The Gospels

Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph,

Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah,

and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,note

Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

But as he was considering this, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”note

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel,” which translated means “God with us.”note

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife home. He did not have sexual relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

When King Herod heard this he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. He gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written through the prophet:note

‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod secretly summoned the magi and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared.note

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I too may come and worship him.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there was the star they had seen at its rising, going ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. They went into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another road.

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.”

He got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went away to Egypt, and he stayed there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”note

Then Herod, seeing that he had been tricked by the magi, was furious. He sent men and killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding region who were two years old and under, according to the time he had ascertained from the magi.

Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning: Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,note

saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” He got up, took the child and his mother, and went into the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee, and he went and settled in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.”note

John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him,

and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? So produce fruit worthy of repentance.note

And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. The ax is already lying at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I am; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” Jesus answered him, “Let it be so for now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John let him.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And there was a voice from the heavens, saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

He answered, “It is written: ‘A person will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,note

and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: ‘He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is also written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”note

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and began to serve him.note

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light, and on those sitting in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned.”note

At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

At once they left the boat and their father and followed him. He went all through Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

News of him spread through all Syria, and people brought him all who were ill, those afflicted with various diseases and torments—people possessed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics—and he healed them. Great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.note

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for [they] will be called children of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for that is how they persecuted the prophets who came before you. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what will make it salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket; they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’note

But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be liable to the Council; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to the fire of Gehenna.note

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. Go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Come to terms quickly with your opponent while you are still on the way with him, or your opponent may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last kodrantes. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’note

But I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman so as to desire [her] has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you; it is better for you that one part of your body be lost than that your whole body be thrown into Gehenna.

And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is better for you that one part of your body be lost than that your whole body go into Gehenna. It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’note

But I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery[, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery]. Again, you have heard that it was said to the people of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but you shall fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’note

But I tell you not to swear at all: not by heaven, for it is the throne of God; not by the earth, for it is the footstool for his feet; not by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.

And if anyone wants to take you to court and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’note

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? You, then, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.note

So when you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

so that your giving may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that people may see them. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full.

But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not babble on like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we too have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;note

but if you do not forgive people [their trespasses], neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, don’t put on a gloomy look like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that people may see they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. That is why I tell you: don’t worry about your life, what you will eat [or what you will drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?note

Look at the birds of the sky: they don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: they don’t toil or spin.note

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, won’t he much more clothe you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’

The Gentiles chase after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when look, there’s the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Don’t give what is holy to dogs, and don’t throw your pearls before pigs, or they may trample them underfoot and turn and tear you to pieces. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and whoever seeks finds, and to whoever knocks it will be opened. Or which man among you, whose son asks him for bread—will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish—will he give him a snake?

So if you, evil as you are, 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! So whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inside are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Do people gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? In the same way every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice lawlessness.’

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the torrents came, the winds blew and battered that house, and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as evidence to them.” When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came up to him, pleading with himnote

and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible torment.” He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man [placed] under authority, with soldiers under me. 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 it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the children of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very hour. When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began to wait on him.

When evening came, they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”note

Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” He got into a boat, and his disciples followed him.

Suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” When he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two men possessed by demons met him, coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass along that road.note

Suddenly they cried out, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Some way off from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

He said to them, “Go.” They came out and went into the pigs, and suddenly the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the water. The herdsmen fled, went off into the town, and reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

At this some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” then he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he got up and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners?” He heard it and said, “It isn’t the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”note

Then John’s disciples came to him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Instead they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

For she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and when he saw her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd in an uproar,note

he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the news of this spread through that whole region. As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

When he had gone into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.”

But they went out and spread the news about him through that whole region. As they were going out, people brought to him a man who was mute and possessed by a demon. When the demon had been driven out, the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” [But the Pharisees said, “It is by the ruler of the demons that he drives out the demons.”]

When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, after giving them these instructions: “Don’t go off on a road to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any town of the Samaritans.note

Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. You received without paying; give without being paid. Don’t get gold or silver or copper to carry in your belts,

no bag for the road, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker deserves his food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it;

and if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or that town.note

Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.note

Be on your guard against people; for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. When they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour;

for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of my name; but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in this town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! So don’t be afraid of them; for nothing is covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known.note

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. As for you, even the hairs of your head are all counted. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.note

So everyone who acknowledges me before people, I too will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before people, I too will deny before my Father in heaven. Don’t suppose that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;note

and whoever does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even just a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple—truly I tell you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

the blind see again and the lame walk, people with leprosy are made clean and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who does not stumble because of me.” As they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’note

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent people are seizing it.

For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen. To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to the othersnote

and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, and you didn’t beat your breasts.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ And wisdom has been proved right by her deeds.”

Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they had not repented: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.note

But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum—will you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would still be standing today. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

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 anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and weighed down, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

How he went into the house of God and they ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are not guilty?note

But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what this means, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” He went on from there and came into their synagogue.note

There was a man there with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they could bring a charge against him. He said to them, “Which man among you [will there be] who has a single sheep and, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

How much more valuable, then, is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as healthy as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, how they might destroy him. Jesus knew it and withdrew from there. Many followed him, and he healed them all,

and he ordered them not to make him known, so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul delights. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.note

He will not quarrel or shout, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not put out, until he brings justice through to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no town or household divided against itself will stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or how can anyone go into the strong man’s house and carry off his goods unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

That is why I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of what overflows the heart.

The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

For just as Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching—and look, something greater than Jonah is here.note

The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom—and look, something greater than Solomon is here. When the unclean spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places looking for rest, and doesn’t find it.note

Then it says, ‘I will go back to my house that I came out of.’ And when it comes, it finds the house unoccupied, [and] swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and settle there; and that person ends up worse off than before. That is how it will be with this evil generation too.”

And stretching out [his] hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once because the soil had no depth; but when the sun rose it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.

Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. Other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen.” The disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has will be given more, and will have plenty; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. That is why I speak to them in parables: because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear or understand.

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will listen and listen but never understand, and you will look and look but never see. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they hear only with difficulty, and they have shut their eyes; so that they may not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn back, and I would heal them.’note

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and [your] ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and just people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. So you, then, listen to the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart; this is the one sown along the path. The one sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy;

but he has no root in himself and lasts only for a while, and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, at once he falls away. The one sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit.

But the one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it—he is the one who really does bear fruit and yields, one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty.”

The householder’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and pull them up?’

But he said, ‘No; if you pull up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and tie them [in] bundles to be burned, but bring the wheat into my barn.”’”

He put another parable before them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is bigger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

[He told them] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until all of it was leavened.” Jesus said all these things to the crowds in parables, and without a parable he said nothing to them, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will pour out things hidden since the foundation.”note

the field is the world; the good seed—these are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom everything that causes stumbling and all who practice lawlessness, and they will throw them into the blazing furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was thrown into the sea and caught every kind;

when it was full, they hauled it up onto the shore, sat down, and gathered the good ones into baskets, but threw the bad ones away. That is how it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come out and separate the evil from among the just

and throw them into the blazing furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “That is why every scribe who has been made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house who brings out of his storeroom things new and old.”

And aren’t all his sisters here with us? Then where did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own house.” And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

because John had been telling him, “It isn’t lawful for you to have her.” Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in front of everyone and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests he ordered it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

His disciples came and took the body and buried him, and they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. But the crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the towns.

When he came ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. When evening came, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

But Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to me.”

He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said the blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: twelve baskets full.

Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. [Immediately] he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away. After sending the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

By now the boat was many stadia from land, battered by the waves, for the wind was against it. In the fourth watch of the night he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.note

But at once [Jesus] spoke to them: “Take heart, it is I. Don’t be afraid.” Peter answered him, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and went toward Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and as he began to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught hold of him, and he said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they had climbed into the boat, the wind dropped. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. The men of that place recognized him and sent word into all the surrounding region. They brought him all who were sick and begged [him] that they might only touch the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were made well.note

For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is an offering,” he need not honor his father.’note

So you have made the word of God void for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of human beings.’” Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:note

it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—that is what defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

Leave them alone. They are blind guides. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.” He said, “Are you still without understanding, you too? Don’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine?

But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and that is what defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, false testimony, slanders. These are what defile a person. But eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, [for] even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have stayed with me [now] for three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they may faint on the way.”

The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in a deserted place to feed such a great crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and began giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: seven large baskets full. Those who ate were four thousand men, not counting women and children. After sending the crowds away, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

An evil and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” And he left them and went away. When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

They discussed it among themselves, saying, “We didn’t bring any bread.” Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many large baskets you gathered?

How can you not understand that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast [of bread], but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because your mind is not on the things of God but on human things.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What good will it do a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what will a person give in exchange for his life?

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Peter responded by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good for us to be here. If you want, I’ll make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and there was a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were overcome with fear. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.”

When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus himself, alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” The disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”note

He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he had been speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed from that hour.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. But so that we don’t give them offense, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. When you open its mouth, you’ll find a stater. Take that and give it to them for me and for you.”note

So whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone, the kind a donkey turns, hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Stumbling blocks are bound to come, but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes.

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gehenna.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and look for the one that is straying?

And if he happens to find it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. In the same way, it is not the will of my Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault, just between you and him. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every matter may be established on the word of two or three witnesses.note

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, [truly] I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.”

As he began the settlement, a man was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Since he couldn’t pay, the master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and the debt repaid. So the slave fell down and knelt before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’note

The master of [that] slave took pity on him. He released him and forgave him the loan. But as that slave went out, he found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii. He seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back whatever you owe!’ So his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’note

But he refused. Instead he went and threw him into prison until he paid what was owed. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply distressed, and they went and told their master everything that had happened. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow slave, just as I had mercy on you?’ And in his anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he paid back all that was owed. That is how my heavenly Father will treat you too, unless each of you forgives his brother from your hearts.”

and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command giving her a certificate of divorce and sending her away?”note

He said to them, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart, but from the beginning it was not so. And I tell you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If that is how things stand between a man and his wife, it’s better not to marry.”

He said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying, only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this, let him accept it.”

‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to him, “I have kept all these. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard [this] saying, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished. “Then who can be saved?” they said. Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter answered him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us?”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And 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 many times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

and he said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. [And] he went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth, and did the same. About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing there, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’

They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ Those hired about the eleventh hour came, and each received a denarius.

When the first came, they thought they would receive more; but they too received [their] denarius each. When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner. ‘These last ones worked one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius?

Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last one the same as I gave you. Am I not allowed to do what I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”note

Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He said to them, “My cup you will drink, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give; it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men wield authority over them. It is not so among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Jesus was moved with pity and touched their eyes, and immediately they regained their sight and followed him.

If anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”note

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The crowds going ahead of him and those following kept shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar. “Who is this?” people asked. And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”note

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant

and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.note

Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The baptism of John—where did it come from? From heaven, or from human beings?” They argued it out among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all regard John as a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he in turn said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

Then he went to the second and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I won’t,’ but later he changed his mind and went. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The second.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw that, you did not change your minds afterward and believe him. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad.

When harvest time drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. But the tenants seized his slaves; one they beat, another they killed, another they stoned. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.

Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and get his inheritance.’

So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruit when it is due.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that produces its fruits.note

[And whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and anyone it falls on, it will crush.]” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.

Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner. My bulls and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was furious. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

So go to the places where the roads leave the city, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ Those slaves went out into the roads and gathered everyone they found, bad and good alike, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

So tell us what you think: is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.note

He said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.

Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and since he had no offspring, he left his wife to his brother. The same happened with the second and the third, all the way to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died.

So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be, of the seven? They all had her.” Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. They are like angels in heaven.

And as for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God: ‘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.” When the crowds heard this, they were astounded at his teaching.note

This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” While the Pharisees were gathered there, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “David’s.”note

He said to them, “Then how is it that David, speaking in the Spirit, calls him Lord, when he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” No one could say a word in answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.note

They tie up heavy loads and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do, they do to be seen by people. They make their phylacteries broad and their tassels long; they love the place of honor at dinners and the best seats in the synagogues,note

and being greeted in the marketplaces, and being called ‘Rabbi’ by people. But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, the one in heaven.note

Nor are you to be called instructors, because you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You don’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let those who are going in enter.note

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single convert, and when he has become one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the sanctuary, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, he is bound by his oath.’

You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that made the gold holy? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift that lies on it, he is bound by his oath.’ How blind you are! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?

So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. Whoever swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint and dill and cumin, and you have neglected the weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup [and the dish], so that the outside of it may become clean too.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of uncleanness. In the same way you too look just to people on the outside, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the just, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Go on, then, fill up the measure of your fathers. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How will you escape being sentenced to Gehenna? That is why, look, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and hunt from town to town,

so that upon you may come all the just blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the just to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.note

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers [her] chicks under her wings, and you were not willing? Look, your house is left to you. For I tell you, you will not see me from now on until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”note

As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one leads you astray.

Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will lead many astray. You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed. This has to happen, but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All these things are the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will hand you over to suffering and kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations because of my name. And then many will fall away, and they will hand one another over and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

And because lawlessness will increase, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole inhabited world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

So when you see ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not come down to take what is in his house, and whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.note

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great suffering, such as has not happened from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.

If those days had not been cut short, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the chosen, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Here!’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and produce great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen.

There—I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.note

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat their breasts, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.note

He will send out his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather his chosen from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to [the] other. Learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch grows tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

So you too, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the doors. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

In [those] days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah went into the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. So will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one is taken and one is left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left. So stay awake, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.

That is why you too must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who, then, is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time,’

and begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with the drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him his place with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

but the sensible ones took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was delayed, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight there was a shout: ‘Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish said to the sensible, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ But the sensible ones answered, ‘No—there may not be enough for both us and you. Go to the dealers instead and buy some for yourselves.’

While they were off buying it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Later the other virgins came too and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

So stay awake, because you know neither the day nor the hour. For it is like a man going on a journey, who called his own slaves and handed his possessions over to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his own ability, and then he left. At once

the one who had received the five talents went and put them to work and gained five more. In the same way the one with the two gained two more. But the one who had received the one went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

The one who had received the five talents came forward and brought five more talents. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you handed five talents over to me; look, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Come in and share your master’s joy.’

The one with the two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you handed two talents over to me; look, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Come in and share your master’s joy.’

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward too and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter. So I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’

His master answered him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter? Then you should have put my money with the bankers, and when I came back I would have received what is mine with interest.

So take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough; but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,

and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the just will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those at his left as well, ‘Go away from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, [and] I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me either.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal life.”

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they plotted to seize Jesus by deceit and kill him. But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”note

Jesus knew it and said to them, “Why are you troubling the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. You always have the poor with you, but you won’t always have me. By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial.

Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They counted out thirty pieces of silver for him. From then on he looked for a good opportunity to hand him over.note

The disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When evening came, he reclined at the table with the Twelve [disciples]. While they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it isn’t I, Lord?”

He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me—he is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Judas, who was betraying him, answered, “Surely it isn’t I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said it.” While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, [and] when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,

for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father.”

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away because of me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”note

Peter answered him, “Even if they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same.

Going on a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So you couldn’t keep watch with me for one hour?

Keep watch and pray that you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again, a second time, and prayed, [saying,] “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, let your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

So he left them, went away again, and prayed a third time, saying the same words once more. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Look, the hour has come near, and the Son of Man is being handed over into the hands of sinners. Get up, let’s go. Look, the one who is betraying me has come near.”

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived, and with him a large crowd with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and elders of the people. The betrayer had given them a sign: “The one I kiss is the man; seize him.” At once he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here for.” Then they came forward, laid hands on Jesus, and seized him. Suddenly one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword; he struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think I cannot appeal to my Father, and he would at once put at my side more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”note

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the Prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

The chief priests and the whole Council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the sanctuary of God and to build it within three days.’”

The high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is it these men are testifying against you?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath by the living God: tell us whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Jesus said to him, “You have said it. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, you have now heard the blasphemy.note

What is your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists, and others slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who was it that hit you?” Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”

But he denied it in front of them all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” When he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I don’t know the man.”

After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “You really are one of them too; your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses and to swear, “I don’t know the man!” At once a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went outside and wept bitterly.

saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? That’s your concern.” He threw the silver into the sanctuary and left; then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.”note

So they took counsel and used the money to buy the Potter’s Field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the sons of Israel had set a price,note

and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.” Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned him: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”

But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they are testifying against you?” But he gave him no answer, not to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the festival the governor used to release to the crowd one prisoner, whomever they wanted. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed him over.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him: “Have nothing to do with that just man, for today I have suffered a great deal in a dream because of him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.

The governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” He said, “Why, what wrong has he done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Let him be crucified!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, and that a riot was starting instead, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this blood. See to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

They spat on him, took the reed, and kept striking him on the head. When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the cloak, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they pressed him into service to carry his cross.note

When they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave him wine mixed with gall to drink; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among them by casting lots, and they sat down there and kept watch over him. Over his head they put the charge against him, written out: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the sanctuary and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

In the same way the chief priests [too], along with the scribes and elders, mocked him and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now, if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The bandits who were crucified with him taunted him in the same way. From the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthanei?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”note

When some of those standing there heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.” [[And another took a spear and pierced his side, and water and blood came out.]]note

Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two, [from] top to bottom; the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the holy ones who had fallen asleep were raised,note

and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those with him who were keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what was happening, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

Many women were there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had served him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The next day, the day after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’note

So order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, or his disciples may come and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. The guards shook with fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “You don’t need to be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and now he is going ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ There—I have told you.”

So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” While they were on their way, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. The chief priests gathered with the elders, took counsel, and gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,

telling them, “Say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were told. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this [day].

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Jesus came up and spoke to them: “All authority in heaven and on [the] earth has been given to me.

So go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And look, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

John was dressed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one more powerful than I is coming after [me]. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

And a voice [came] from the heavens: “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, being tested by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels served him.

As he went along beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you into fishers of people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were also in their boat mending the nets, and at once he called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him.

“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked him, [saying,] “Be silent, and come out of him!” The unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions, cried out with a loud voice, and came out of him.

They were all so amazed that they kept asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he gives orders even to the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once the news about him spread everywhere, throughout the whole region around Galilee. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

Simon’s mother-in-law was lying in bed with a fever, and at once they told him about her. He went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those possessed by demons.

The whole town was gathered at the door. He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not let the demons speak, because they knew him [to be the Messiah]. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up and went out [and went off] to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

Simon and those with him hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” He said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else, into the nearby towns, so that I can proclaim there too. That is what I came out for.” And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming in their synagogues and casting out the demons.

and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone. Go and show yourself to the priest instead, and for your cleansing offer what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But the man went out and began to proclaim it everywhere and to spread the story, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town. He [stayed] out in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.note

Since they couldn’t get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they took the roof off above where he was, and after digging through it they lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts,

“Why does this man talk like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning [this way] among themselves, said [to them], “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, [and] pick up your mat and walk’?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” The man got up, at once picked up the mat, and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, [saying,] “We have never seen anything like this!”

Later he was reclining at table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them, and they followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners?”note

When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “It isn’t the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your [disciples] don’t fast?”

Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast, on that day.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins too. [Rather, new wine into fresh wineskins.]”

He looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and at once began plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.note

He told his disciples to keep a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases were pushing toward him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”

He strictly ordered them not to make him known. Then he went up the mountain and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him and so that he might send them out to proclaim and to have authority to cast out the demons.

So he appointed the Twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean,note

and Judas Iscariot, who also handed him over. Then he went home, and [the] crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat a meal. When his family heard this, they went out to restrain him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.” He called them over and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.note

And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; he is finished. But no one can go into a strong man’s house and plunder his goods without first tying up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven everything, their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

This was because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent word to him, calling for him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.”

He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those who sat in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

“Listen! Look, a sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground [and] where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once because it had no depth of soil.

When the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no grain. And other seeds fell into the good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing, and yielded thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.”

And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” When he was alone, those around him, along with the Twelve, asked him about the parables. He said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables,

so that ‘looking they may look and not see, and hearing they may hear and not understand, so that they may not turn and be forgiven.’” And he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word.note

These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word that was sown in them. And likewise these are the ones sown on the rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy,

but they have no root in themselves and last only a short while. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. Others are the ones sown among the thorns: these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

And those are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, some thirtyfold, [some] sixtyfold, and [some] a hundredfold.” And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed, and not to be put on a lampstand?

For nothing is hidden except to be disclosed, and nothing has been kept secret except to come into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. The measure you measure with will be measured out to you, and more will be added to you. For to whoever has, it will be given; and from whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

And he said, “The kingdom of God is like this: a man scatters seed on the ground, and he sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he doesn’t know how. The earth produces crops by itself: first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

And when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” And he said, “What shall we compare the kingdom of God to, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth—

yet when it is sown, it comes up and becomes the largest of all garden plants and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as far as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but in private he explained everything to his own disciples.

He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind died down, and there was a great calm.

He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he had torn the chains apart and smashed the shackles, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, all the time, among the tombs and in the hills, he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt before him, and crying out in a loud voice he said, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I make you swear by God: don’t torment me!” For Jesus had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”

And he asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, because we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, “Send us into the pigs, so that we may go into them.”note

He gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd, about two thousand of them, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea. Those who tended them fled and reported it in the town and in the countryside, and people came to see what it was that had happened.

They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind—the man who had had the legion—and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and about the pigs. And they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged him to let him be with him.

He did not let him, but said to him, “Go home to your own people and tell them everything the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis everything Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.note

and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” He went off with him. A large crowd followed him and pressed in around him. There was a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years

and had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I’ll be made well.”

At once the flow of her blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. At once Jesus, aware in himself that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But he kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. The woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be free of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any further?”

But Jesus, overhearing what was said, told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; only believe.” He let no one follow along with him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. They came to the synagogue leader’s house, and he saw a commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly.

He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child hasn’t died; she’s asleep.” And they laughed at him. But he put them all out, took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which translated means, “Little girl, I tell you, get up.” Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around—she was twelve years old. At once they were overcome with great amazement. He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own house.”

He could not do any mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. He went around the villages in the area, teaching. He called the Twelve to him and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no copper coins in their belts—but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.

And if any place does not welcome you and they do not listen to you, as you leave there shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony to them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them.

For Herod himself had sent men to arrest John and had him bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not,

for Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he listened to him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to hear him. Then an opportune day came, when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.

When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask me for, I’ll give you, up to half my kingdom.”note

She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” Her mother said, “The head of John the Baptizer.” At once she hurried back in to the king and made her request: “I want you to give me, right now, the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply grieved, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests he did not want to refuse her.

At once the king sent a soldier of his guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

So they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. But many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there together on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he got out, he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it’s already late. Send them away so they can go into the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

He answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he ordered them to have everyone sit down in groups on the green grass.note

So they sat down in rows like garden beds, by hundreds and by fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke the loaves, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied.

They picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces, and of the fish as well. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. At once he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying goodbye to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

When evening came, the boat was out in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. He saw them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, and about the fourth watch of the night he came toward them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them.note

When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them and said to them, “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.” He got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And they were utterly astounded within themselves,

for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over to land, they came to Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized him, ran about that whole region, and began to carry the sick on their mats to wherever they heard he was.note

Wherever he went, into villages or towns or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched him were healed.

and when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they sprinkle themselves; and there are many other things they have received and hold to, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze pots—and the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?”

He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of human beings.’note

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of human beings.” And he said to them, “How well you set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.’note

But you say that if someone tells his father or mother, ‘Korban’—that is, ‘Gift’—‘is whatever support you might have had from me,’ then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. So you make void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”note

Then he called the crowd to him again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that can defile him by going into him; it is the things that come out of a person that defile the person.” When he had left the crowd and gone into a house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

He said to them, “Are you, too, so lacking in understanding? Don’t you see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and passes out into the latrine?”—making all foods clean.

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles a person. For from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The woman was a Greek, Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”note

She answered him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” He said to her, “Because you have said this, go: the demon has left your daughter.”

She went home and found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone. Then he left the region of Tyre again and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of the Decapolis.

They brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly speak, and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside from the crowd, by himself, put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened.”

His ears were opened, the bond on his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak plainly. Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they kept proclaiming it. They were utterly astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

His disciples answered him, “Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people here in the wilderness?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them, and kept giving them to his disciples to serve, and they served them to the crowd.

They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and told them to serve these too. They ate and were filled, and they picked up seven large baskets of leftover pieces. There were about four thousand people. Then he sent them away. At once he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.note

They had forgotten to bring bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat. He warned them, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

You have eyes—don’t you see? You have ears—don’t you hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said to him, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

The man looked up and said, “I see people—they look like trees, walking around.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and the man looked hard, and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. He sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”

They told him, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But you—who do you say I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said this openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But he turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! Your mind is not on the things of God but on human things.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of [me and] the good news will save it. What good does it do a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could a person give in exchange for his life?

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

He didn’t know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him.” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them, only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what this rising from the dead meant. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said to them, “Elijah does come first and restore all things. Then how is it written of the Son of Man that he is to suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has in fact come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, and they couldn’t.” He answered them, “You unbelieving generation! How long am I to be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”

They brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, at once it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” He said, “Since childhood.

When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” It shrieked, threw him into violent convulsions, and came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He’s dead.”

But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he stood up. When Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”

He took a child and stood it in the middle of them, and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes [one of] such children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t following us.” But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever isn’t against us is for us.

For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, truly I tell you, will certainly not lose his reward. And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone, the kind a donkey turns, hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It’s better for you to enter into life maimed than to have two hands and go off into Gehenna, into the fire that cannot be put out.note

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It’s better for you to enter into life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out. It’s better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna,

where their worm does not die and the fire is not put out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt loses its saltiness, what will you season it with? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”note

Jesus said to them, “It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘male and female he made [them].’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.note

Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” In the house the disciples asked him about this again. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But at this word his face fell, and he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They were even more astounded and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God; for everything is possible for God.”

Peter began to say to him, “Look, we’ve left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and [for the sake] of the good news

who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this present time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and [the] last first.”

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise again.”

Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they began to be indignant at James and John. Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men wield authority over them.

But it is not so among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man too did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Take heart. Get up, he’s calling you.” He threw off his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus answered him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbouni, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” At once he could see again, and he followed him on the road.note

And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and he will send it back here at once.’” They went off and found a colt tied at a door, outside in the street, and they untied it. Some of the people standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”

They told them what Jesus had said, and the people let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, and he sat on it. Many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields.

Those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. When he had looked around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.note

He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples heard it. They came to Jerusalem. He went into the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves,

and he would not let anyone carry anything through the temple. He was teaching them, saying, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”note

The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and they looked for a way to destroy him. They were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.” Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is happening, it will be done for him.

That is why I tell you: whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John—was it from heaven, or from human beings? Answer me.” They argued it over among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why [then] didn’t you believe him?’

But are we to say, ‘From human beings’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for everyone held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

They seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent another slave to them; this one they struck on the head and treated shamefully. He sent another, and this one they killed; and so with many others—some they beat, and some they killed. He still had one left, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others.

Haven’t you even read this scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd, for they knew he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.note

Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?” But he knew their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it.” They brought one. He said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and when he died he left no offspring. The second took her and died without leaving offspring, and the third likewise. None of the seven left offspring. Last of all the woman died too.

In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this why you are mistaken—that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

And as for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him and said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”note

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”note

The scribe said to him, “Well said, Teacher! You are right to say that he is one and there is no other besides him; and to love him with all one’s heart, and with all one’s understanding, and with all one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is worth far more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “[You are] not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to question him any more. While he was teaching in the temple, Jesus took up the matter and said, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?

David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” And the large crowd listened to him with delight.note

In his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted in the marketplaces, and want the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at dinners. They devour widows’ houses, and for show they make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury and watched how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and put in two lepta, which make a quadrans.note

He called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are putting money into the treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, her whole livelihood.”

As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” Jesus began to say to them, “Watch out that no one leads you astray.

Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These things are the beginning of the birth pains.

But watch out for yourselves. They will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them. And the good news must first be proclaimed to all the nations.

When they lead you away and hand you over, don’t worry beforehand about what you will say; say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit. Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death;

and you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be—let the reader understand—then those in Judea must flee to the mountains;note

the one on the housetop must not come down or go inside to take anything out of his house, and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing! Pray that it may not happen in winter.

For those days will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will again. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no one at all would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short the days.

And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But you, watch out; I have told you everything beforehand. But in those days, after that distress, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,note

and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather [his] elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

Learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you too, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the doors. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Watch out, stay awake, for you don’t know when the time [is].

It is like a man going abroad: he left his house and gave his slaves authority, to each his own work, and ordered the doorkeeper to keep watch. So keep watch, for you don’t know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn—in case he comes suddenly and finds you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: keep watch.”

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. You always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can [always] do good to them; but you will not always have me. She did what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.

Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to hand him over to them. When they heard this they were delighted, and they promised to give him money. And he began looking for a good opportunity to hand him over.

and wherever he goes in, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large upstairs room, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples set out and went into the city, and they found everything just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve. As they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely it isn’t I?” He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the [same] bowl with me.

For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” While they were eating, he took bread, and after saying the blessing he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even if everyone falls away, I won’t.”note

Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today—this very night—before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But Peter kept insisting all the more vehemently, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” [And] they all said the same thing too.

Going on a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass him by. He said, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”

Then he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you won’t come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Once more he went away and prayed, [saying the same words].

Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer him. He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let’s go. Look, my betrayer is near.”

At once, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, and with him a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now his betrayer had given them a signal: “The one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”

As soon as he arrived, he went straight up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and seized him. But one [man] among the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his ear. Jesus answered them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me, as if I were a bandit?

Day after day I was with you in the temple, teaching, and you didn’t seize me. But this is so that the scriptures may be fulfilled.” And they all deserted him and fled. A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth over his naked body, and they seized him; but he left the linen cloth behind and ran off naked.

The chief priests and the whole Council were looking for testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimonies didn’t agree. Then some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,

“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this sanctuary made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’” But even so their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up in their midst and questioned Jesus: “Have you no answer to make? What is it these men are testifying against you?”

But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest questioned him: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”note

The high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? Did you hear the blasphemy? What is your verdict?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. Some began to spit on him, to cover his face, to strike him with their fists, and to say to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him over with blows.

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant girls came by. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him and said, “You were with the Nazarene too, with Jesus.” But he denied it: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt.

The servant girl saw him and began again to tell the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. A little while later the bystanders again said to Peter, “You really are one of them—you’re a Galilean, after all.”

But he began to call down curses and to swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Pilate questioned him again, [saying,] “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the festival he used to release for them one prisoner, whomever they asked for. There was a man called Barabbas, held in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising.

The crowd came up and began to ask him to do as he usually did for them. Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he knew it was out of envy that [the chief priests] had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.

Pilate spoke to them again: “Then what shall I do with [the one] you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. They forced a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.”note

They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots for them to decide what each would take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”note

With him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the sanctuary and build it [in] three days—save yourself and come down from the cross!”

In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, mocked him among themselves, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthanei?” which means, “My God, [my God,] why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”note

But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw that he had breathed his last in this way, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son.”note

There were also women watching from a distance, among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him and served him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he granted the corpse to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching to see where he was laid.

Then they looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled back—for it was very large. Going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

They went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them either. [And] later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had been raised [from the dead]. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in tongues; [and with their hands] they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So the Lord [Jesus], after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the message everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the signs that accompanied it.]]

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both of them were advanced in years. Once, when he was serving as priest before God in his division’s turn, it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. The whole crowd of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense.note

An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was shaken, and fear fell on him. But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.note

He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the understanding of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”note

The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.”note

Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered why he was taking so long in the sanctuary. When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept making signs to them, and he remained mute.

When the days of his service were over, he went back to his home. After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself in seclusion. “This is what the Lord has done for me,” she said, “in the days when he looked on me, to take away my disgrace among people.”

She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this could be. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen: you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not been with a man?”

The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. That is why the child to be born will be called holy, Son of God. And look: your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.

For no word from God will ever fail.” Mary said, “Here I am, the Lord’s servant. Let it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her. In those days Mary set out and went in haste into the hill country, to a town of Judah,

and she went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She cried out with a loud cry and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Why am I granted this, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled.”

for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he spoke to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home.

But his mother answered, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him to be called.

He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, blessing God. Fear came over all who lived around them, and all these things were talked about throughout the hill country of Judea,

and all who heard them took them to heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people and brought them redemption.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,note

the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to grant us that, rescued from the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”note

to be registered with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the lodging place.note

In that same region there were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Listen: I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

today in the city of David a Savior has been born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased.”note

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go over to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child. All who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the Law, he took him in his arms and blessed God, saying,

“Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel.” His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Look: this child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that is opposed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. (She was very advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.) She never left the temple, worshiping night and day with fasting and prayer. Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to God and spoke about him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Thinking he was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey and then began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions;

and all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers. When they saw him, they were stunned, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”

But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and people.

He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.note

Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough places smooth roads; and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’” So he said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

So produce fruits worthy of repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not produce [good] fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The crowds asked him, “What should we do, then?” He answered them, “Whoever has two tunics should share with the one who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than you have been ordered to.”

Soldiers also asked him, “And what should we do?” He said to them, “Don’t extort money from anyone by force or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” As the people were waiting expectantly, and all were wondering in their hearts about John, whether he might be the Messiah,

John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but one more powerful than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”note

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done, added this on top of them all: he locked John up in prison.

Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda,

son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim,note

son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor,

son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘A person shall not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.note

So if you worship before me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.’” Then he took him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said [to him], “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,note

for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time.note

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.note

He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” They all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that came from his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

He said to them, “No doubt you’ll quote me this parable: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. Everything we heard you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet finds favor in his hometown.

But I tell you the truth: there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.note

And there were many people with leprosy in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to throw him off the cliff. But he passed through the middle of them and went on his way.note

“Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the demon threw the man down in their midst and came out of him without doing him any harm.

Amazement came over them all, and they said to one another, “What is this word? With authority and power he gives orders to the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And news of him spread to every place in the surrounding region.

He got up and left the synagogue and went into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.

As the sun was setting, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on each one of them and healed them. Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not let them speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

When day came, he went out and made his way to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him; they came to where he was and tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must bring the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent for.” And he went on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.note

He got into one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at your word I’ll let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a huge number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me—I’m a sinner, Lord!” For amazement had seized him and all who were with him at the catch of fish they had taken,

and James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners, were amazed as well. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” They brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

He ordered him to tell no one: “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded, as evidence to them.” Yet the word about him spread all the more, and large crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a bed, and they tried to bring him in and lay [him] before Jesus. Finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him through the tiles, pallet and all, into the middle, in front of Jesus.

When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to question this, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their questioning, answered them, “Why are you questioning this in your hearts?

Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.”

Immediately he stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Amazement seized them all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear and said, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It isn’t the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and offer prayers, and so do those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

But days will come—and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast, in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old one. Otherwise he will tear the new one, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will spill, and the skins will be ruined. No, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. [And no one who has drunk old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’]”

[how] he went into the house of God, took the bread of the Presence and ate it, and gave some to those with him, though it is not lawful for anyone but the priests alone to eat it?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”note

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught. A man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in the middle.” The man got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you: is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?”

He looked around at them all and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Simon, whom he also named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, [and] James son of Alphaeus and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.note

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a large crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;

and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed. The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all. Then he raised his eyes toward his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for look, your reward is great in heaven; that is just what their ancestors did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe, you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe when all people speak well of you, for that is just what their ancestors did to the false prophets. But I say to you who are listening: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other one too; and if someone takes your cloak, do not keep back your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks you, and if someone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.

Just as you want people to treat you, treat them the same way. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And [in fact] if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get something back, what credit [is that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. No—love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use is the measure you will receive in return.”

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Won’t they both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the log in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your own eye? Hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck in your brother’s eye.

For no good tree bears rotten fruit, nor again does a rotten tree bear good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit: people don’t gather figs from thornbushes, or pick grapes from a bramble.

The good person brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and the evil person brings out evil from the evil; for the mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart. Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them—I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But the one who has heard and not done them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river burst against it, and it collapsed at once, and the ruin of that house was great.”

“for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us himself.” So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof.

That is why I didn’t consider myself worthy to come to you either. Just say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. He turned to the crowd that was following him and said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when the men who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he came near the town gate, a dead man was just being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and a sizable crowd from the town was with her.

When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, get up.” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him to his mother.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us,” and, “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding region.

At that very time he healed many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many who were blind he gave the gift of sight. And he answered them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, people with leprosy are made clean and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

When John’s messengers had left, he began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Look, those who wear splendid clothes and live in luxury are in royal palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one of whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he is.”—All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged that God was just, since they had been baptized with John’s baptism;note

but the Pharisees and the experts in the Law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, since they had not been baptized by him.—“To what, then, shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance; we sang a dirge, and you didn’t weep.’

For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, and she kept kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were [the] prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he said, “say it.” “A moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they couldn’t pay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?”note

Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You gave me no kiss, but from the moment I came in she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, because she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”

Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their own resources. When a large crowd was gathering and people from town after town were coming to him, he spoke in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up.note

Other seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And other seed fell into good soil, and when it came up it produced a crop a hundred times over.” As he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it comes in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’note

This is what the parable means. The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, and in a time of testing they fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and they bring nothing to maturity.

But as for what is in the good soil, these are the ones who hear the word with a fine and good heart, hold on to it, and bear fruit with endurance. No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed; instead he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.

For nothing is hidden that will not become plain, and nothing secret that will not be known and come out into the open. So take care how you listen. For to anyone who has, it will be given; and from anyone who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

They went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” He woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging water; they stopped, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Frightened and amazed, they said to one another, “Who is this, then, that he gives orders even to the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

They sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out onto land, a man from the town who had demons came to meet him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but among the tombs.note

When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of [God] the Most High? I beg you, don’t torment me.” For Jesus had been ordering the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him; he had been kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert places.

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to order them to go off into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them go into these. And he let them.note

The demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and reported it in the town and in the countryside.

People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the man who had been possessed by demons had been made well. Then the whole population of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked him to go away from them, because they were gripped by great fear. So he got into a boat and went back.

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to stay with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Go back to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” So he went off and proclaimed throughout the whole town how much Jesus had done for him.

because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he went, the crowds were pressing in on him. And a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years, and whom no one had been able to cure,

came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, and at once her bleeding stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When everyone denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I know that power has gone out from me.” When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before him, and in front of all the people she told why she had touched him and how she had been healed at once.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter has died; don’t trouble the teacher any longer.” But when Jesus heard this, he answered him, “Don’t be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”

When he came to the house, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter and John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But he said, “Don’t weep; she hasn’t died, she’s sleeping.”

They laughed at him, knowing that she had died. But he took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up.” Her spirit returned, and she stood up at once, and he directed that she be given something to eat. Her parents were astounded, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.

Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. And wherever people don’t welcome you, as you leave that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, bringing the good news and healing everywhere.

Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening, and he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had risen. Herod said, “John I beheaded. But who is this I hear such things about?” And he kept trying to see him.

The apostles returned and told him everything they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. But the crowds found out and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed healing.

The day began to draw to a close, and the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and get provisions, because we’re in a deserted place here.”

But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we’re to go and buy food for all these people ourselves.” For there were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

They did so and had them all sit down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied, and what they had left over was gathered up: twelve baskets of broken pieces.

He said to them, “But you—who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” But he sternly ordered them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What good is it for a person to gain the whole world but lose or forfeit himself?

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Suddenly two men were talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him had been weighed down with sleep, but when they were fully awake they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.note

As the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s put up three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He didn’t know what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they went into the cloud.

A voice came out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the one I have chosen. Listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent, and in those days they told no one anything of what they had seen.

I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t.” Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

Even while the boy was coming toward him, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And everyone was astounded at the majesty of God. While they were all marveling at everything he was doing, he said to his disciples,

“Let these words sink into your ears: the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying. It was hidden from them so that they would not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. An argument arose among them as to which of them might be the greatest.

But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and stood the child beside him, and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all—that one is great.”

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he doesn’t follow along with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Don’t stop him. Whoever is not against you is for you.”

But the people did not welcome him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

He said to another, “Follow me.” But the man said, “Let me first go and bury my father.” He said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to the people at my home.” Jesus said [to him], “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Go. Look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’

If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will come back to you. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the worker deserves his wages. Don’t move from house to house.

Whenever you enter a town and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they don’t welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. But know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum—will you be lifted up to heaven? You will go down to Hades.

Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The seventy[-two] came back full of joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Look, I have given you the authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all will harm you. Still, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits submit to you; rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.”

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what pleased you.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then he turned to the disciples and said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”note

But he wanted to justify himself, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half dead. By chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

In the same way a Levite also came to the place, saw him, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him.note

The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same yourself.”

But Martha was distracted by all the serving. She came up and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the serving alone? Tell her, then, to help me.” The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, [you are worried and troubled about many things, but few things are needed—or only one.] Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who owes us anything. And do not bring us into temptation.’” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

because a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And suppose he answers from inside, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already shut, and my children are in bed with me. I can’t get up and give you anything.’

I tell you, even if he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls on house. And if Satan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.

If I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that [I] cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, his possessions are left in peace. But when someone stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor the man trusted in and divides up his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

When the unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest, and when it finds none, it [then] says, ‘I will go back to my house that I came out of.’ When it comes, it finds the house [unoccupied,] swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”

While he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts you nursed at!” But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon—and look, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at Jonah’s preaching—and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under the measuring basket; they put it on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light too; but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

So see to it that the light in you is not darkness. If, then, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness.”

Fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside too? But give as alms what is inside, and look, everything is clean for you. But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, and you pass over justice and the love of God. These you should have done, without neglecting the others.

Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over them don’t know it.” One of the experts in the Law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.”note

He said, “Woe to you experts in the Law as well! You load people with burdens hard to carry, and you yourselves won’t touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

So you are witnesses, and you approve of what your fathers did; they killed them, and you do the building. That is why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

so that the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.note

Woe to you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not go in, and you hindered those who were going in.” When he went out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to ply him with questions about many things, lying in wait to catch him in something he might say.

So whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in someone’s ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops. I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more.

I’ll show you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after he has killed, has the power to throw you into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Even the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.note

I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before other people, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before other people will be denied before the angels of God.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, don’t worry about how [or what] you are to answer in your defense, or what you are to say,

for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you must say.” Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who appointed me judge or arbitrator over you?”

Then he said to them, “Watch out, and guard yourselves against every kind of greed, because even when someone has more than enough, his life does not come from his possessions.” And he told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced a good crop. And he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’

Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I’ll store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to my soul, “Soul, you have plenty of goods [laid up for many years; take it easy, eat, drink], enjoy yourself.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is being demanded from you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’

[That is how it is with anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.]” Then he said to [his] disciples, “That is why I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about [your] body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more are you worth than the birds! Which of you by worrying can add a cubit to his span of life? If, then, you can’t do even something so small, why do you worry about the rest?note

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!

And you—don’t be seeking what you will eat and what you will drink, and don’t be anxious. For it is all the nations of the world that seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make yourselves purses that don’t wear out, a treasure in heaven that never fails, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Keep your belts fastened and your lamps burning,

and be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they may open the door for him at once. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt, have them recline at table, and come and wait on them.

Whether he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them so, blessed are they. But know this: if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. You too must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone as well?” And the Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and sensible steward whom the master will put in charge of his household, to give out [the] food ration at the proper time?

Blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so when he comes. I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time in coming,’ and begins to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That slave who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will will be beaten with many blows;

but the one who did not know, and did things that deserved blows, will be beaten with few. From everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded; and from the one to whom much was entrusted, they will ask all the more. I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you think I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;

they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and so it happens.

And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, so how is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

When you are going with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort on the way to settle with him, or he may drag you before the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the officer, and the officer will throw you into prison. I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last lepton.”note

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”note

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it go on using up the soil?’

He answered him, ‘Sir, leave it this year too, until I dig around it and put on manure. Maybe it will bear fruit from now on—but if not, you will cut it down.’”

And he laid his hands on her, and at once she stood up straight and began glorifying God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done. So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”

But the Lord answered him, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound—think of it—for eighteen years, should she not have been set free from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

As he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the wonderful things he was doing. So he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”note

once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

But he will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do wrong!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown out.

And people will come from east and west, from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And look, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.” At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Leave and get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach my goal.’ Yet I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day after, because it is unthinkable for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you—how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you. [And] I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”note

But they kept silent. So he took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “Which of you, if a son or an ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer this. He told a parable to those who had been invited, when he noticed how they were choosing the places of honor, saying to them,

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, don’t take the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by him, and the one who invited both of you comes and says to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then, in shame, you begin to take the lowest place.

Instead, when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of all who are at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

He also said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they invite you back and you are repaid. Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind;

and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” When one of those at table with him heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” He said to him, “A man was giving a great dinner, and he invited many.

At the hour of the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I’ve bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please, consider me excused.’ Another said, ‘I’ve bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. Please, consider me excused.’

Another said, ‘I’ve just married, and so I can’t come.’ The slave came back and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the town, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame.’

And the slave said, ‘Master, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out to the roads and hedgerows and make people come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”