went and threw him into the debtors' prison, until such time he could pay back the debt.

^³¹"When therefore his fellow servants witnessed these events, they were extremely upset, and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.  ^³²Then summoning him, his master is saying to him, 'You wicked servant!  All that debt of yours I forgave you, because you begged me.  ^³³Aren't you then also obligated to forgive your fellow servant, as I have forgiven you?'

^³⁴"And in anger, his master handed him over to the jailers, until such time he could pay back everything he owed.  ^³⁵This is how my Father in heaven will act toward you also, unless you each forgive your brother from your heart."

Chapter 19

Jesus Tested on Divorce

^¹And it came about that when Jesus had finished these discourses he departed from Galilee, and went into the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan.  ^²And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.  ^³And some Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it permitted for someone to release his wife for any cause at all?”

^⁴But in answer he said, “Have you never read, that from the beginning the creator made them male and female, ^⁵and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  ^⁶As a result, they are no longer two, but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, no human being is allowed to separate."

^⁷They are saying to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a release of interest form in order to release?”

^⁸He says to them, "Moses, in view of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to release your wives, though it is not originally designed this way.  ^⁹But I tell you that whoever releases his wife, except upon grounds of fornication, and marries another, commits adultery, and whoever marries her who was released, commits adultery.”

^¹⁰His disciples are saying to him, "If this is the situation of a man with a wife, it is not advisable to marry!”

^¹¹And he said to them, "Not everyone can receive this word, but only those to whom it has been given.  ^¹²For there are some who are eunuchs, who were born that way from their mother’s womb.  And there are some who are eunuchs who were made to be eunuchs by human beings.  And there are some who are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  The person who is able to receive this, should receive it.”

The Little Children and Jesus

^¹³At that time, little children were brought to him, so that he might lay his hands on them and pray for them.  But the disciples scolded them.  ^¹⁴But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.  For of such is the kingdom of heaven."  ^¹⁵And when he had laid hands on them, he moved on from there.

The Rich Young Ruler

^¹⁶And behold, someone came up to him and said, "Good Teacher, what good must I do so that I will have eternal life?"

^¹⁷And he said to him, "Why are you calling me good?  No one is good except One, God.  But if you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments."

^¹⁸He says to him, "Which ones?"  And Jesus said to him, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, ^¹⁹honor your father and your mother,' and, love your neighbor as yourself."

^²⁰The young man says to him, "All these I have kept.  What am I still missing?"

^²¹Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me."

^²²But when the young man heard this statement, he went away regretting, for he was owner of much property.  ^²³And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, hardly will a rich person get into the kingdom of heaven.  ^²⁴And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God."

^²⁵And when they heard this, the disciples were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"

^²⁶And Jesus looked at them, and said to them, "With human beings, this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible."

^²⁷Then Peter answered and said to him, "Look how we have left everything, and followed you.  What then will there be for us?"

^²⁸And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you: In the new beginning, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  ^²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for the sake of my name, will receive a hundred times as much, and inherit eternal life.  ^³⁰But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

Chapter 20

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

^¹"Similar therefore is the kingdom of heaven to a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire workers together into his vineyard.  ^²And he came to an agreement with the workers, of a denarius a day, and sent them into his vineyard.  ^³And when he went out, about the third hour, he saw others, standing in the market place idle.  ^⁴To them also he said, "You also go out into my vineyard, and whatever is right, I will give you."  ^⁵So they left.  And again, he went out about the sixth hour and also the ninth hour, and did the same thing.  ^⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he says to them, "Why are you standing here the whole day idle?"

^⁷They say to him, "Because no one has hired us."

    He says to them, "You also go out into my vineyard."

^⁸And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard says to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting from the last ones, to the first ones."  ^⁹And those who had arrived at about the eleventh hour, each received a denarius.  ^¹⁰And the ones who had arrived first expected to receive more, yet they received a denarius each themselves.  ^¹¹So they got together and were complaining to the landowner, ^¹²saying, "These last ones worked one hour, and you have treated them the same as us who have borne the burden of the whole day, and the scorching heat."

^¹³And he in answer to one of them said, 'Friend, I am not doing you wrong.  Did you not agree to a denarius with me?  ^¹⁴Take what is yours and go your way.  So this is what I want to give to the last ones, as I also gave to you.  ^¹⁵Is it not permissible for me to do what I want with things that are mine?  Or is your eye evil because I am generous?'

^¹⁶Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

^¹⁷And as he was going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside in private, and said to them on the way, ^¹⁸"Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is going to be betrayed to the chief priests and the Torah scholars, and they will condemn him to death.  ^¹⁹And he will be handed over to the Gentiles, to be ridiculed and crucified, and during the third day he will rise again."

A Mother's Request

^²⁰At that time, the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him, along with her sons.  She is worshiping him and asking a favor from him.  ^²¹And he said to her, "What do you want?"  She says to him, "Decree that these two sons of mine sit one on the right and one on the left of you in your kingdom."

^²²But in answer Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup which I am about to drink?"

    They say to him, "We are able."

^²³He says to them, "My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit on my right or on my left is not mine to grant, but is only for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

^²⁴And when the other ten heard, they were upset about the two brothers.  ^²⁵And Jesus, calling them to him, said, "You know that the rulers among the nations lord it over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them.  ^²⁶It shall not be so among you.  Instead, whoever wants to be great among you shall be your servant, ^²⁷and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.  ^²⁸Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Two Blind Beggars Receive Their Sight

^²⁹And as they were leaving Jericho, very large crowds were following them.  ^³⁰And behold, two blind men sitting alongside the road, when they hear that Jesus is passing by, they cry out, saying, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!"

^³¹But the crowd scolded them, that they should be quiet.  But they cried out the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!"

^³²And Jesus stopped, and called out to them, and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

^³³They are saying to him, "Lord, that our eyes be opened."  ^³⁴And feeling sorry for them, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they saw, and they followed him.

Chapter 21

The Triumphal Entry

^¹And when they drew near to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, at that time Jesus sent two disciples, ^²telling them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied up, and her colt with her.  Untie them and bring them to me.  ^³And if anyone says anything to you, say, 'The Lord needs them, and he will send them right back.'"

^⁴Now this happened so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says,

              "Say to the Daughter of Zion:

    'Behold, your king is coming to you meek,

                    and riding on a donkey,

    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

^⁶And those disciples went, and did just as they were instructed by Jesus.  ^⁷They brought the donkey and the colt, and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.  ^⁸And the large crowd of people spread their garments out on the road; and some were cutting branches off the trees, and spreading those on the road.  ^⁹And the crowd proceeding ahead of him, and those following after, were shouting out as follows:

              "Hosha na to the Son of David!"

              "Blessed is he who comes in the

                    name of the Lord!"

              "Hosha na in the highest!"

^¹⁰And when he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?"

^¹¹And the crowds would say, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth, Galilee."

Jesus Clears the Temple

^¹²And Jesus went into the temple, and he threw out all the ones who were selling or buying in the temple.  And the tables of the moneychangers he overturned, and the seats of the ones selling doves.  ^¹³And he says to them, "It is written:

              'My house shall be called

              a house of prayer';

                    but you are making it

              'a den of thieves.'"

^¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.  ^¹⁵But when the chief priests and the Torah scholars saw the wonders that he performed, and the children, who were crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosha na to the Son of David," they were indignant, ^¹⁶and they said to him, "Do you hear what they are saying?!"

    And Jesus says to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

              'Out of the mouths of children

                    and those still nursing

              you have arranged for yourself

                          praise'?"

^¹⁷And he left them, and went outside the city, to Bethany, and found lodging there.

The Withered Fig Tree

^¹⁸And early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  ^¹⁹And when he saw a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it.  And he found nothing on it but only leaves.  And he says to it, "May there never be fruit from you again."  And immediately the fig tree withered.

^²⁰And when the disciples saw this they marvelled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither?"

^²¹And in answer Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not second guess, not only will you do something like the fig tree, but also should you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it would happen.  ^²²In fact anything whatsoever that you ask for in prayer believing, you will receive."

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

^²³And after he had come into the temple, as he was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people approached, saying, "By what authority are you doing these things?  And who gave you the authority for these things?"

^²⁴And in answer Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question, which if you answer me, I will then tell you by what authority I do these things.  ^²⁵The baptism of John, where was it from, from heaven, or from human beings?"

    So they discussed it away by themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Then why didn't you believe in him?'  ^²⁶And if we say, 'From human beings,' we fear the people, for they all hold John to be a prophet."

^²⁷And they in answer said to Jesus, "We do not know."

    So he also told them, "Neither am I telling you by what authority I am doing these things."

The Parable of the Two Sons

^²⁸"So what do you think?  A man had two sons.  And he went to the first son and said, 'Son, go work in the vineyard today.'  ^²⁹And he in answer said, 'No, I am not willing,' but with a subsequent change of heart, he did go.  ^³⁰And he went to the other son and said the same thing.  And he in answer said, 'I will, sir,' and did not go.

^³¹Who of the two performed the will of the father?"

    They are saying, "The first one."

    Jesus says to them, "Truly I say to you: the revenue agents and prostitutes are getting into the kingdom of God before you.  ^³²For John came to you with the way of righteousness, and you did not believe in him.  The revenue agents and prostitutes, however, did believe in him.  And you even when you saw that, did not subsequently have a change of heart and believe in him."

The Parable of the Tenants

^³³"Listen to another parable.  There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, and he put a hedge around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it out to tenant farmers, and journeyed away.  ^³⁴And when the time of harvest had drawn near, he sent servants of his to the farmers, to take his fruit.

^³⁵And this is the reception the farmers gave his servants: one they flogged, another they killed, another they stoned.  ^³⁶Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them the same way.  ^³⁷So finally he sent his own son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'

^³⁸But the farmers when they saw the son said to each other, 'This is the heir.  Hey, let's kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.'  ^³⁹And they took him and cast him outside the vineyard and killed him.

^⁴⁰When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"

^⁴¹They are saying to him, "He will kill those creeps catastrophically, and give the vineyard to other farmers, who will pay him back the fruits in their seasons."

^⁴²Jesus says to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures,

              " 'A stone which the builders rejected,

                          this one has become

                    the chief cornerstone.

              From the Lord this came about,

                    and it is marvelous

                                in our eyes'?"

^⁴³Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation producing its fruit.  ^⁴⁴And the person who trips over that stone will be broken into pieces, and upon whomever the stone falls, it will turn him into powder."

^⁴⁵And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable of his, they knew that it was about them that he was speaking.  ^⁴⁶And though seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, since they held him to be a prophet.

Chapter 22

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

^¹And once again Jesus in response to them spoke by means of a parable, saying, ^²"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king, who put on a wedding feast for his son.  ^³And he sent his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding, and they did not want to come.

^⁴Once more, he sent other servants, telling them, 'Say to those invited, "Look, my noon meal has been prepared, my bulls and fattened animals are slaughtered, and everything is ready.  Come now to my wedding feast."  ^⁵But they disregarded this and went off, one to his own field, another on his trade route, ^⁶and others of them captured his servants, and insulted and killed them.

^⁷And the king became angry, and sending his soldiers, he slew those murderers, and burned their city.  ^⁸Then, he says to his servants, 'Seeing as how my wedding feast is ready, and the ones invited were not worthy, ^⁹go out therefore onto the crossings of the roads, and whomever you find, invite them to the wedding feast."  ^¹⁰So going out into the roads, those servants gathered everyone that they could find, both the evil and the good.  And so the wedding hall was filled with guests reclining.

^¹¹Now when the king went in to observe the ones reclining, he saw there a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.  ^¹²And he says to him, 'Friend, how is it you have come in here without having wedding clothes?'  And he was speechless.

^¹³Then the king said to his servants, 'Bind his feet and hands, and throw him in the outer darkness; there, there will be keening, and gnashing of teeth.'  ^¹⁴For many are invited, but few are chosen."

Paying the Tribute Tax to Caesar

^¹⁵Then the Pharisees left, and plotted how they might entrap him in a saying.  ^¹⁶And they send disciples of theirs to him, along with Herodians, saying as follows, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and that you teach the way of God with integrity, and it makes no difference to you about anyone, for you pay no attention to the personage of people.  ^¹⁷Tell us then, what do  you think?  Is it permissible to pay the tribute to Caesar, or not?"

^¹⁸But aware of their evil, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?  ^¹⁹Show me the coinage used for the tribute."  And they brought him a denarius.  ^²⁰And he says to them, "Whose image is this, and whose inscription?"

^²¹They say to him, "Caesar's."

    Then he says to them, "So Caesar's things you give back to Caesar, and God's things to God."  ^²²And when they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him, and went away.

Marriage at the Resurrection

^²³During that same day, Sadducees approached him, (Sadducees say there is no resurrection), and they questioned him ^²⁴as follows: "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies without having a child, his brother shall marry the man's wife, and raise up descendants for his brother.'  ^²⁵Well, there were seven brothers near us, and the first one after marrying, died, and since he had no descendant, his brother took his wife.  ^²⁶And it was the same with the second, and the third, up till and including all the seven.  ^²⁷And last of all, the woman died.

^²⁸In the resurrection, then, of which of the seven will she be wife?  For all of them had her."

^²⁹And in answer Jesus said to them, "You are mistaken, from not knowing either the scriptures or the power of God.  ^³⁰For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven.

^³¹Now about the resurrection of the dead, have you never read the declaration to you from God, where he says, ^³²'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob''?  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

^³³And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Weightiest Commandment

^³⁴And when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together on that same place, ^³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, questioned him, testing him: ^³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

^³⁷And he told him, "'You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.'  ^³⁸This is the greatest and primary commandment.  ^³⁹And the second one is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  ^⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Whose Son is the Messiah?

^⁴¹And as long as the Pharisees were collected together, Jesus questioned them, ^⁴²saying: "What do you all think about the Christ— whose son is he?"

    They are saying, "David's."

^⁴³He says, "How is it then that David, by the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, ^⁴⁴'Yahweh said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until such time I put your enemies under your feet."  ^⁴⁵So, since David calls him Lord, how is he his son?"

^⁴⁶And no one was able to answer this argument, nor did anyone from that day on dare ask him anything else.

Chapter 23

Jesus Denounces the Rabbis

^¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to his disciples, ^²saying, "The Torah scholars and Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses; ^³therefore whatever they say to you, you should do and keep, but not according to their works should you do.  For they say and don't do.

^⁴But they bind heavy loads and place them on the backs of the people, but they themselves would not budge them with a finger of theirs.

^⁵But every act of theirs they do with the goal to be seen by people; for they enlarge their phylacteries, and lengthen their tassels; ^⁶and they love the places of honor in the banquets, and the prominent seats in the synagogues ^⁷and the greetings in the marketplaces and being called Rabbi by the people.

^⁸But you, you should not be called Rabbi, because there is only one teacher for you, and you are all brothers.  ^⁹And call no one on earth your father, because there is only one father of you, the heavenly one.  ^¹⁰Neither should you be called Master, because there is only one master of you, the Messiah.  ^¹¹But the greatest among you shall be your servant.  ^¹²And whoever promotes himself will be lowered, and whoever lowers himself will be promoted.

^¹³Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  For you close the kingdom of heaven in people's faces; you yourselves do not enter, and neither do you allow those who are entering to enter.

^¹⁵Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when it happens, you make him twice the son of Gehenna that you are.

^¹⁶Woe to you, you blind guides, that say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.'  ^¹⁷O blind fools!  For which is greater– the gold, or the temple that makes the gold something holy?

^¹⁸Or that say, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that lies upon it, he is obligated.'  ^¹⁹You blind men!  For which is greater– the gift, or the altar that makes the gift something holy?

^²⁰It follows therefore, that when you swear by the altar, you are swearing by it AND everything that lies upon it, ^²¹and when you swear by the temple, you are swearing by it AND by the One residing in it.

^²²And when you swear by heaven, you are swearing by the throne of God AND by him who sits upon it.

^²³Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  For you tithe the mint and dill and cumin, and have passed over more important matters of the law– justice, mercy and faith.  But these latter you ought to practice, without leaving the former undone.  ^²⁴You blind guides, straining out a gnat, but swallowing a camel!

^²⁵Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the inside is full of grabbiness and intemperance.

^²⁶O blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup, such that the outside will be clean as well.

^²⁷Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs, that sparkle beautifully on the outside, but inside are full of bones of the dead and all sorts of unclean things.

^²⁸So you also, outside you appear to people as righteous, but inside you are loaded up with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

^²⁹Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the graves of the righteous, ^³⁰and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers we would not have been parties to the blood of the prophets.'

^³¹By so saying, you are bearing witness against yourselves, that you are sons of the murderers of the prophets.

^³²You fill indeed the measure of your forefathers.

^³³O you snakes, you spawn of vipers, how will you wiggle out of the sentence of Gehenna?

^³⁴Therefore behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and Torah scholars; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, ^³⁵so that on you will come all the blood of the righteous that gets spilled upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you slaughtered between the sanctuary and the altar.  ^³⁶Truly I tell you, this will all fall upon this generation.

^³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those sent to it!  How often I have wished to gather together your children, as a hen gathers together her young under her wings, and you were not willing.  ^³⁸Now behold, your house will be left to you desolate.

^³⁹For I tell you, from now on, me you will not see, until such time you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Chapter 24

Signs of the Times

^¹And Jesus was proceeding on his way, and left the temple, and his disciples approached to show him the construction of the temple.  ^²But in answer he said to them, "Do you see all these things?  Truly I tell you, by no means will there be a stone left upon a stone that will not be thrown down."

^³Then as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

^⁴And in answer Jesus said to them, "See that no one misleads you.  ^⁵For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will deceive many.  ^⁶And you will hear about wars and rumors of wars.  Do not be alarmed.  For such are bound to happen, but the end is still not yet.

^⁷For nation will rise up against nation, and king against king, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  ^⁸But all these are just the beginning of birth pains.

^⁹At that time they will deliver you over to trial, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.  ^¹⁰And then many will be scandalized, and others will betray and hate each other; ^¹¹and many false prophets shall arise, and lead many astray.  ^¹²And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold.  ^¹³But the person who remains to the end, that one will be rescued.  ^¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth, for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

^¹⁵When therefore you see the abomination of desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel being in the holy place, (Reader, think.) ^¹⁶then those in Judea should flee to the mountains, ^¹⁷the one on the rooftop should not come down to take things from his house, ^¹⁸and the person in the field should not turn back to take his coat.

^¹⁹And alas for those who are pregnant, and the ones giving milk during those days!  ^²⁰And pray that your flight not happen during winter or on a sabbath.  For there will be great distress then, of a sort that has not happened from the beginning of the world till now, nor ever will again.  ^²²And if those days had not been made short, no flesh would survive; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be short. 

^²³At that time, if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Messiah,' or "There is the Messiah,' do not believe it.  ^²⁴For there shall arise many false prophets, and they will perform great signs and miracles, so as to deceive if possible, even the elect.  ^²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time.

^²⁶If therefore they say to you, 'Behold, he is in the desert,' do not go out.  Or, 'Behold, he is in a private room,' do not believe it.  ^²⁷For just as lightning comes out of the east and shines as far as the west, so shall the appearing of the Son of Man be.  ^²⁸Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will be gathered.

^²⁹And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its glow, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the forces of the heavens will be shaken.

^³⁰And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and at that time, all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with great power and great glory.  ^³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet sound, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of sky to the other.

^³²Now learn this parable from the fig tree: when its branch becomes tender and it puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  ^³³In the same way you also, when you see all these things, you know that the time is near, right at the door.  ^³⁴Truly I tell you: this age will by no means pass away until all these things have taken place.  ^³⁵Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

^³⁶But as for that day and hour, no one knows it except the Father alone; not even the angels of heaven, not even the Son.  ^³⁷For just like the days of Noah, that is how the coming of the Son of Man will be.  ^³⁸For just as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, right up until the day that Noah entered the ark, ^³⁹and they did not know it right up until the flood came and carried them away, that is how it will also be with the coming of the Son of Man.  ^⁴⁰At that time, two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

^⁴¹Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left.

^⁴²Be watchful therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

^⁴³But this you know: that if the home owner had known at what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

^⁴⁴For this reason you also must be the same: because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you would not think he would.

^⁴⁵Who then is the faithful and sensible servant, whom the master has placed over his domestic servants, to give out rations in due time?

^⁴⁶Happy is that servant whom his lord will find so doing when he comes.

^⁴⁷Truly I tell you, he will place him over all his possessions.

^⁴⁸But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord is taking a long time,'

^⁴⁹and his fellow servants he begins to slap around, but eats and drinks with the drunkards, ^⁵⁰the lord of that servant will come at an hour he is not expecting, and at a time he does not know, ^⁵¹and will cut him in two, and appoint him his inheritance with the hypocrites.  There, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Chapter 25

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

^¹"At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who after grabbing their torches, went out for the meeting up with the bridegroom.

^²Now five of them were foolish, and five of them were wise.

^³For the foolish ones when they brought their torches, had not brought some oil along with them.

^⁴The wise, however, brought along with their torches, some oil in a container.

^⁵Now after the bridegroom was taking a long time, they all became drowsy, and fell asleep.  ^⁶And in the middle of the night, there came a loud cry, 'Look, the bridegroom is coming!  Come out to join him.'

^⁷Then at that time, all those virgins woke up, and trimmed their torches.  ^⁸And the foolish ones said to the wise ones, 'Give us some of your oil, because our torches are going out.'

^⁹But the wise ones answered saying, 'No, there may not be enough for both us and you.  Go rather to the vendors and buy your own.'

^¹⁰And while they were gone away to buy some, the bridegroom came, and the ones who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and then the door was locked.

^¹¹And later on, the other virgins also arrive, and they are saying, 'Sir!  Sir!  Open the door for us.'

^¹²"But in response, he said, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'

^¹³You all should keep watch therefore; because you do not know the day or the hour."

The Parable of the Talants

^¹⁴"For it entrusted his possessions over to them.  ^¹⁵And to one he gave five talants, and to another two talants, and to another, one talant, each according to his own ability, and then he went abroad.  Immediately, ^¹⁶the one who received the five talants went out and worked with them and gained five more.  ^¹⁷Similarly, the one with the two, gained another two.  ^¹⁸But the one who had received the one talant went out and dug in the ground, and he hid his master's silver.

^¹⁹And after a long time, the lord of those servants returns, and he is settling accounts with them.  ^²⁰And when the one who had received the five talants came forward, he presented another five talants, saying, 'Lord, you entrusted to me five talants.  Look, I have gained another five talants.'

^²¹His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; over much I will appoint you.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'

^²²Then also when the one who had received the two talants came forward, he said, 'Lord, you entrusted to me two talants.  Look, I have gained another two talants.'

^²³His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; over much I will appoint you.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'

^²⁴But then when the one who had received the one talant came forward, he said, 'Lord, I knew you, that you are a hard man, who reaps where he has not sown, and gathers what he has not winnowed.  ^²⁵And because I was afraid, I went out and hid your talant in the ground.  See here, you still have what is yours.'

^²⁶But in response, his master said to him, 'You wicked and idle servant!  You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather what I have not winnowed?  ^²⁷Then you should have deposited my silver with the bankers, and when I returned I would recover what is mine with interest.

^²⁸Now then, take the talant away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talants.  ^²⁹For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have himself an abundance.  But the person who does not have, even such that he has will be taken away from him.  ^³⁰And as for that worthless servant, cast him into the outer darkness.  There, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The Sheep and the Goats

^³¹"And when the Son of Man returns in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne, ^³²and all the nations will be brought together before him, and he will separate them one from the other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ^³³and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

^³⁴Then, the king will say to the ones on his right, 'Come, you blessed by my Father, receive as your inheritance the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world.  ^³⁵For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was traveling through, and you invited me in.  ^³⁶Naked, and you put clothes on me.  Sick, and you came to look over me.  I was in prison, and you came to visit with me.'

^³⁷Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?  ^³⁸And when did we see you a traveler and invite you in, or naked and put clothes on you?  ^³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to visit with you?'

^⁴⁰"And in answer, the king will say, 'Truly I say to you, as many times as you have done those things to the least of these of my brethren, you have done them to me.'

    "^⁴¹Then, he will say also to the ones on his left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  ^⁴²For I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat.  I was thirsty, and you did not give me a drink.  ^⁴³I was traveling through, and you did not invite me in.  Naked, and you did not put clothes on me.  Sick, or in prison, and you did not come and look over me.'

    "^⁴⁴Then those also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or traveling through or naked or sick or in prison and not minister to you?'

    "^⁴⁵Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly I say to you, as many times as you did not do those things to one of the least of these, you did not do them to me.'  ^⁴⁶And those he will send off into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life."

Chapter 26

The Plot Against Jesus

^¹And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these discourses, he said to his disciples, ^²"As you know, two days from now the Passover takes place, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."  ^³Then the chief priests gathered together, along with the elders of the people, in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Kaiapha; ^⁴and they came to the decision that they would capture Jesus by trickery and kill him.  ^⁵"But," they were saying, "not in the festival, or there might be an uproar among the people."

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

^⁶Now once when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, ^⁷a woman came to him holding an alabaster bottle of very expensive myrrh, and she poured it on his head as he was reclining.  ^⁸And when the disciples saw this they were indignant, saying, "This is such waste, for what?  ^⁹Because this could have been sold for a lot of money, to be given to the poor."

^¹⁰But aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you causing trouble for this woman?  For she has performed a good work in me.  ^¹¹For the poor you always have with you, but me you do not always have.  ^¹²For she did the pouring of this myrrh on my body to prepare me for burial.  ^¹³Truly I tell you, wherever in the whole world this good news is preached, what this woman has done will also be spoken, in honorable remembrance of her."

^¹⁴At that time one of the twelve went to the high priests, the one called Judas of Kerioth, ^¹⁵and he said, “What will you give me to betray him to you?"  And they placed out for him thirty pieces of silver.  ^¹⁶And from then on, he was looking for a suitable time to betray him.

The Passover Supper

^¹⁷And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us to get the Passover meal ready for you to eat?"

^¹⁸And he said, "Go into the city to a certain person and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is near.  I am doing Passover with you, along with my disciples."'"  ^¹⁹And those disciples did as Jesus told them, and prepared the Passover.

^²⁰And as evening was coming on, he was reclining with the Twelve.  ^²¹And while he was eating with them he said, "Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me."

^²²And deeply saddened, they began every single one to say to him, "It's not me, is it, Lord?"

^²³And in answer he said, "The one who dips his hand with mine in the bowl, he is the one who will betray me.  ^²⁴The Son of Man is going just indeed like it is written about him, but nevertheless woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is being betrayed.  It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."

^²⁵And in response, Judas, the one betraying him, said, "It's not me, is it Rabbi?"

^²⁵He says to him, "You said it."

^²⁶And as they ate, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take and eat.  This is my body."  ^²⁷And when he had taken the cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it everyone.  ^²⁸For this is my blood of the covenant, being shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.  ^²⁹And I say to you, I will certainly not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father."  ^³⁰And when they had sung a hymn, they went out toward the Mount of Olives.

^³¹Then Jesus is saying to them, "You will all be scandalized because of me this very night, for it is written:

              " 'I will strike down the shepherd,

              and the sheep of the flock

                          will be scattered.'

^³²But after I am resurrected, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

^³³But in response Peter said to him, "Though everyone else will be scandalized because of you, I will never be scandalized."

^³⁴Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, This very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

^³⁵Peter says to him, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you."  And all the other disciples said the same.

Gethsemane

^³⁶Then Jesus goes with them to a park named Gethsemane, and he says to the disciples, "Sit here during such time I am gone over there to pray."  ^³⁷And he took Peter along, and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply depressed.

^³⁸Then he says to them, "My soul is too sad, to the point of death.  Remain here and stay awake with me."  ^³⁹And then after he had moved forward a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying, "My Father, if it is possible, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

^⁴⁰And he returns to the disciples, and finds them sleeping.  And he says to Peter, "This is how you guys are, lacking the self-control to stay awake with me one hour?  ^⁴¹Stay awake and pray, that you not go into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

^⁴²Again for the second time he went away and was praying, saying, "My Father, if it is not possible for this to go away unless I drink it, may your will be done."  ^⁴³And when he returned, he again found them sleeping, because their eyelids were weighed down heavily.

^⁴⁴And again he left them and went away, praying for the third time, saying the same thing again.  ^⁴⁵Then at that time he comes to the disciples and says to them, "Still sleeping away and resting?  Behold, the hour has drawn near, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  ^⁴⁶Get up, let's go.  Look, the one betraying me is approaching."

Jesus Arrested

^⁴⁷And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, and with him a large crowd of people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.  ^⁴⁸And the one betraying him had given them a signal, as follows: "Whomever I kiss is the one.  Him you seize."

^⁴⁹And he came straight up to Jesus and said, "Good morning, Rabbi."  Then he kissed him.

^⁵⁰And Jesus said to him, "Friend, why are you here?"  Then at that time they came up and laid their hands on Jesus, and arrested him.

^⁵¹And behold, one of those in the company of Jesus raised his hand and drew his sword, and he struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

^⁵²Jesus then says to him, "Return your sword to its place.  For all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.  ^⁵³Or do you think I am not able to call on my Father, and he make available to me right now more than twelve legions of angels?  ^⁵⁴But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which indicate that all this needs to happen?"

^⁵⁵At that time, Jesus said to the crowd, "As though after a bandit you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?  Every day I was sitting in the temple teaching and you didn't arrest me.  ^⁵⁶But, this has all come about so the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled."  Then the disciples all abandoned him and fled.

Before the Sanhedrin

^⁵⁷And the ones arresting Jesus led him away to Kaiapha the high priest, where the Torah scholars and the elders had gathered.  ^⁵⁸Now Peter had been following him from a distance, up to the courtyard of the high priest, and once he got inside, he was sitting with the servants, to see the outcome.  ^⁵⁹And the high priest and the entire Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus by which they could put him to death, ^⁶⁰and they had not found it from the many false witnesses who had come forward.  But then later, two came forward ^⁶¹and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and in three days to build it again.'"

^⁶²And the high priest rose and said to him, "Aren't you answering anything?  What about this they are testifying against you?"  ^⁶³But Jesus was keeping silent.  And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God that you declare under oath whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God."

^⁶⁴Jesus says to him, "You said that.  Nevertheless I say to you: after now you shall all see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."

^⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robe, saying, "He has blasphemed!  What more need do we have for witnesses?  See, now you have heard blasphemy.  ^⁶⁶How does it look to you?"

    And they said in answer, "He is guilty enough for death."  ^⁶⁷Then they spit on his face and pummeled him; they slapped him ^⁶⁸while saying, "Prophesy to us, you Messiah– who is the one who hit you?"

Peter Disowns Jesus

^⁶⁹And Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and one maidservant approached him, saying, "You also were with Jesus the Galilean."

^⁷⁰But he was denying it before all of them, saying, "I do not know what you are saying."

^⁷¹And after he had moved off into the entrance way, another maidservant saw him and is saying to the ones there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene."

^⁷²And again he was denying it, with an oath: "I do not know the man."

^⁷³And after a little while those standing there said to Peter, "You definitely are also one of them, because your speech also gives you away."

^⁷⁴Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the man."  And immediately a rooster crowed.  ^⁷⁵And Peter was reminded of the statement Jesus had said, that "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."  And he went off outside, and wept bitterly.

Chapter 27

Judas Hangs Himself

^¹And very early in the morning, they all, the chief priests and elders of the people, reached the decision against Jesus that they would put him to death.  ^²And they bound him, and led him away, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor.

^³Then, when Judas the one who betrayed him saw that he was condemned, he with remorse returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ^⁴saying, "I have sinned; I have betrayed innocent blood."

    But they said, "What is that to us?  You deal with that."

^⁵And after depositing the silver in the temple, he departed, and went off and hung himself.  ^⁶But the chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, "It is not permissible to put them in the temple treasury, since it is blood price money."

^⁷And after conferring on a course of action, they bought with the coins the potter's field, as a burial place for foreigners.  ^⁸For which reason that field has been called "the Field of Blood" to this day.  ^⁹Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, which says,

              "And they took the thirty pieces of silver,

    the price of him on whom a price had been set,

                    as priced by the sons of Israel,

^¹⁰and they traded them for the potter's field,

                    just as the Lord directed me."

Jesus Before Pilate

^¹¹And Jesus was stood before the governor; and the governor examined him, saying, "YOU are the king of the Jews?"

    And he said, "You are saying that, not I."  ^¹²And during the whole time he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he was not responding at all.

^¹³Then Pilate says to him, "Don't you hear all the things they are charging you with?"  ^¹⁴And he gave him no answer, not to even a single charge, causing the governor to be greatly astonished.

^¹⁵Now the governor had become accustomed at every Festival to release one prisoner to the crowd that they wanted.  ^¹⁶And they were holding at that time a particularly well-known prisoner named [Jesus] Barrabbas.  ^¹⁷When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Which do you want me to release to you, [Jesus] Brrabbas, or the Jesus called Christ?"  ^¹⁸(For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over.)

^¹⁹And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him as follows: "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much today because of a dream about him."  ^²⁰And the chief priests and the elders manipulated the crowd so that they would ask to have Barabbas, but Jesus they would put to death.

^²¹But when the governor answered, he said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"

    And they said, "Barabbas."

^²²Pilate is saying to them, "What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"

    They all are saying, "Let him be crucified!"

    But the governor was saying, "Why?  What crime has he committed?"

    But they kept shouting that much more, saying, "Let him be crucified!"

^²⁴And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took some water and washed his hands in front ot the crowd, saying, "I am not going to be guilty of the blood of this innocent man.  You see to that yourselves."

^²⁵And in response the whole crowd said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children."  ^²⁶At that time, he released Barabbas to them, but Jesus, after scourging him, he handed over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

^²⁷Then the soldiers who were guarding Jesus, after taking him into the Praetorium, gathered together onto him the whole cohort.  ^²⁸And they stripped him of his clothes and placed around him a scarlet robe, ^²⁹and after weaving together a crown of thorns they set that on his head, and a rod in his right hand, and then they dropped to their knees before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  ^³⁰And after they spit on him, they took the rod, and repeatedly beat on his head.  ^³¹And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the scarlet robe and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

^³²And as they were leading him out, they encountered a Cyrenian man by the name of Simon.  This man they conscripted to carry his cross.  ^³³And when they came to the place called Gulgolta, which is called the "skull" place, ^³⁴they offered him wine to drink, mixed with a bitter drug; and after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  ^³⁵And once they had crucified him, they divied up his garments by casting lots.  ^³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  ^³⁷And they fastened above his head his specific charge, written as follows: "THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS."  ^³⁸There were being crucified along with him at that time two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. ^³⁹And those passing by defamed him, wagging their heads ^⁴⁰and saying, "Hey, you who destroys the temple and builds another one in three days, save yourself! If you are the son of God, come down from the cross."  ^⁴¹In the same way also the chief priests, making fun along with the Torah scholars and the elders, were saying, ^⁴²"Others he saved; himself he cannot save.  He is the King of Israel?  Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  ^⁴³He put his trust in God; let Him now rescue him, if he wants him.  Because he did say, 'I am God's son.'"  ^⁴⁴In the same way the bandits who were crucified with him were also taunting him.

Jesus' Death

^⁴⁵And starting from the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.  ^⁴⁶And at about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a very loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema shebaqtani?"  Which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

^⁴⁷And some standing there who heard this were saying, "This man is calling Elijah."  ^⁴⁸And quickly one of them ran and got a sponge and soaked it with sour wine, and after sticking it on a reed, was giving him a drink.

^⁴⁹But the rest were saying, "Back off.  Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."  ^⁵⁰But Jesus, after crying out again in a loud voice, gave up his spirit.  ^⁵¹And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks split open, ^⁵²and the tombs were opened up, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised again, ^⁵³and after coming out of the tombs at the time of His resurrection, they went into the holy city and showed themselves to many.

^⁵⁴And the centurion and the ones with him who were guarding Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the other things that happened, they were severely frightened, saying, "This man really was the Son of God."

^⁵⁵And there were present many women off at a distance observing, who had followed Jesus from Galilee providing for him; ^⁵⁶among whom were Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons as well.

Jesus' Burial

^⁵⁷And when evening had come, a certain rich man of Arimathea by the name of Joseph came, who himself was also a disciple of Jesus.  ^⁵⁸This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Pilate thereupon ordered that it be handed over to him.  ^⁵⁹And after taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean linen cloth, ^⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had hewn out of the rock.  And after rolling a large stone up against the entrance of the tomb, he departed.

^⁶¹Now Mary the Magdalene, along with the other Mary, was there throughout, sitting opposite the grave site.

The Guard at the Tomb

^⁶²The next day, that is, the one which is after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together before Pilate, ^⁶³saying, "Sir, we remember how that deceiver, when he was still living, said, 'After three days I will rise again.'  ^⁶⁴Give orders therefore to secure the grave site through the third day, or his disciples might go steal him and then tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and this last deception will be worse than the first."

^⁶⁵Pilate said to them, "You have a guard.  Go secure it as best you know how."  ^⁶⁶So they went and secured the grave site, sealing the stone along with stationing the guard.

Chapter 28

The Empty Tomb

^¹And after the Sabbath, at the dawning of the first day of the week, Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the grave site.  ^²And behold, there came a great earthquake.  For an angel of the Lord had come down from heaven, and after going up to the tomb, he had rolled away the stone, and was sitting down now on top of it.  ^³And his face was like lightning, and his garments a gleaming white like snow.  ^⁴And for fear of him, the guards trembled, and became as dead men.

^⁵But in response, the angel said to the women, "You should not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus the crucified man.  ^⁶He is not here.  For he has risen just as he said.  Come, see the place where he was lying.  ^⁷And quick, go tell his disciples as follows, 'He has risen from the dead.  And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see him.'  There, I have told you."

^⁸And they departed quickly from the tomb, and with fear and great joy they ran to report this to his disciples.  ^⁹And behold, Jesus met up with them, saying, "Good morning."  And after approaching him, they grasped onto his feet, and worshiped him.

^¹⁰Then Jesus is telling them, "Do not be afraid.  Go report to my brothers that I am leaving for Galilee, and they will see me there."

The Official Cover-Up

^¹¹And while those were on their way, behold, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.  ^¹²And after coming together with the elders, they came up with a plan, and took the sufficient amount of silver coins and gave them to the soldiers, ^¹³telling them, "Say that his disciples came by night and stole him while you were sleeping.  ^¹⁴And if this should ever reach the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and make you have no worries."  ^¹⁵And they accepted the silver coins and did as they were told.  And this story has been propagated by the Jews to this day.

The Assembly on the Mountain in Galilee

^¹⁶And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.  ^¹⁷And when they saw him, they worshiped him, though some hesitated.  ^¹⁸And Jesus approached them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  ^¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, ^²⁰teaching them to keep everything, whatever things I have commanded you.  And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

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