Chapter 1

¹The ancestry of Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, who was descended from Abraham.

²Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, and Jacob of Judah and his brothers, ³and Judah of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. And Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram, ⁴and Aram of Aminadab, and Aminadab of Nahshon, and Nahshon of Salmon, ⁵and Salmon of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. And Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. And Obed was the father of Jesse, ⁶and Jesse of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother was Uriah’s wife. ⁷And Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam of Abijah, and Abijah of Asa, ⁸and Asa of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat of Joram, and Joram of Uzziah, ⁹and Uzziah of Jotham, and Jotham of Ahaz, and Ahaz of Hezekiah, ¹⁰and Hezekiah of Manasseh, and Manasseh of Amon, and Amon of Josiah, ¹¹and Josiah of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the period of the Babylonian Exile.

¹²After the Babylonian Exile, Jeconiah had a son named Shealtiel, and Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³and Zerubbabel of Abiud, and Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor, ¹⁴and Azor of Zadok, and Zadok of Achim, and Achim of Eliud, ¹⁵and Eliud of Eleazar, and Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob, ¹⁶and Jacob of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus called Christ.

¹⁷So the whole number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen, and from David to the Babylonian Exile, fourteen, and from the Babylonian Exile to the Christ, fourteen.

¹⁸Now these were the circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, his mother, was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married it was found that she was about to become a mother through the influence of the holy Spirit. ¹⁹But her husband, Joseph, was an upright man and did not wish to disgrace her, and he decided to break off the engagement privately. ²⁰But while he was thinking of doing this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said,

“Joseph, descendant of David, do not fear to take Mary, your wife, to your home, for it is through the influence of the holy Spirit that she is to become a mother. ²¹She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for it is he who is to save his people from their sins.”

²²All this happened in fulfilment of what the Lord said through the prophet,

²³“The maiden will be pregnant and will have a son,

And they will name him Immanuel.”

—a word which means “God with us.” ²⁴So when Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him, and took his wife to his home. ²⁵But he did not live with her as a husband until she had had a son, and he named the child Jesus.

Chapter 2

¹Now after the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of King Herod, astrologers from the east arrived at Jerusalem, ²and asked,

“Where is the newly born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star rise and we have come to do homage to him.”

³When King Herod heard of this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴So he called together all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They said,

“At Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

⁶“ ‘And you, Bethlehem in Judah’s land,

You are by no means least important among the leading places of Judah,

For from you will come a leader

Who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod secretly sent for the astrologers, and found out from them the exact time when the star appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said to them,

“Go and inquire particularly about the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, so that I may go and do homage to him too.”

⁹So they obeyed the king and went, and the star which they had seen rise led them on until it reached the place where the child was, and stopped above it. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were very glad, ¹¹and they went into the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they threw themselves down and did homage to him. They opened their treasure boxes and presented the child with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.

¹³When they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said,

“Wake up! Take the child and his mother and make your escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave. For Herod is going to look for the child in order to make away with him.”

¹⁴Then he awoke and took the child and his mother by night and took refuge in Egypt, ¹⁵to fulfil what the Lord said by the prophet, “I called my son from Egypt.”

¹⁶Then Herod saw that he had been tricked by the astrologers, and he was very angry, and he sent and made away with all the boys in Bethlehem and in all that neighborhood who were two years old or under, for that was the tune he had learned from the astrologers by his inquiries. ¹⁷Then the saying was fulfilled which was uttered by the prophet Jeremiah,

¹⁸“A cry was heard in Ramah!

Weeping and great lamenting!

Rachel weeping for her children,

And inconsolable because they were gone.”

¹⁹But when Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said,

“Wake up! Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”

²¹Then he awoke, and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But hearing that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to return there; and being warned in a dream, he took refuge in the region of Galilee, ²³and he went and settled in a town called Nazareth, in fulfilment of the saying of the prophets,

“He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Chapter 3

¹In those days John the Baptist appeared, and preached in the desert of Judea.

²“Repent!” he said, “for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming!”

³It was he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, when he said,

“Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert,

‘Get the Lord’s way ready!

Make his paths straight!’ ”

⁴John wore clothing made of hair cloth, and he had a leather belt around his waist, and he lived on dried locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole Jordan valley went out to him, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, in acknowledgment of their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them,

“You brood of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming? ⁸Then produce fruit that will be consistent with your professed repentance! ⁹Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our forefather,’ for I tell you God can produce descendants for Abraham right out of these stones! ¹⁰But the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹I am baptizing you in water in token of your repentance, but he who is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not fit to carry his shoes. He will baptize you in the holy Spirit and in fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean up his threshing-floor, and store his wheat in his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with inextinguishable fire.”

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John dissuaded him, and said,

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵But Jesus answered,

“Let it be so this time, for it is right for us to do everything that God requires.”

Then John consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, he went right up out of the water, and the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God come down like a dove and light upon him, ¹⁷and a voice from heaven said,

“This is my Son, my Beloved! This is my Chosen.”

Chapter 4

¹Then Jesus was guided by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. ²And he fasted forty days and nights, and after it he was famished. ³And the tempter came up and said to him,

“If you are God’s son, tell these stones to turn into bread!”

⁴But he answered,

“The Scripture says, ‘Not on bread alone is man to live, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!’ ”

⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple, ⁶and said to him,

“If you are God’s son, throw yourself down, for the Scripture says,

“ ‘He will give his angels orders about you,

And they will lift you up with their hands

So that you may never strike your foot against a stone!’ ”

⁷Jesus said to him,

“The Scripture also says, ‘You shall not try the Lord your God.’ ”

⁸Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, ⁹and said to him,

“I will give all this to you, if you will fall on your knees and do homage to me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him,

“Begone, Satan! For the Scripture says, ‘You must do homage to the Lord your God, and worship him alone!’ ”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and waited on him.

¹²But when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he retreated to Galilee. ¹³And he left Nazareth and went and settled in Capernaum, by the sea, in the district of Zebulon and Naphtali, ¹⁴in fulfilment of what was said by the prophet Isaiah,

¹⁵“Zebulon’s land, and Naphtali’s land,

Along the road to the sea, across the Jordan,

Galilee of the nations!

¹⁶The people that were living in darkness

Have seen a great light,

And on those who were living in the land of the shadow of death

A light has dawned!”

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and say,

“Repent! for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming!”

¹⁸As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was afterward called Peter, and his brother, Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹He said to them,

“Come and follow me, and I will make you fish for men!”

²⁰They immediately dropped their nets and went with him. ²¹And he went on a little farther and saw two other men who were brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother, John, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, putting their nets in order, and he called them. ²²And they immediately left the boat and their father, and went with him.

²³Then he went all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease or sickness among the people. ²⁴Word went all through Syria about him, and people brought to him all who were suffering with any kind of disease, or who were in great pain—demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics—and he cured them. ²⁵Great crowds followed him about, from Galilee and the Ten Towns and Jerusalem and Judea and from the other side of the Jordan.

Chapter 5

¹When he saw the crowds of people he went up on the mountain. There he seated himself, and when his disciples had come up to him, ²he opened his lips to teach them. And he said,

³“Blessed are those who feel their spiritual need, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them!

⁴“Blessed are the mourners, for they will be consoled!

⁵“Blessed are the humble-minded, for they will possess the land!

⁶“Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for uprightness, for they will be satisfied!

⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy!

⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!

⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called God’s sons!

¹⁰“Blessed are those who have endured persecution for their uprightness, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them!

¹¹“Blessed are you when people abuse you, and persecute you, and falsely say everything bad of you, on my account. ¹²Be glad and exult over it, for you will be richly rewarded in heaven, for that is the way they persecuted the prophets who went before you!

¹³“You are the salt of the earth! But if salt loses its strength, how can it be made salt again? It is good for nothing but to be thrown away and trodden underfoot. ¹⁴You are the light of the world! A city that is built upon a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵People do not light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure; they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶Your light must burn in that way among men so that they will see the good you do, and praise your Father in heaven.

¹⁷“Do not suppose that I have come to do away with the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to do away with them but to enforce them. ¹⁸For I tell you, as long as heaven and earth endure, not one dotting of an i or crossing of a t will be dropped from the Law until it is all observed. ¹⁹Anyone, therefore, who weakens one of the slightest of these commands, and teaches others to do so, will be ranked lowest in the Kingdom of Heaven; but anyone who observes them and teaches others to do so will be ranked high in the Kingdom of Heaven. ²⁰For I tell you that unless your uprightness is far superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never even enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

²¹“You have heard that the men of old were told ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders will have to answer to the court.’ ²²But I tell you that anyone who gets angry with his brother will have to answer to the court, and anyone who speaks contemptuously to his brother will have to answer to the great council, and anyone who says to his brother ‘You cursed fool!’ will have to answer for it in the fiery pit! ²³So when you are presenting your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother has any grievance against you, ²⁴leave your gift right there before the altar and go and make up with your brother; then come back and present your gift. ²⁵Be quick and come to terms with your opponent while you are on the way to court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶I tell you, you will never get out again until you have paid the last penny!

²⁷“You have heard that men were told ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹But if your right eye makes you fall, tear it out and throw it away, for you might better lose one part of your body than have it all thrown into the pit! ³⁰If your right hand makes you fall, cut it off and throw it away, for you might better lose one part of your body than have it all go down to the pit!

³¹“They were told, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife on any ground, except unfaithfulness, makes her commit adultery, and anyone who marries her after she is divorced commits adultery.

³³“Again, you have heard that the men of old were told, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but you must fulfil your oaths to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I tell you not to swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God’s throne, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. ³⁶You must not swear by your own head, for you cannot make one single hair white or black. ³⁷But your way of speaking must be ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Anything that goes beyond that comes from the evil one.

³⁸“You have heard that they were told, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I tell you not to resist injury, but if anyone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him too; ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat too. ⁴¹And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. ⁴²If anyone begs from you, give to him, and when anyone wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.

⁴³“You have heard that they were told, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, ⁴⁵so that you may show yourselves true sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on bad and good alike, and makes the rain fall on the upright and the wrongdoers. ⁴⁶For if you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect? Do not the very tax-collectors do that? ⁴⁷And if you are polite to your brothers and no one else, what is there remarkable in that? Do not the very heathen do that? ⁴⁸So you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is.

Chapter 6

¹“But take care not to do your good deeds in public for people to see, for, if you do, you will get no reward from your Father in heaven. ²So when you are going to give to charity, do not blow a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and the streets, to make people praise them. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get! ³But when you give to charity, your own left hand must not know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your charity may be secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

⁵“When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the squares, to let people see them. I tell you, that is the only reward they will get! ⁶But when you pray, go into your own room, and shut the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not repeat empty phrases as the heathen do, for they imagine that their prayers will be heard if they use words enough. ⁸You must not be like them. For God, who is your Father, knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹This, therefore, is the way you are to pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,

Your name be revered!

¹⁰Your kingdom come!

Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!

¹¹Give us today bread for the day,

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And do not subject us to temptation,

But save us from the evil one.’

¹⁴For if you forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will forgive you too. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will not forgive you for your offenses.

¹⁶“When you fast, do not put on a gloomy look, like the hypocrites, for they neglect their personal appearance to let people see that they are fasting. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get. ¹⁷But when you fast, perfume your hair and wash your face, ¹⁸so that no one may see that you are fasting, except your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret, will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up your riches on earth, where moths and rust destroy them, and where thieves break in and steal them, ²⁰but store up your riches in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹For wherever your treasure is, your heart will be also. ²²The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is sound, your whole body will be light, ²³but if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be dark. If, therefore, your very light is darkness, how deep the darkness will be! ²⁴No slave can belong to two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or stand by one and make light of the other. You cannot serve God and money. ²⁵Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about life, wondering what you will have to eat or drink, or about your body, wondering what you will have to wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body than clothes? ²⁶Look at the wild birds. They do not sow or reap, or store their food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more account than they? ²⁷But which of you with all his worry can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸Why should you worry about clothing? See how the wild flowers grow. They do not toil or spin, ²⁹and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was never dressed like one of them. ³⁰But if God so beautifully dresses the wild grass, which is alive today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more surely clothe you, you who have so little faith? ³¹So do not worry and say, ‘What shall we have to eat?’ or ‘What shall we have to drink?’ or ‘What shall we have to wear?’ ³²For these are all things the heathen are in pursuit of, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need all this. ³³But you must make his kingdom, and uprightness before him, your greatest care, and you will have all these other things besides. ³⁴So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries of its own. Let each day be content with its own ills.

Chapter 7

¹“Pass no more judgments upon other people, so that you may not have judgment passed upon you. ²For you will be judged by the standard you judge by, and men will pay you back with the same measure you have used with them. ³Why do you keep looking at the speck in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Just let me get that speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a beam in your own? ⁵You hypocrite! First get the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see to get the speck out of your brother’s eye.

⁶“Do not give what is sacred to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. ⁷Ask, and what you ask will be given you. Search, and you will find what you search for. Knock, and the door will open to you. ⁸For it is always the one who asks who receives, and the one who searches who finds, and the one who knocks to whom the door opens. ⁹Which of you men when his son asks him for some bread will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake? ¹¹So if you, bad as you are, know enough to give your children what is good, how much more surely will your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask him for it! ¹²Therefore, you must always treat other people as you would like to have them treat you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

¹³“Go in at the narrow gate. For the road that leads to destruction is broad and spacious, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴But the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few that find it.

¹⁵“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you disguised as sheep but are ravenous wolves underneath. ¹⁶You can tell them by their fruit. Do people pick grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles? ¹⁷Just so any sound tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸No sound tree can bear bad fruit, and no poor tree can bear good fruit. ¹⁹Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and burned. ²⁰So you can tell them by their fruit. ²¹It is not everyone who says to me ‘Lord! Lord!’ who will get into the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that Day, ‘Lord! Lord! Was it not in your name that we prophesied, and by your name that we drove out demons, and by your name that we did many mighty acts?’ ²³Then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you! Go away from me, you who do wrong!’

²⁴“Everyone, therefore, who listens to this teaching of mine and acts upon it, will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. ²⁵And the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew, and beat about that house, and it did not go down, for its foundations were on rock. ²⁶And anyone who listens to this teaching of mine and does not act upon it, will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷And the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat about that house, and it went down, and its downfall was complete.”

²⁸When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, ²⁹for he taught them like one who had authority and not like their scribes.

Chapter 8

¹When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds of people followed him. ²And a leper came up to him and fell on his knees before him, saying,

“If you only choose, sir, you can cure me!”

³So he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,

“I do choose! Be cured!”

And his leprosy was immediately cured. ⁴Then Jesus said to him,

“See that you tell nobody, but go! Show yourself to the priest, and in proof of your cure, offer the gift that Moses prescribed.”

⁵When he got back to Capernaum, a Roman captain came up and appealed to him, ⁶saying,

“My servant, sir, is lying sick with paralysis at my house, in great distress.”

⁷He said to him,

“I will come and cure him.”

⁸But the captain answered,

“I am not a suitable person, sir, to have you come under my roof, but simply say the word, and my servant will be cured. ⁹For I am myself under the orders of others and I have soldiers under me, and I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do something, and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this he was astonished, and said to his followers,

“I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such faith as this. ¹¹And I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven, ¹²while the heirs to the kingdom will be driven into the darkness outside, there to weep and grind their teeth!”

¹³Then Jesus said to the captain,

“Go! You shall find it just as you believe!”

And the servant was immediately cured.

¹⁴Jesus went into Peter’s house, and there he found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with fever. ¹⁵And he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and waited on him.

¹⁶In the evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove the spirits out with a word, and cured all who were sick, ¹⁷in fulfilment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “He took our sickness and carried away our diseases.”

¹⁸Then Jesus, seeing a crowd about him, gave orders to cross to the other side. ¹⁹And a scribe came up and said to him,

“Master, I will follow you wherever you are going!”

²⁰And Jesus said to him,

“Foxes have holes and wild birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head!”

²¹And another of his disciples said to him,

“Let me first go, sir, and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus said to him,

“Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead!”

²³And he got into the boat, and his disciples went with him. ²⁴And suddenly a terrific storm came up on the sea, so that the waves broke over the boat, but he remained asleep. ²⁵And they came and woke him up, saying,

“Save us, sir! We are lost!”

²⁶And he said to them,

“Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!”

Then he got up and reproved the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷And the men were amazed and said,

“What kind of man is this? For the very winds and sea obey him!”

²⁸When he reached the other side, in the region of Gadara, two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and confronted him; they were so extremely violent that nobody could go along that road. ²⁹And they suddenly screamed out,

“What do you want of us, you Son of God? Have you come here before the appointed time to torture us?”

³⁰Now at some distance from them there was a great drove of pigs feeding. ³¹And the demons entreated him, saying,

“If you are going to drive us out, send us into the drove of pigs.”

³²And he said to them,

“Begone!”

And they came out and went into the pigs. And suddenly the whole drove rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the water. ³³And the men who tended them ran away and went off to the town and told it all, and the news about the men possessed by demons. ³⁴And the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to go away from their district.

Chapter 9

¹So he got into the boat and crossed the sea, and returned to his own city.

²Some people came bringing to him on a bed a man who was paralyzed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man,

“Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven.”

³Some of the scribes said to themselves,

“This man is talking blasphemy!”

⁴Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said,

“Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶But I would have you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth.” Then he said to the paralytic,

“Get up, pick up your bed and go home!”

⁷And he got up and went home. ⁸And when the crowd saw it, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such power to men.

⁹Afterward, as Jesus was passing along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him,

“Follow me!”

And he got up and followed him.

¹⁰While Jesus was at home at table, a number of tax-collectors and irreligious people came in and joined Jesus and his disciples at table. ¹¹And the Pharisees observed it, and they said to his disciples,

“Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?”

¹²But he heard it, and said,

“It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor! ¹³You must go and learn what the saying means, ‘It is mercy, not sacrifice, that I care for.’ I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious.”

¹⁴Then the disciples of John came up to him and said,

“Why is it that we and the Pharisees are keeping the fast, while your disciples are not keeping it?”

¹⁵Jesus said to them,

“Can wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and they will fast then. ¹⁶But no one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old coat, for the patch will tear away from the coat, and make the hole worse than ever. ¹⁷And people do not put new wine into old wine-skins, or if they do, the skins burst, and the wine runs out and the skins are spoiled. But people put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and so both are saved.”

¹⁸Just as he said this to them, an official came up and bowing low before him said to him,

“My daughter has just died. But come! Lay your hand on her and she will come to life!”

¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel of his cloak. ²¹For she said to herself, “If I can just touch his cloak, I will get well.” ²²And Jesus turned and saw her, and he said,

“Courage, my daughter! Your faith has cured you!” And from that time the woman was well.

²³When Jesus reached the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the disturbance the crowd was making, ²⁴he said,

“You must go away, for the girl is not dead; she is asleep.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when he had driven the people out, he went in and grasped her hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the news of this spread all over that part of the country.

²⁷As Jesus was passing along from there, two blind men followed him, calling out,

“Take pity on us, you Son of David!”

²⁸When he had gone indoors, the blind men came up to him, and he said to them,

“Do you believe that I can do this?” They said to him,

“Yes, sir.”

²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said,

“You shall have what your faith expects.”

³⁰And their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly not to let anyone hear of it. ³¹But they went out and spread the news about him all over that part of the country.

³²But just as they were going out, some people brought to him a dumb man who was possessed by a demon, ³³and as soon as the demon was driven out, the dumb man was able to speak. And the crowds were amazed, and said,

“Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel!”

³⁴But the Pharisees said,

“It is by the aid of the prince of the demons that he drives them out.”

³⁵Jesus went round among all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease or illness.

³⁶But the sight of the crowds of people filled him with pity for them, because they were bewildered and dejected, like sheep that have no shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples,

“The harvest is abundant enough, but the reapers are few. ³⁸So pray to the owner of the harvest to send reapers to gather it.”

Chapter 10

¹Then he called his twelve disciples to him, and gave them power over the foul spirits so that they could drive them out, and so that they could heal any disease or illness.

²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, ³Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector, James the son of Alpheus and Thaddeus, ⁴Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot who afterward betrayed him.

⁵Jesus sent these twelve out, after giving them these directions:

“Do not go among the heathen, or to any Samaritan town, ⁶but proceed instead to the lost sheep of Israel’s house. ⁷And as you go about, preach and say, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, heal lepers, drive out demons. Give without payment, just as you received without payment. ⁹Do not accept gold or silver or copper money to put in your pockets, ¹⁰and do not take a bag for your journey, nor two shirts, nor shoes, nor a staff, for the workman deserves his food! ¹¹Whatever town or village you come to, inquire for some suitable person, and stay with him till you leave the place. ¹²And as you go into his house, wish it well. ¹³If the house deserves it, the peace you wish it will come over it, but if it does not deserve it, your blessing will come back upon yourselves. ¹⁴And where no one will welcome you, or listen to you, leave that house or town and shake off its very dust from your feet. ¹⁵I tell you, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah will fare better on the Day of Judgment than that town.

¹⁶“Here I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So you must be wise like serpents, and guileless like doves. ¹⁷But be on your guard against men, for they will give you up to their courts, and have you flogged in their synagogues, ¹⁸and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, to bear your testimony before them and the heathen. ¹⁹But when they give you up, you must have no anxiety about how to speak or what to say, for you will be told at the very moment what you ought to say, ²⁰for it is not you who will speak, it is the Spirit of your Father that will speak through you. ²¹One brother will give up another to death, and a father his child, and children will turn against their parents, and have them put to death. ²²You will be hated by everybody on my account, but the man who holds out to the very end will be saved. ²³But when they persecute you in one town, make your escape to another, for I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man arrives. ²⁴A pupil is not better than his teacher, nor a slave better than his master. ²⁵A pupil should be satisfied to come to be like his teacher, or a slave, to come to be like his master. If men have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they give to the members of his household! ²⁶So do not be afraid of them. For there is nothing covered up that is not going to be uncovered, nor secret that is not going to be known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark you must say in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ear, you must proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Have no fear of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. You had better be afraid of one who can destroy both soul and body in the pit. ²⁹Do not sparrows sell two for a cent? And yet not one of them can fall to the ground against your Father’s will! ³⁰But the very hairs on your heads are all counted. ³¹You must not be afraid; you are worth more than a great many sparrows! ³²Therefore everyone who will acknowledge me before men I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, ³³but anyone who disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to turn a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, ³⁶and a man’s enemies will be in his own household. ³⁷No one who loves father or mother more than he loves me is worthy of me, and no one who loves son or daughter more than he loves me is worthy of me, ³⁸and no one who will not take up his cross and follow me is worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever gains his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it.

⁴⁰“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes him who has sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have the same reward as a prophet, and whoever welcomes an upright man because he is upright will have the same reward as an upright man. ⁴²And no one who will give the humblest of my disciples even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, I tell you, can ever fail of his reward.”

Chapter 11

¹When Jesus had finished giving his twelve disciples these instructions, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

²Now when John heard in prison of what the Christ was doing, he sent by his disciples ³and said to him,

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

⁴Jesus answered,

“Go and report to John what you hear and see. ⁵The blind are regaining their sight and the lame can walk, the lepers are being cured and the deaf can hear, the dead are being raised and good news is being preached to the poor. ⁶And blessed is the man who finds nothing that repels him in me.”

⁷But as they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.

“What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind? ⁸Then what did you go out there to see? A man luxuriously dressed? Men who dress in that way you find in the palaces of kings. ⁹Then why did you go out there? Was it to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet! ¹⁰This is the man of whom the Scripture says,

“ ‘Here I send my messenger on before you;

He will prepare the road ahead of you.’

¹¹“I tell you, among men born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has ever appeared. And yet those who are of little importance in the Kingdom of Heaven are greater than he. ¹²But from the time of John the Baptist until now men have been taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm and impetuously crowding into it. ¹³For up to the time of John all the Prophets and the Law itself prophesied about it, ¹⁴and, if you are ready to accept the idea, he is himself Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵Let him who has ears listen! ¹⁶But to what can I compare this present age? It is like children sitting about in the bazaars and calling out to their playmates,

¹⁷“ ‘We have played the flute for you, and you would not dance!

We have wailed and you would not beat your breasts!’

¹⁸For when John came, he neither ate nor drank, and people said, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹Now that the Son of Man has come, he does eat and drink, and people say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drinker, the companion of tax-collectors and irreligious people!’ And yet Wisdom is vindicated by her actions!”

²⁰Then he began to reproach the towns in which his numerous wonders had been done, because they did not repent.

²¹“Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago! ²²But I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will! ²³And you, Capernaum! Are you to be exalted to the skies? You will go down among the dead! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have stood until today. ²⁴But I tell you that the land of Sodom will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will!”

²⁵At that same time Jesus said,

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the learned and intelligent and revealing it to children. ²⁶Yes, I thank you, Father, for choosing to have it so. ²⁷Everything has been handed over to me by my Father, and no one understands the Son but the Father, nor does anyone understand the Father but the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸Come to me, all of you who toil and are burdened, and I will let you rest. ²⁹Let my yoke be put upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-minded, and your hearts will find rest, ³⁰for the yoke I offer you is a kindly one, and the load I ask you to bear is light.”

Chapter 12

¹At that same time Jesus walked one Sabbath through the wheat fields, and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of wheat and eat them. ²But the Pharisees saw it and said to him,

“Look! Your disciples are doing something which it is against the Law to do on the Sabbath!”

³But he said to them,

“Did you never read what David did, when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴How is it that he went into the House of God and that they ate the Presentation Loaves which it was against the Law for him and his companions to eat, or for anyone except the priests? ⁵Or did you never read in the Law how the priests in the Temple are not guilty when they break the Sabbath? ⁶But I tell you, there is something greater than the Temple here! ⁷But if you knew what the saying means, ‘It is mercy, not sacrifice, that I care for,’ you would not have condemned men who are not guilty. ⁸For the Son of Man is master of the Sabbath.”

⁹And he left the place and went into their synagogue. ¹⁰There was a man there with one hand withered. And in order to get a charge to bring against him, they asked him,

“Is it right to cure people on the Sabbath?”

¹¹But he said to them,

“Who among you if he has even a single sheep and it falls into a hole on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²And how much more a man is worth than a sheep! Therefore, it is right to do people good on the Sabbath.”

¹³Then he said to the man,

“Hold out your hand!”

And he held it out, and it was restored and became as well as the other. ¹⁴But the Pharisees left the synagogue and consulted about him, with a view to putting him to death.

¹⁵But Jesus knew of this, and he left that place. And numbers of people followed him about, and he cured them all, ¹⁶and warned them not to say anything about him ¹⁷—in fulfilment of what was said by the prophet Isaiah,

¹⁸“Here is my servant whom I have selected,

My beloved, who delights my heart!

I will endow him with my Spirit,

And he will announce a judgment to the heathen.

¹⁹He will not wrangle or make an outcry,

And no one will hear his voice in the streets;

²⁰He will not break off a bent reed,

And he will not put out a smoldering wick,

Until he carries his judgment to success.

²¹The heathen will rest their hopes on his name!”

²²At that time some people brought to him a man blind and dumb, who was possessed by a demon, and he cured him, so that the dumb man could speak and see. ²³And all the crowds of people were astounded, and said,

“Can this be the Son of David?”

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard of it they said,

“This man cannot drive out demons except by the aid of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.”

²⁵But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to them,

“Any kingdom that is disunited is on the way to destruction, and any city or household that is disunited cannot last. ²⁶If Satan is driving Satan out, he is disunited, and so how can his kingdom last? ²⁷And if I am driving the demons out by Beelzebub’s aid, by whose aid do your sons drive them out? Therefore let them be your judges. ²⁸But if I am driving the demons out by the aid of God’s Spirit, then the Kingdom of God has overtaken you. ²⁹How can anyone get into a strong man’s house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man? After that he can plunder his house. ³⁰Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not join me in gathering, scatters. ³¹Therefore, I tell you, men will be forgiven for any sin or abusive speech, but abusive speech about the Spirit cannot be forgiven. ³²And whoever speaks against the Son of Man will be forgiven for it, but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit cannot be forgiven for it, either in this world or in the world to come.

³³“You must either make the tree sound and its fruit sound, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; a tree is judged by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of snakes! how can you, bad as you are, utter anything good? For the mouth says only what the heart is full of. ³⁵A good man, out of the good he has accumulated, brings out things that are good, and a bad man, out of what he has accumulated that is bad, brings out things that are bad. ³⁶But I tell you, for every careless word that men utter they will have to answer on the Day of Judgment. ³⁷For it is by your words that you will be acquitted, or by your words that you will be condemned.”

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees addressed him, saying,

“Master, we would like to have you show us some sign.”

³⁹But he answered,

“Only a wicked and faithless age insists upon a sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was in the maw of the whale for three days and nights, the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹Men of Nineveh will rise with this age at the judgment and condemn it, for when Jonah preached they repented, and there is more than Jonah here! ⁴²The queen of the south will rise with this age at the judgment and condemn it, for she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here!

⁴³“When a foul spirit goes out of a man, it roams through deserts in search of rest and can find none. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will go back to my house that I left,’ and it goes and finds it unoccupied, cleaned, and all in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and in the end the man is worse off than he was before. That is the way it will be with this present wicked age.”

⁴⁶While he was still speaking, his mother and his brothers came up and stood outside the crowd, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁸But he said to the man who told him,

“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

⁴⁹And he pointed to his disciples and said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers! ⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

Chapter 13

¹That same day Jesus went out of his house and was sitting on the seashore. ²And such great crowds gathered about him that he got into a boat and sat down in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³And he told them many things in figures, and said to them,

“A sower went out to sow, ⁴and as he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the path and the birds came and ate it up, ⁵and some fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil and it sprang up at once, because the soil was not deep, ⁶but when the sun came up it was scorched and withered up, because it had no root. ⁷And some of it fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out. ⁸And some fell on good soil, and yielded some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty-fold. ⁹Let him who has ears listen!”

¹⁰His disciples came up and said to him,

“Why do you speak to them in figures?”

¹¹He answered,

“You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are not. ¹²For people who have will have more given to them, and will be plentifully supplied, and from people who have nothing even what they have will be taken away. ¹³This is why I speak to them in figures, because though they look they do not see, and though they listen they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴They are a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy,

“ ‘You will listen and listen, and never understand,

And you will look and look, and never see!

¹⁵For this nation’s mind has grown dull,

And they hear faintly with their ears,

And they have shut their eyes,

So as never to see with their eyes,

And hear with their ears,

And understand with their minds, and turn back,

And let me cure them!’

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they do see, and your ears, for they do hear. ¹⁷For I tell you, many prophets and upright men have longed to see what you see, and could not see it, and to hear what you hear, and could not hear it.

¹⁸“You must listen closely then to the figure of the sower. ¹⁹When anyone hears the teaching of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and robs him of the seed that has been sown in his mind. That is what was sown along the path. ²⁰And what was sown upon the rocky soil means the man who hears the message and at once accepts it joyfully, ²¹but it takes no real root in him, and lasts only a little while, and when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, he gives it up at once. ²²And what was sown among the thorns means the man who listens to the message, and then the worries of the time and the pleasure of being rich choke the message out, and it yields nothing. ²³And what was sown in good ground means the man who listens to the message and understands it, and yields one a hundred, and another sixty, and another thirty-fold.”

²⁴Another figure which he used in speaking to them was this:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while people were asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶And when the wheat came up and ripened, the weeds appeared too. ²⁷And the owner’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Was not the seed good that you sowed in your field, sir? So where did these weeds come from?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘This is some enemy’s doing.’ And they said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹But he said, ‘No, for in gathering up the weeds you may uproot the wheat. ³⁰Let them both grow together until harvest time, and when we harvest I will direct the reapers to gather up the weeds first and tie them up in bundles to burn, but get the wheat into my barn.’ ”

³¹Another figure which he used in speaking to them was this:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. ³²It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the largest of plants and grows into a tree, so that the wild birds come and roost in its branches.”

³³Another figure which he used with them was this:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and buried in a bushel of flour until it had all risen.”

³⁴Jesus said all this to the crowds in figures, and told them nothing except in figures, ³⁵to fulfil what was said by the prophet,

“I will open my mouth in figures,

I will utter things that have been hidden since the creation.”

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into his house. And his disciples came up to him and said,

“Explain to us the figure of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷He answered,

“The sower who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world. The good seed is the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the wicked. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned, this is what will happen at the close of the age; ⁴¹the Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather up out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and the wrongdoers ⁴²and throw them into the blazing furnace; there they will wail and grind their teeth. ⁴³Then the upright will shine out like the sun, in their Father’s kingdom. Let him who has ears listen!

⁴⁴“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a hoard of money, buried in a field, which a man found, and buried again. And he was overjoyed, and went and sold everything he had and bought the field.

⁴⁵“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dealer in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶He found one costly pearl, and went and sold everything he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was let down into the sea, and inclosed fish of all kinds. ⁴⁸When it was full, they dragged it up on the beach, and sat down and sorted the good fish into baskets and threw the bad away. ⁴⁹That is what will happen at the close of the age. The angels will go out and remove the wicked from among the upright, ⁵⁰and throw them into the blazing furnace. There they will wail and grind their teeth.

⁵¹“Do you understand all this?” They said to him,

“Yes.”

⁵²He said to them,

“Then remember that every scribe who has become a disciple of the Kingdom of Heaven must be like a householder who can supply from his storeroom new things as well as old.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these figures, he left that place, ⁵⁴and went to his own part of the country. And he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished, and said,

“Where did he get this wisdom, and the power to do these wonders? ⁵⁵Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary, and are not his brothers named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶And do not all his sisters live here among us? Then where did he get all this?”

⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is treated with honor everywhere except in his native place and at his home.”

⁵⁸And he did not do many wonders there, because of their want of faith.

Chapter 14

¹At that time, Herod the governor heard the reports about Jesus, ²and he said to his attendants,

“This man must be John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and that is why wonderful powers are working through him.”

³For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, ⁴for John said to him,

“It is not right for you to be living with her.”

⁵And while he wanted him killed, he was afraid of the people; for they considered him a prophet. ⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, Herodias’ daughter danced before the company. And Herod was delighted with her, ⁷and swore that he would give her anything she asked for. ⁸But she, at her mother’s instigation, said,

“Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter!”

⁹And the king was sorry, but because he had sworn to do it, and because of the guests who were present, he ordered it to be given to her. ¹⁰And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought back on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother. ¹²John’s disciples came and took his body away, and buried him, and then they went and reported it to Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard it, he quietly retired by boat to a secluded place. And the crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴So when he got out of the boat he found a great crowd gathered, and his heart was touched at the sight of them, and he cured those of them that were sick. ¹⁵And when it was evening, the disciples came up to him and said,

“This is a lonely place and the day is over. Send the crowds off to the villages to buy themselves food.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them,

“They do not need to go away. Give them food yourselves.”

¹⁷They said to him,

“We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸He said,

“Bring them here to me.”

¹⁹Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed them, and he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to the disciples and they gave them to the people. ²⁰And they all ate and had enough. And the pieces left over that they gathered up filled twelve baskets. ²¹There were about five thousand men who were fed, besides women and children.

²²And he immediately made his disciples get into the boat and cross before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. ²³After he had dismissed them he went up the hill by himself to pray. And when evening came on he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was by this time a long way from shore, struggling with the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵Toward morning he went out to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And the disciples saw him walking on the sea, and they were terrified and said,

“It is a ghost!”

And they screamed with fear. ²⁷But Jesus immediately spoke to them and said,

“Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter answered,

“If it is you, Master, order me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹And he said,

“Come!”

And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and went to Jesus. ³⁰But when he felt the wind he was frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out,

“Master, save me!”

³¹Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and caught hold of him, and said to him,

“Why did you waver? You have so little faith!”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind went down. ³³And the men in the boat fell down before him and said,

“You are certainly God’s Son!”

³⁴And they crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret. ³⁵And the men of the place recognized him, and sent all over that district and brought to him all who were sick, ³⁶and they begged him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak, and all who touched it were cured.

Chapter 15

¹Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, and said to him,

²“Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our ancestors? For they eat their bread without first washing their hands.”

³But he answered,

“Why do you too break God’s command for the sake of what has been handed down to you? ⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘He who abuses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is given to God,” ⁶does not have to provide for his father.’ So you have nullified what God has said, for the sake of what has been handed down to you. ⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied finely about you when he said,

⁸“ ‘This people honor me with their lips,

Yet their hearts are far away from me.

⁹But their worship of me is all in vain,

For the lessons they teach are but human precepts.’ ”

¹⁰And he called the people to him and said to them,

¹¹“Listen to this, and grasp it! It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that pollutes him; it is what comes out of his mouth that pollutes a man.”

¹²Then his disciples came up to him and said to him,

“Do you know that the Pharisees were shocked to hear you say that?”

¹³But he answered,

“Any plant that my heavenly Father did not plant must be uprooted! ¹⁴Leave them alone. They are blind guides! But if one blind man leads another, they will both fall into the ditch!”

¹⁵Peter said to him,

“Explain the figure for us.”

¹⁶He said,

“Have even you no understanding yet? ¹⁷Can you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then is disposed of? ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they pollute a man. ¹⁹For out of the heart come wicked designs, murder, adultery, immorality, stealing, false witness, impious speech. ²⁰It is these things that pollute a man, but not eating with unwashed hands!”

²¹And Jesus left that place and retired to the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. ²²And a Canaanite woman of that district came out and screamed,

“Son of David, take pity on me, sir! My daughter is dreadfully possessed by a demon!”

²³But he would not answer her a word. And his disciples came up and urged him, saying,

“Send her away, for she keeps screaming after us.”

²⁴But he answered,

“I am sent only to the lost sheep of Israel’s house.”

²⁵And she came and fell down before him, and said,

“Help me, sir!”

²⁶He said,

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!”

²⁷But she said,

“O yes, sir! For even dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table!”

²⁸Then Jesus answered,

“You have great faith! You shall have what you want.”

And her daughter was cured from that time.

²⁹Jesus left that place and went along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the hillside and sat down there. ³⁰Then great crowds came to him bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, or dumb, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet, and he cured them, ³¹so that the people were astonished to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they praised the God of Israel.

³²Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them,

“I pity these people for they have been staying with me three days now and they have nothing left to eat, and I do not mean to send them away hungry, for they may give out on the way.”

³³The disciples said to him,

“Where can we get bread enough in this solitude to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴Jesus said to them,

“How many loaves have you?”

They said,

“Seven, and a few small fish.”

³⁵Then he ordered the people to take their places on the ground, ³⁶and he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks and he broke them in pieces and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷And they all ate and satisfied their hunger. And the pieces that they left that were picked up filled seven baskets. ³⁸There were four thousand men who were fed, besides women and children. ³⁹And he dismissed the people and got into the boat and went to the district of Magadan.

Chapter 16

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and to test him asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered,

⁴“It is a wicked and faithless age that insists on a sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah.”

And he left them and went away.

⁵When the disciples went across the lake, they forgot to take any bread. ⁶And Jesus said to them,

“Look out, and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

⁷But they were discussing something with one another, and saying,

“We have not brought any bread!”

⁸Jesus noticed it and said,

“Why are you discussing with one another your being without bread? You have so little faith! ⁹Do you not understand yet? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets full you gathered up? ¹⁰Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets full you gathered up? ¹¹Why do you not see that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

¹²Then they understood that he was warning them not against yeast but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³When Jesus reached the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They said,

“Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

¹⁷Jesus answered,

“Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for human nature has not disclosed this to you, but my Father in heaven! ¹⁸But I tell you, your name is Peter, a rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not subdue it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you forbid on earth will be held in heaven to be forbidden, and whatever you permit on earth will be held in heaven to be permitted.”

²⁰Then he warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

²¹It was then that Jesus Christ for the first time explained to his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and endure great suffering there at the hands of the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised to life on the third day. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to reprove him for it, saying,

“God bless you, Master! that can never happen to you!”

²³But he turned and said to Peter,

“Get out of my sight, you Satan! You hinder me, for you do not side with God, but with men!”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples,

“If anyone wants to go with me, he must disregard himself and take his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to preserve his own life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶For what good will it do a man if he gains the whole world but parts with his life? What can a man give to buy back his life? ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone for what he has done. ²⁸I tell you, some of you who stand here will certainly live to see the Son of Man come to reign!”

Chapter 17

¹Six days after this, Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain, by themselves. ²And his appearance underwent a change in their presence and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. ³And Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. ⁴And Peter spoke, and said to Jesus,

“Master, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three huts here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵As he spoke a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said,

“This is my Son, my Beloved. He is my Chosen. Listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard it, they were dreadfully frightened and fell upon their faces. ⁷And Jesus came and touched them, and said,

“Get up and do not be afraid.”

⁸When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus himself. ⁹And as they were going down the mountain, Jesus cautioned them, saying,

“Do not tell anyone of the vision you have seen until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

¹⁰The disciples asked him,

“Then why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?”

¹¹He answered,

“Elijah does come and is to reform everything, ¹²but I tell you, Elijah has come already, and they would not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. It is in just that way that the Son of Man is going to be treated by them!”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the people again, a man came up to him and fell on his knees, saying,

¹⁵“Master, take pity on my son, for he has epilepsy, and is very wretched; he often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to your disciples and they have not been able to cure him.”

¹⁷Jesus answered,

“O you unbelieving, obstinate people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!”

¹⁸And Jesus reproved the demon and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was cured. ¹⁹Afterward, when he was alone, the disciples went to Jesus and said to him,

“Why could we not drive it out?”

²⁰He said to them,

“Because you have so little faith. For I tell you, if you have faith the size of a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here over to there!’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²²As they were going about in Galilee, Jesus said to them,

“The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men, ²³and they will kill him, but on the third day he will be raised to life again.” And they were greatly distressed.

²⁴When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple-tax came and said to Peter,

“Does not your Master pay the temple-tax?”

²⁵He said,

“Yes.”

But when he went home, Jesus spoke of it first and said,

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect duties and taxes? From their own people, or from aliens?”

²⁶He said,

“From aliens.”

Jesus said to him,

“Then their own people are exempt. ²⁷But rather than give offense to them, go down to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take that and pay the tax for us both.”

Chapter 18

¹Just at that time the disciples came up and asked Jesus,

“Who is really greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

²He called a child to him and had him stand among them, ³and he said,

“I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven at all. ⁴Anyone, therefore, who is as unassuming as this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, ⁵and anyone who welcomes one child like this on my account welcomes me. ⁶But whoever hinders one of these children who believe in me might better have a great millstone hung around his neck and be sunk in the open sea. ⁷Alas for the world for such hindrances! They have to come, but alas for the man who causes them!

⁸“But if your own hand or your own foot makes you fall, cut it off and throw it away. You might better enter upon life maimed or crippled than keep both hands and feet but be thrown into the everlasting fire. ⁹And if your own eye makes you fall, dig it out and throw it away. You might better enter upon life with only one eye than be thrown with both eyes into the fiery pit.

¹⁰“Beware of feeling scornful of one single little child, for I tell you that in heaven their angels have continual access to my Father in heaven. ¹²What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills, and go in search of the one that is astray? ¹³And if he happens to find it, I tell you he rejoices more over it than he does over the ninety-nine that did not stray. ¹⁴In just that way, it is the will of my Father in heaven that not a single one of these children be lost.

¹⁵“But if your brother wrongs you go to him and show him his fault while you are alone with him. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others with you, so that everything may be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell the congregation. And if he refuses to listen to it, treat him as a heathen or a tax-collector.

¹⁸“I tell you, whatever you forbid on earth will be held in heaven to be forbidden, and whatever you permit on earth will be held in heaven to be permitted. ¹⁹Again, I tell you, if even two of you here on earth agree about what they shall pray for, it will be given them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For wherever two or three are gathered as my followers, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter came to him and said,

“Master, how many times am I to forgive my brother when he wrongs me? Seven times over?”

²²Jesus said to him,

“Not seven times over, I tell you, but seventy-seven times over! ²³For this reason the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king, who resolved to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴And when he set about doing so, a man was brought in who owed him ten million dollars. ²⁵And as he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all he had, in payment of the debt. ²⁶So the slave threw himself down before him and implored him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you all of it.’ ²⁷And his master’s heart was touched, and he let the slave go and canceled the debt. ²⁸But when the slave went out he met a fellow-slave of his who owed him twenty dollars, and he caught him by the throat and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹So his fellow-slave threw himself down before him, and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰But he refused and went and had him put in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went to their master and reported the whole matter to him. ³²Then his master called him in and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I canceled all that debt of yours when you entreated me. ³³Ought you not to have taken pity on your fellow-slave, as I did on you?’ ³⁴So his master in his anger handed him over to the jailers, until he should pay all he owed him. ³⁵That is what my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not each forgive your brothers from your hearts!”

Chapter 19

¹When Jesus had finished this discourse, he left Galilee and went to the part of Judea that is on the other side of the Jordan. ²Great crowds followed him about and he cured them there.

³And some Pharisees came up to him to test him, and they said,

“Is it right for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”

⁴But he answered,

“Did you never read that the Creator at the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two of them shall become one’? So they are no longer two but one. ⁶Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not try to separate.”

⁷They said to him,

“Then why did Moses command us to draw up a written divorce-notice and give it to her?”

⁸He said to them,

“It was on account of your perversity that Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not so at the beginning. ⁹I tell you that whoever divorces his wife on any ground but her unfaithfulness, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

¹⁰The disciples said to him,

“If that is a man’s relation to his wife, it is better not to marry!”

¹¹He said to them,

“It is not everyone who can accept that, but only those who have a special gift. ¹²For some are incapable of marriage from their birth, and some have been made so by men, and some have made themselves so for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let him accept it who can.”

¹³Then some children were brought up to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray, but his disciples reproved the people for it. ¹⁴But Jesus said,

“Let the children alone, and do not try to keep them from coming to me, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as they are.”

¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went on.

¹⁶A man came up to him and said,

“Master, what good deed must I do to obtain eternal life?”

¹⁷But he said to him,

“Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good.

But if you want to enter that life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to him,

“Which ones?”

Jesus said,

“These: ‘You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself.’ ”

²⁰The young man said to him,

“I have obeyed all these commandments. What do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him,

“If you want to be perfect, go! Sell your property and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come back and be a follower of mine.”

²²But when the young man heard that, he went away much cast down, for he had a great deal of property.

²³Jesus said to his disciples,

“I tell you, it will be hard for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven! ²⁴And again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God!”

²⁵But when the disciples heard this, they were completely astounded and said,

“Then who can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said,

“For men it is impossible, but anything is possible for God!”

²⁷Then Peter spoke and said to him, “Here we have left all we had and followed you. What are we to have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them,

“In the new world, I tell you, when the Son of Man takes his seat on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel!

²⁹And anyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or land for my sake will receive many times as much, and share eternal life. ³⁰But many who are first now will be last then, and many who are now last will be first.

Chapter 20

¹For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an employer who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²He agreed with the laborers to pay them a dollar a day, and sent them to his vineyard. ³He went out about nine o’clock and saw others standing in the bazaar with nothing to do. ⁴And he said to them, ‘You go to my vineyard, too, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵He went out again about twelve and about three, and did the same. ⁶About five he went out and found others standing about and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing about here all day doing nothing?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go to my vineyard, too.’ ⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ ⁹When those who were hired about five o’clock came they received a dollar apiece. ¹⁰And when those who were hired first came they expected to get more, but they too got a dollar apiece. ¹¹And when they received it they grumbled at their employer, ¹²and said, ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have put them on the same footing with us who have done the heavy work of the day and have stood the midday heat.’ ¹³But he answered one of them, ‘My friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me on a dollar? ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go. I wish to give the last man hired as much as I give you. ¹⁵Have I no right to do what I please with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ¹⁶So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

¹⁷When Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve off by themselves, and said to them as they were on the way,

¹⁸“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, ¹⁹and hand him over to the heathen to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”

²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up to him with her sons, bowing low, to ask a favor of him. ²¹He said to her,

“What do you want?”

She said to him,

“Give orders that these two sons of mine sit one at your right and one at your left, when you are king!”

²²But Jesus answered,

“You do not know what you are asking for! Can you drink what I am going to drink?”

They answered,

“Yes, we can.”

²³He said to them,

“Then what I drink you shall drink, but as for sitting at my right or my left, that is not mine to give, but belongs to those for whom it is destined by my Father.”

²⁴When the other ten heard of this, they were very indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to him and said,

“You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them. ²⁶It is not to be so among you, but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be your slave, ²⁸just as the Son of Man has come not to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to ransom many others.”

²⁹As they were going out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. ³⁰And two blind men sitting by the roadside, hearing that it was Jesus who was passing, called out,

“You Son of David! Take pity on us, sir!”

³¹The crowd told them to be still, but they called all the louder,

“You Son of David! Take pity on us, sir!”

³²And Jesus stopped and called them, and said,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

³³They said to him,

“Sir, have our eyes opened!”

³⁴And Jesus took pity on them and touched their eyes, and they immediately regained their sight, and followed him.

Chapter 21

¹When they were near Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage and the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead, ²saying to them,

“Go to the village that lies in front of you, and you will at once find an ass tied there, and a colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Master needs them’; then he will send them at once.”

⁴Now this happened in fulfilment of what was said by the prophet,

⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion,

‘Here is your king coming to you,

Gentle, and riding on an ass,

And on the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

⁶So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the ass and the colt, and laid their coats upon them, and Jesus seated himself upon them. ⁸And most of the crowd spread their coats in his way, and others cut branches from the trees and scattered them before him. ⁹And the crowds that went in front of him and that followed him shouted,

“God bless the Son of David!

Blessed be he who comes in the Lord’s name.

God bless him from on high!”

¹⁰When he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, and everyone asked,

“Who is he?”

¹¹The crowd answered,

“It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee!”

¹²And Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all who were buying or selling things in it, and he upset the money-changers’ tables and the pigeon-dealers’ seats, ¹³and he said to them,

“The Scripture says, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a robbers’ cave.”

¹⁴And blind and lame people came up to him in the Temple, and he cured them. ¹⁵But when the high priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and saw the boys shouting in the Temple, “God bless the Son of David!” they were indignant, ¹⁶and said to him,

“Do you hear what they are saying?”

Jesus said to them,

“Yes. Did you never read, ‘You have drawn praise from the mouths of children and infants’?”

¹⁷And he left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸In the morning as he went back to the city, he grew hungry, ¹⁹and seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it,

“No more fruit shall ever grow on you!”

And the fig tree withered up at once. ²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said,

“How did the fig tree come to wither up immediately?”

²¹Jesus answered,

“I tell you, if you have faith and have no doubt, you will not only do what I have done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Get up and throw yourself into the sea,’ it will be done. ²²And everything that you pray for with faith, you will obtain.”

²³When he had entered the Temple, and was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people came up to him, and said,

“What authority have you for doing as you do, and who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus answered,

“Let me ask you one question, and if you answer it, I will tell you what authority I have for doing as I do. ²⁵Where did John’s baptism come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?”

And they argued with one another,

“If we say, ‘It was from heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we have the people to fear, for they all consider John a prophet.”

²⁷And they answered Jesus,

“We do not know.”

He said to them,

“Nor will I tell you what authority I have for doing as I do. ²⁸But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. ³⁰Then the man went to the second son, and told him the same thing. And he answered, ‘I will not!’ But afterward he changed his mind and went. ³¹Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

They said,

“The second one.”

Jesus said to them,

“I tell you, the tax-collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you. ³²For John came to you with a way of uprightness, and you would not believe him. The tax-collectors and prostitutes believed him, but even after seeing that, you would not change your minds and believe him!

³³“Listen to another figure. There was a land owner who planted a vineyard and fenced it in, and hewed out a wine-vat in it, and built a watch-tower, and leased it to tenants, and left the neighborhood. ³⁴When the time for the vintage approached he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share. ³⁵But the tenants took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third. ³⁶Again he sent other slaves and more of them than he had sent at first, and they treated them in the same way. ³⁷Finally he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸But when the tenants saw his son, they said to one another. ‘This is his heir! Come on, let us kill him, and get his inheritance!’ ³⁹So they took him and drove him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰When the owner of the vineyard comes back, therefore, what will he do to these tenants?”

⁴¹They said to him,

“He will put the wretches to a miserable death, and let the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the vintage when it is due.”

⁴²Jesus said to them,

“Did you never read in the Scriptures,

“ ‘That stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone;

This came from the Lord,

And seems marvelous to us’?

⁴³“That, I tell you, is why the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a people that will produce its proper fruit. ⁴⁴Whoever falls on that stone will be shattered, but whoever it falls upon will be pulverized.”

⁴⁵When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his figures, they knew that he was speaking about them, ⁴⁶and they wanted to have him arrested, but they were afraid of the people, for the people considered him a prophet.

Chapter 22

¹And Jesus spoke to them again in figures, and said,

²“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king, who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³And he sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, and they would not come. ⁴He sent other slaves a second time, and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been asked, “Here I have my banquet all ready, my bullocks and fat cattle are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!” ’ ⁵But they took no notice of it, and went off, one to his estate, and another to his business, ⁶and the rest seized his slaves, and ill treated them and killed them. ⁷This made the king angry, and he sent his troops and put those murderers to death and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his slaves, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited have proved unworthy of it. ⁹So go out where the roads leave the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ ¹⁰So his slaves went out on the roads, and got together all the people they could find, good or bad, and the hall was filled with guests. ¹¹But when the king came in to view the guests, he saw among them a man who did not have on wedding clothes. ¹²And he said to him, ‘My friend, how did you happen to come here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. ¹³Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness, there to weep and grind his teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are invited but few chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and made a plot to entrap him in argument. ¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him with the Herodians, to say to him,

“Master, we know that you tell the truth, and teach the way of God with sincerity, regardless of the consequences, for you are impartial. ¹⁷So give us your opinion: Is it right to pay the poll-tax to the emperor, or not?”

¹⁸But he saw their malice, and said,

¹⁹“Why do you put me to such a test, you hypocrites? Show me the poll-tax coin!”

And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰And he said to them,

“Whose head and title is this?”

²¹They answered,

“The emperor’s.”

Then he said to them,

“Then pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and pay God what belongs to God!”

²²And when they heard it they were amazed, and they went away and left him.

²³On the same day some Sadducees came up to him, claiming that there is no resurrection, and they asked him this question:

²⁴“Master, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children his brother shall marry his widow, and raise up a family for him.’ ²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first of them married and died, and as he had no children, he left his wife to his brother; ²⁶so did the second, and the third, and the rest of the seven. ²⁷After them all the woman died. ²⁸At the resurrection which one’s wife will she be? For they all married her.”

²⁹Jesus answered them,

“You are wrong, because you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰For after the resurrection there is no marrying or being married, but they live as angels do in heaven. ³¹But as to the resurrection of the dead, did you never read what was said to you by God, ³²‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of dead men but of living!”

³³When the crowd heard this, they were astounded at his teaching.

³⁴And when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, an expert in the Law, to test him, asked,

³⁶“Master, what command is greatest in the Law?”

³⁷And he said to him,

“ ‘You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind.’ ³⁸That is the great, first command. ³⁹There is a second like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.’ ⁴⁰These two commands sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets.”

⁴¹While the Pharisees were still gathered there, Jesus asked them,

⁴²“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him,

“David’s.”

⁴³He said to them,

“How is it then that David under the Spirit’s influence calls him lord, and says,

⁴⁴“ ‘The Lord has said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand,

Until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?

⁴⁵So if David calls him lord, how can he be his son?”

⁴⁶And no one could make him any answer, and from that day no one ventured to ask him any more questions.

Chapter 23

¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,

²“The scribes and Pharisees have taken Moses’ seat. ³So do everything they tell you, and observe it all, but do not do as they do, for they talk but do not act. ⁴They tie up heavy loads and have them put on men’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. ⁵They do everything they do to have men see it. They wear wide Scripture texts as charms, and they wear large tassels, ⁶and they like the best places at dinners and the front seats in the synagogues, ⁷and to be saluted with respect in public places, and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ ⁸But you must not let people call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹And you must not call anyone on earth your father, for you have only one father, your heavenly Father. ¹⁰And you must not let men call you master, for you have only one master, the Christ. ¹¹But he who is greatest among you must be your servant. ¹²Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³“But alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you lock the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, for you will neither go in yourselves nor let those enter who are trying to do so. ¹⁵Alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you scour land and sea to make one convert, and when he is converted you make him twice as fit for the pit as you are. ¹⁶Alas for you, you blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the sanctuary, it does not matter, but if anyone swears by the gold of the sanctuary, it is binding.’ ¹⁷Blind fools! which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸You say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it does not matter, but if anyone swears by the offering that is on it, it is binding.’ ¹⁹You blind men! Which is greater, the offering, or the altar that makes the offering sacred? ²⁰Anyone who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by everything that is on it, ²¹and anyone who swears by the sanctuary is swearing by it and by him who dwells in it; ²²and anyone who swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

²³“Alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you pay tithes on mint, dill, and cummin, and you have let the weightier matters of the Law go—justice, mercy, and integrity. But you should have observed these, without overlooking the others. ²⁴You blind guides! straining out the gnat, and yet swallowing the camel! ²⁵Alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶You blind Pharisee! You must first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean too. ²⁷Alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs! They look well on the outside, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead, and all that is unclean. ²⁸So you outwardly appear to men to be upright, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹“Alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you build tombs for the prophets, and decorate the monuments of the upright, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had been living in the times of our fathers, we would not have joined them in the murder of the prophets.’ ³¹So you bear witness against yourselves that you are descended from the murderers of the prophets. ³²Go on and fill up the measure of your forefathers’ guilt. ³³You serpents! You brood of snakes! How can you escape being sentenced to the pit? ³⁴This is why I am going to send you prophets, wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and hunt from one town to another; ³⁵it is that on your heads may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of Abel the upright to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah’s son, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar! ³⁶I tell you, all this will come upon this age!

³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! murdering the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you refused! ³⁸Now I leave you to yourselves. ³⁹For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessed be he who comes in the Lord’s name!’ ”

Chapter 24

¹And Jesus left the Temple and was going away, when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to the Temple buildings. ²But he answered,

“Do you see all this? I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another but shall be torn down.”

³As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to him by themselves, and said to him,

“Tell us when this is to happen, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the close of the age.”

⁴Jesus answered,

“Take care that no one misleads you about this. ⁵For many will come under my name, and say, ‘I am the Christ,’ and many will be misled by them. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of war; do not let yourselves be alarmed. They have to come, but that is not the end. ⁷For nation will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes here and there. ⁸All this is only the beginning of the sufferings. ⁹Then they will hand you over to persecution and they will put you to death, and you will be hated by all the heathen because you bear my name. ¹⁰Then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹Many false prophets will appear, and many will be misled by them, ¹²and because of the increase of wickedness, most men’s love will grow cold. ¹³But he who holds out to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this good news of the kingdom will be preached all over the world, to testify to all the heathen, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see the dreadful desecration, of which the prophet Daniel spoke, set up in the Holy Place”—the reader must take note of this— ¹⁶“then those who are in Judea must fly to the hills; ¹⁷a man on the roof of his house must not go down to get things out of it, ¹⁸and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁹But alas for women who are with child at that time or who have babies! ²⁰And pray that you may not have to fly in winter or on the Sabbath, ²¹for there will be greater misery then than there has ever been from the beginning of creation until now, or ever will be again. ²²If those days had not been cut short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of God’s people those days will be cut short.

²³“If anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it, ²⁴for false Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will show great signs and wonders to mislead God’s chosen people if they can. ²⁵Here I have told you beforehand. ²⁶So if they say to you, ‘There he is, in the desert!’ do not go out there; ‘Here he is, in a room in here!’ do not believe it. ²⁷For just as the lightning starts in the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. ²⁸Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will flock.

²⁹“But immediately after the misery of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the forces of the sky will shake. ³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will lament when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, in all his power and splendor. ³¹And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call, and they will gather his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Let the fig tree teach you the lesson. As soon as its branches grow soft and put forth leaves, you know that summer is coming. ³³So when you see all these things, you must know that he is just at the door. ³⁴I tell you, these things will all happen before the present age passes away. ³⁵Earth and sky will pass away but my words will never pass away. ³⁶But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷For just as it was in the time of Noah, it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For just as in those days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and being married, until the very day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and knew nothing about it until the flood came and destroyed them all, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with the handmill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴²So you must be on the watch, for you do not know on what day your Master is coming. ⁴³But you may be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you must be ready too, for the Son of Man is coming at a time when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵“Who then will be the faithful, thoughtful slave whom his master put in charge of his household, to give the members of it their supplies at the proper time? ⁴⁶Blessed is that slave if his master when he returns finds him doing it. ⁴⁷I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his property. ⁴⁸But if he is a bad slave and says to himself, ‘My master is going to stay a long time,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat the other slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰that slave’s master will come back some day when he does not expect him, and at some time of which he does not know ⁵¹and will cut him in two, and put him with the hypocrites, to weep and gnash his teeth.

Chapter 25

¹“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Now five of them were foolish and five were sensible. ³For the foolish ones brought their lamps but brought no oil with them, ⁴but the sensible ones with their lamps brought oil in their flasks. ⁵As the bridegroom was slow in coming, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. ⁶But in the middle of the night there was a shout ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out and meet him!’ ⁷Then all the bridesmaids awoke, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹But the sensible ones answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and you. You had better go to the dealers and buy yourselves some.’ ¹⁰But while they were gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and the ones that were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was closed. ¹¹Afterward the other bridesmaids came and said, ‘Sir! Sir! Open the door for us!’ ¹²But he answered, ‘I tell you, I do not know you!’ ¹³So you must be on the watch, for you do not know either the day or the hour.

¹⁴“For it is just like a man who was going on a journey, and called in his slaves, and put his property in their hands. ¹⁵He gave one five thousand dollars, and another two thousand, and another one thousand; to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶The man who had received the five thousand dollars immediately went into business with the money, and made five thousand more. ¹⁷In the same way the man who had received the two thousand made two thousand more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one thousand went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹Long afterward, their master came back and settled accounts with them. ²⁰And the man who had received the five thousand dollars came up bringing him five thousand more, and said, ‘Sir, you put five thousand dollars in my hands; here I have made five thousand more.’ ²¹His master said to him, ‘Well done, my excellent, faithful slave! you have been faithful about a small amount; I will put a large one into your hands. Come, share your master’s enjoyment!’ ²²And the man who had received the two thousand came up and said, ‘Sir, you put two thousand dollars into my hands; here I have made two thousand more.’ ²³His master said to him, ‘Well done, my excellent, faithful slave! you have been faithful about a small amount; I will put a large one into your hands. Come! share your master’s enjoyment.’ ²⁴And the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, ‘Sir, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, and gathered where you had not threshed, ²⁵and I was frightened, and I went and hid your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money!’ ²⁶His master answered, ‘You wicked, idle slave! You knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed? ²⁷Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and then when I came back I would have gotten my property with interest. ²⁸So take the thousand dollars away from him, and give it to the man who has the ten thousand, ²⁹for the man who has will have more given him, and will be plentifully supplied, and from the man who has nothing even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰And put the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness outside, to weep and grind his teeth there.’

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his splendor, with all his angels with him, he will take his seat on his glorious throne, ³²and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right, ‘Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take possession of the kingdom which has been destined for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵For when I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was a stranger, you invited me to your homes, ³⁶when I had no clothes, you gave me clothes, when I was sick, you looked after me, when I was in prison, you came to see me.’ ³⁷Then the upright will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger, and invite you home, or without clothing, and supply you with it? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison, and go to see you?’ ⁴⁰The king will answer, ‘I tell you, in so far as you did it to one of the humblest of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left, ‘Begone, you accursed people, to the everlasting fire destined for the devil and his angels! ⁴²For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat, and when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³when I was a stranger, you did not invite me home, when I had no clothes, you did not supply me, when I was sick and in prison, you did not look after me.’ ⁴⁴Then they in their turn will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or in need of clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not wait upon you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer, ‘I tell you, in so far as you failed to do it for one of these people who are humblest, you failed to do it for me.’ ⁴⁶Then they will go away to everlasting punishment, and the upright to everlasting life.”

Chapter 26

¹When Jesus had finished this discourse he said to his disciples,

²“You know that in two days the Passover Festival will come, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the high priests and the elders of the people gathered in the house of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴and plotted to arrest Jesus by stealth and put him to death. ⁵But they said,

“It must not be during the festival, or there may be a riot.”

⁶When Jesus got back to Bethany, to the house of Simon the leper, ⁷a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive perfume and poured it upon his head, while he was at table. ⁸When his disciples saw it, they said indignantly,

“What was the use of wasting it like that? ⁹It might have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰But Jesus observed this and said to them,

“Why do you bother the woman? It is a fine thing that she has done to me. ¹¹For you always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. ¹²In pouring this perfume on me she has done something to prepare me for burial. ¹³I tell you, wherever this good news is preached all over the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the high priests, ¹⁵and said,

“What will you give me if I hand him over to you?”

And they counted him out thirty silver pieces. ¹⁶And from that time he watched for a good opportunity to hand him over to them.

¹⁷On the first day of the festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said,

“Where do you wish us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover supper?”

¹⁸And he said,

“Go into the city, to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Master says, “My time is near. I am going to keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.*#“)”

¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus directed them, and prepared the Passover supper.

²⁰When evening came, he took his place at table with the twelve disciples. ²¹And as they were eating, he said,

“I tell you, one of you will betray me!”

²²They were deeply hurt and began to say to him one after another,

“Can it be I, Master?”

²³He answered,

“The man who just dipped his hand in the same dish with me is going to betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man is to go away as the Scriptures say of him, but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!”

²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, said,

“Can it be I, Master?”

He said to him,

“You are right!”

²⁶As they were eating Jesus took a loaf and blessed it, and he broke it in pieces and gave it to his disciples, saying,

“Take this and eat it. It is my body!”

²⁷And he took the wine-cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying,

²⁸“You must all drink from it, for this is my blood which ratifies the agreement, and is to be poured out for many people, for the forgiveness of their sins. ²⁹And I tell you I will never drink this product of the vine again till the day when I shall drink the new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom!”

³⁰After singing the hymn, they went out of the city and up the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them,

“You will all desert me tonight, for the Scriptures say, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I am raised to life again, I will go back to Galilee before you.”

³³Peter answered,

“If they all desert you, I will never do it!”

³⁴Jesus said to him,

“I tell you, tonight, before a cock crows, you will disown me three times!”

³⁵Peter said to him,

“Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you!” All the disciples said so too.

³⁶Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples,

“Sit down here while I go over yonder and pray.”

³⁷And he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons with him, and he began to show grief and distress of mind. ³⁸Then he said to them,

“My heart is almost breaking. You must stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹And he went on a little way, and threw himself on his face, and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass by me. Yet not as I please but as you do!”

⁴⁰When he went back to the disciples he found them asleep. And he said to Peter,

“Then were you not able to watch with me for one hour? ⁴¹You must all watch, and pray that you may not be exposed to trial! One’s spirit is eager, but flesh and blood are weak!”

⁴²He went away again a second time and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if it cannot pass by me without my drinking it, your will be done!”

⁴³When he came back he found them asleep again, for they could hardly keep their eyes open. ⁴⁴And he left them and went away again and prayed a third time, in the same words as before. ⁴⁵Then he came back to the disciples and said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? See, the time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to wicked men! ⁴⁶Get up! Let us be going! Look! Here comes my betrayer!”

⁴⁷Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the high priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the man who betrayed him gave them a signal, saying,

“The one I kiss is the man. Seize him!”

⁴⁹And he went straight up to Jesus and said,

“Good evening, Master!” and kissed him affectionately.

⁵⁰Jesus said to him,

“My friend, what are you here for?”

Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and secured him. ⁵¹One of the men with Jesus put out his hand and drew his sword, and striking at the high priest’s slave, cut his ear off. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him,

“Put your sword back where it belongs! For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you suppose I cannot appeal to my Father, and he would at once furnish me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But then how are the Scriptures to be fulfilled, which say that this must happen?”

⁵⁵At that same time Jesus said to the crowd,

“Have you come out to arrest me with swords and clubs, as though I were a robber? Day after day I have sat in the Temple preaching, and you never seized me. ⁵⁶But this has all taken place in fulfilment of the writings of the prophets.”

Then all the disciples left him and made their escape.

⁵⁷The men who had seized Jesus took him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, at whose house the scribes and elders had gathered. ⁵⁸And Peter followed him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest’s house, and he went inside and sat down among the attendants to see how it came out. ⁵⁹Now the high priests and the whole council were trying to get false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put him to death. ⁶⁰And they could not, although many false witnesses presented themselves. But finally two came forward ⁶¹and said,

“This man said, ‘I can tear down the sanctuary of God, and build it up in three days.’ ”

⁶²And the high priest got up and said to him,

“Have you no answer to make? What about their evidence against you?”

⁶³But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him,

“I charge you, on your oath, by the living God, tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus said to him,

“It is true. But I tell you you will soon see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming upon the clouds of the sky!”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothing and said,

“He has uttered blasphemy! What do we want of witnesses now? Here you have heard his blasphemy! ⁶⁶What is your decision?”

They answered,

“He deserves death.”

⁶⁷Then they spat in his face and struck him, and others slapped him, ⁶⁸saying,

“Show us you are a prophet, you Christ! Who was it that struck you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a maid came up to him, and said,

“You were with Jesus the Galilean, too!”

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, and said,

“I do not know what you mean.”

⁷¹And he went out into the gateway, and another maid saw him, and said to the men there,

“This fellow was with Jesus the Nazarene!”

⁷²He denied it again, with an oath, and said,

“I do not know the man!”

⁷³A little while after the bystanders came up to Peter and said,

“You are certainly one of them too, for your accent shows it!”

⁷⁴Then he started to swear with the strongest oaths,

“I do not know the man!”

And at that moment a cock crowed.

⁷⁵And Peter remembered Jesus’ words when he had said,

“Before a cock crows, you will disown me three times!” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Chapter 27

¹When it was morning, all the high priests and elders of the people held a consultation about Jesus, with a view to putting him to death. ²And they bound him and led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

³Then Judas who had betrayed him, when he saw that he had been condemned, in his remorse brought back the thirty silver pieces to the high priests and elders, ⁴and said,

“I did wrong when I handed an innocent man over to death!”

They said,

“What is that to us? You see to it yourself.”

⁵And he threw down the silver and left the Temple and went off and hung himself. ⁶The high priests gathered up the money, and they said,

“It is not legal to put this into the Temple treasury, for it is blood money.”

⁷So after consultation they bought with it the Potter’s Field as a burial ground for strangers. ⁸For this reason that piece of ground has ever since been called the Field of Blood. ⁹So the words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver pieces, the price of the one whose price had been fixed, on whom some of the Israelites had set a price, ¹⁰and gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Lord directed me.”

¹¹Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him,

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus said,

“Yes.”

¹²And while the high priests and elders were making their charges against him, he made no answer. ¹³Then Pilate said to him,

“Do you not hear what evidence they are bringing against you?”

¹⁴And he made him no reply to even a single accusation, so that the governor was greatly surprised. ¹⁵Now at festival time the governor was accustomed to release for the people any prisoner whom they chose, ¹⁶and at this time there was a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they gathered to ask this, Pilate said to them,

“Which one do you want me to release for you, Barabbas, or Jesus, the so-called Christ?”

¹⁸For he knew that they had handed him over to him out of envy. ¹⁹Now while he was on the bench his wife sent to him to say,

“Do not have anything to do with that upright man, for I have just had a painful experience in a dream about him.”

²⁰But the high priests and the elders prevailed on the crowd to ask for Barabbas, and to have Jesus put to death. ²¹And the governor answered,

“Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”

They said,

“Barabbas!”

²²Pilate said to them,

“Then what am I to do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?”

They all said,

“Have him crucified!”

²³He said,

“Why, what has he done that is wrong?”

But they shouted all the louder,

“Have him crucified!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing but that a riot was beginning instead, he took some water and washed his hands in the presence of the crowd, saying,

“I am not responsible for this man’s death; you must see to it yourselves.”

²⁵And all the people answered,

“His blood be on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas for them, and he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the barracks, and got the whole battalion together about him. ²⁸And they stripped him and put a red cloak on him, ²⁹and made a wreath of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a stick in his hand, and knelt down before him in mockery, saying,

“Long live the king of the Jews!”

³⁰And they spat at him, and took the stick and struck him on the head. ³¹And when they had finished making sport of him, they took off the cloak, and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified.

³²As they went out of the city they came upon a Cyrenian named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³When they came to a place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull, ³⁴they offered him a drink of wine mixed with gall, and when he tasted it he would not drink it. ³⁵And they crucified him and divided up his clothes among them by drawing lots, ³⁶and sat down there to keep watch of him. ³⁷They put above his head the charge against him, which read,

“This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”

³⁸There were two robbers crucified with him at the time, one at his right and one at his left. ³⁹And the passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying,

“You who would tear down the sanctuary, and build one in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

⁴¹And the high priests, too, made sport of him with the scribes and elders, and said,

⁴²“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God; let God deliver him if he cares for him, for he said he was God’s son.”

⁴⁴Even the robbers who were crucified with him abused him in the same way.

⁴⁵Now from noon there was darkness over the whole country until three o’clock. ⁴⁶And about three, Jesus called out loudly,

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷Some of the bystanders when they heard it said,

“The man is calling for Elijah!”

⁴⁸And one of them ran off at once and got a sponge and soaked it in sour wine and put it on the end of a stick and held it up to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said,

“Let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”

⁵⁰But Jesus cried out again loudly, and gave up his spirit. ⁵¹And at once the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split, ⁵²the tombs opened, and many of the saints who had fallen asleep rose ⁵³and left their tombs and after his resurrection went into the holy city and showed themselves to many people. ⁵⁴And the captain and the men with him who were watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, were dreadfully frightened and said,

“He surely must have been a son of God!”

⁵⁵There were several women there watching from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee to wait upon him, ⁵⁶among them Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷In the evening a rich man named Joseph, from Arimathea, who had himself been a disciple of Jesus, came. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked him for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a piece of clean linen, ⁶⁰and laid it in a new tomb that belonged to him, that he had cut in the rock, and he rolled a great stone over the doorway of the tomb, and went away. ⁶¹And Mary of Magdala and the other Mary remained there, sitting before the tomb.

⁶²On the next day, that is, the day after the Preparation Day, the high priests and Pharisees went in a body to Pilate ⁶³and said,

“Sir, we remember that when this impostor was alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again!’ ⁶⁴Give orders, therefore, to have the tomb closely guarded till the third day, so that his disciples cannot come and steal him, and then tell the people that he is risen from the dead, and that delusion be worse than the other was.”

⁶⁵Pilate said to them,

“Take a guard of soldiers, and go and make it as secure as you can.”

⁶⁶And they went and set the guard and put a seal on the stone.

Chapter 28

¹After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ²And there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and went and rolled the stone back and sat upon it. ³His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴The men on guard trembled with fear of him, and became like dead men. ⁵And the angel said to the women,

“You need not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here, he has risen, as he said he would do. Come and see the place where he was lying. ⁷Now go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and is going back to Galilee before you. You will see him there.’ Now I have given you my message.”

⁸And they hurried away from the tomb frightened and yet overjoyed, and ran to tell the news to his disciples. ⁹And Jesus himself met them, and said,

“Good morning!”

And they went up to him and clasped his feet, and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁰Jesus said to them,

“You need not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and they will see me there.”

¹¹While they were on their way, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the high priests all that had happened. ¹²And they got together and consulted with the elders, and gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³and said to them,

“Tell people that his disciples came in the night and stole him away while you were asleep. ¹⁴And if news of it reaches the governor, we will satisfy him, and see that you do not get into trouble.”

¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were told. And this story has been current among the Jews ever since.

¹⁶And the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷There they saw him and bowed down before him, though some were in doubt about it.

¹⁸And Jesus came up to them and said, “Full authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me.

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all the heathen, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit, ²⁰and teach them to observe all the commands that I have given you. I will always be with you, to the very close of the age.”

Chapter 1

¹The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“Here I send my messenger on before you;

He will prepare your way;

³Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert,

‘Get the Lord’s way ready,

Make his paths straight,’ ”

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the desert, and preached repentance and baptism in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all Judea and everybody in Jerusalem went out to him there, and accepted baptism from him in the Jordan River, acknowledging their sins. ⁶John’s clothing was made of hair cloth, and the belt around his waist was leather, and he lived on dried locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this was his message:

“After me there is coming one stronger than I am, one whose shoes I am not fit to stoop down and untie. ⁸I have baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the holy Spirit.”

⁹It was in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit coming down like a dove to enter into him, ¹¹and out of the heavens came a voice:

“You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!”

¹²The spirit immediately drove him out into the desert. ¹³And he remained in the desert for forty days, and Satan tried to tempt him there; and he was among the wild animals; but the angels waited on him.

¹⁴After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news from God, ¹⁵saying,

“The time has come and the reign of God is near; repent, and believe this good news.”

¹⁶As he was passing along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷Jesus said to them,

“Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for men.”

¹⁸They immediately abandoned their nets and followed him. ¹⁹He went on a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; they too were in their boat putting their nets in order. ²⁰He immediately called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him.

²¹They proceeded to Capernaum, and on the very first Sabbath he went to the synagogue and taught. ²²And they were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes. ²³Just then there was in their synagogue a man under the control of a foul spirit, and he cried out,

²⁴“What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are God’s holy One!”

²⁵Jesus reproved him, and said,

“Silence! Get out of him!”

²⁶The foul spirit convulsed the man and gave a loud cry and went out of him. ²⁷And they were all so amazed that they discussed it with one another, and said,

“What does this mean? It is a new teaching! He gives orders with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!”

²⁸And his fame immediately spread in all directions through the whole neighborhood of Galilee.

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the house of Simon and Andrew.

³⁰Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed, sick with a fever, and they immediately told him about her. ³¹And he went up to her, and grasping her hand, he made her rise. And the fever left her, and she waited on them.

³²In the evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons, ³³and the whole town was gathered at the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and drove out many demons, and he would not let the demons speak, because they knew that he was Christ.

³⁵Early in the morning, long before daylight, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely spot, and prayed there. ³⁶And Simon and his companions sought him out ³⁷and found him, and said to him,

“They are all looking for you!”

³⁸He said to them,

“Let us go somewhere else, to the neighboring country towns, so that I may preach in them, too, for that is why I came out here.”

³⁹So he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out the demons.

⁴⁰There came to him a leper appealing to him on his knees, saying to him,

“If you only choose, you can cure me.”

⁴¹And he pitied him and stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him,

“I do choose! Be cured!”

⁴²And the leprosy immediately left him, and he was cured. ⁴³And Jesus immediately drove him away with stern injunctions, ⁴⁴saying to him,

“See that you say nothing about this to anybody, but begone! show yourself to the priest, and in proof of your cure make the offerings for your purification which Moses prescribed.”

⁴⁵But he went off and began to talk so much about it, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in unfrequented places, and people came to him from every direction.

Chapter 2

¹Some days later he came back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home, ²and such a crowd gathered that after a while there was no room even around the door, and he was telling them his message. ³And some people came bringing to him a man who was paralyzed, four of them carrying him. ⁴As they could not get him near Jesus on account of the crowd, they broke open the roof just over his head, and through the opening they lowered the mat with the paralytic lying on it. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

“My son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶There were some scribes sitting there pondering and saying to themselves,

⁷“Why does this man talk so? This is blasphemy. Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸Jesus, at once perceiving by his spirit that they were pondering over this, said to them,

“Why do you ponder over this in your minds? ⁹Which is easier, to say to this paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say to him, “Get up and pick up your mat and walk’? ¹⁰But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth,” turning to the paralytic he said, ¹¹“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

¹²And he got up, and immediately picked up his mat and went out before them all, so that they were all astonished and acknowledged the power of God, saying,

“We never saw anything like this before.”

¹³He went out of the town again and along the shore, and all the people came to him and he taught them.

¹⁴And as he was passing along he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him,

“Follow me.”

And he got up and followed him.

¹⁵He was at table in his house, with many tax-collectors and irreligious people who were at table with him and his disciples, for there were many of them among his followers. ¹⁶And when the scribes who were of the Pharisees’ party saw that he was eating with irreligious people and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples,

“Why does he eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?”

¹⁷Jesus heard it, and said to them,

“It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor. I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious.”

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. And people came and asked him,

“Why is it that when John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are keeping the fast, yours are not keeping it?”

¹⁹Jesus said to them,

“Can wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. ²⁰But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and when that day comes, they will fast. ²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old coat; or if he does, the patch tears away, the new from the old, and makes the hole worse than ever. ²²And no one pours new wine into old wine-skins; or if he does, the wine bursts the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins too. New wine has to be put into fresh skins.”

²³He happened to be passing through the wheat fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick the heads of wheat as they made their way through. ²⁴And the Pharisees said to him,

“Look! Why are they doing what it is against the law to do on the Sabbath?”

²⁵He said to them,

“Did you never read what David did, when he was in need and hungry, he and his men? ²⁶How is it that he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the Presentation Loaves, which it is against the law for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions too?”

²⁷And he said to them,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, ²⁸and so the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath.”

Chapter 3

¹He went again to a synagogue, and there was a man there with one hand withered. ²And they were watching him closely, to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, in order to get a charge to bring against him. ³He said to the man with the withered hand,

“Get up and come forward.”

⁴And he said to them,

“Is it allowable to do people good on the Sabbath, or to do them harm? To save life or kill?” But they made no answer. ⁵And he looked around at them with anger, hurt by their obstinacy, and he said to the man,

“Hold out your hand!”

And he held it out, and his hand was cured. ⁶Then the Pharisees left the synagogue and immediately consulted with the Herodians about Jesus, with a view to putting him to death.

⁷So Jesus retired with his disciples to the seashore, and a great many people from Galilee followed him, and from Judea ⁸and Jerusalem and Idumea and from the other side of the Jordan and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon a great many who had heard of the things he was doing came to him. ⁹He told his disciples to have a boat always ready for his use, to prevent his being crushed by the crowd. ¹⁰For he cured so many people that all who had any ailments pressed up to him to touch him. ¹¹And whenever the foul spirits saw him, they fell down before him and screamed out,

“You are the Son of God!” ¹²And he warned them repeatedly not to tell who he was.

¹³And he went up the hillside and summoned to him those whom he wanted, and they went to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve of them, whom he called apostles, to be with him and to be sent out to preach, ¹⁵with power to drive out the demons. These were the twelve he appointed: ¹⁶Peter, which was the name he gave to Simon, ¹⁷James the son of Zebedee, and John, James’s brother (he named them Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home. ²⁰And again the crowd gathered in such numbers that there was no chance for them even to have their meals. ²¹His relatives heard of it and came over to stop him, for they said that he was out of his mind. ²²And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he was possessed by Beelzebub and drove out demons by the help of the prince of demons. ²³So he called them to him and spoke to them in figures, saying,

“How can Satan drive Satan out? ²⁴If a kingdom is disunited, that kingdom cannot last. ²⁵And if a household is disunited, that household cannot last. ²⁶And if Satan has rebelled against himself and become disunited, he cannot last but is coming to his end. ²⁷But no one can go into a strong man’s house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man; after that he can plunder his house. ²⁸I tell you, men will be forgiven for everything, for all their sins and all the abusive things they say. ²⁹But whoever reviles the holy Spirit can never be forgiven, but is guilty of an unending sin.”

³⁰This was because they said, “He is possessed by a foul spirit.”

³¹And his mother and his brothers came. And they stood outside the house and sent word in to him to come outside to them. ³²There was a crowd sitting around him when they told him,

“Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”

³³He answered,

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”

³⁴And looking around at the people sitting about him, he said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Chapter 4

¹Then he began again to teach by the seashore. And a crowd gathered around him so great that he got into a boat and sat in it, a little way from the shore, while all the people were on the land close to the water. ²He taught them many lessons in figures, and said to them in the course of his teaching,

³“Listen: A sower went out to sow, ⁴and as he was sowing, some of the seed chanced to fall by the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some of it fell on rocky ground, and where there was not much soil, and it sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, ⁶but when the sun came up, it was scorched, and withered up, because it had no root. ⁷Some of the seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And some fell on good soil, and came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.”

⁹And he said,

“Let him who has ears be sure to listen!”

¹⁰When he was by himself, those who stayed about him with the Twelve asked him about the figures he had used. ¹¹And he said to them,

“To you has been intrusted the secret of the reign of God, but to those outsiders, everything is offered in figures, ¹²so that

“ ‘They may look and look and yet not see,

And listen and listen and yet not understand,

Lest possibly they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”,

¹³And Jesus said,

“If you do not understand this figure, then how will you understand my other figures? ¹⁴What the sower sows is the message. ¹⁵The ones by the path are those into whose hearts the message falls, and as soon as they hear it Satan comes and carries off the message that has been sown in their hearts. ¹⁶It is so too with the ones sown on the rocky ground; they gladly accept the message as soon as they hear it, ¹⁷but it takes no real root in them and they last only a little while; then when trouble or persecution comes because of the message they give it up at once. ¹⁸It is different with those sown among the thorns. They are people who listen to the message, ¹⁹but the worries of the time and the pleasure of being rich and passions for other things creep in and choke the message out and it yields nothing. ²⁰And the ones sown in good ground are the people who listen to the message and welcome it and yield thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.

²¹“Do people get out the lamp,” he said to them, “and then put it under the peck-measure, or under the bed, instead of putting it up where it belongs? ²²For no one hides anything except for the purpose of sometime bringing it to light again, and people keep things secret only to reveal them some day. ²³If anyone has ears let him be sure to listen.

²⁴“Take care what you hear,” he said to them. “The measure you give will be given to you, and even more besides. ²⁵For people who have will have more given them, and from people who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

²⁶“The reign of God,” he said, “is like a man scattering seed on the ground, ²⁷and then sleeping at night and getting up by day, while the seed sprouts and comes up, without his knowing it. ²⁸The ground of itself is productive, putting forth first a blade, then a head, then fully developed wheat in the head. ²⁹But as soon as the crop will let him, the man goes in with his sickle, for the harvest time has come.

³⁰“How can we find any comparison,” he said, “for the reign of God, or what figure can we use to describe it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the world, ³²yet once sown, comes up and grows to be the largest of all the plants, and produces branches so large that the wild birds can roost under the shelter of it.”

³³With many such figures he told them the message, as far as they were able to receive it. ³⁴He said nothing to them except in figures, but in private he explained everything to his own disciples.

³⁵That same day when it was evening he said to them,

“Let us cross to the other side.”

³⁶So they left the crowd and took him away in the boat in which he was sitting. There were other boats with him. ³⁷And a heavy squall of wind came on and the waves dashed into the boat, so that it was beginning to fill. ³⁸He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him up and said to him,

“Master, does it make no difference to you that we are sinking?”

³⁹Then he awoke and reproved the wind, and said to the sea,

“Hush! Silence!”

And the wind went down and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰And he said to them,

“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

⁴¹And they were very much frightened, and said to one another,

“Who can he be? For even the wind and the sea obey him.”

Chapter 5

¹So they reached the other side of the sea, and landed in the region of Gerasa. ²As soon as he got out of the boat, a man possessed by a foul spirit came out of the burial places near by to meet him. ³This man lived among the tombs, and no one could any longer secure him even with a chain, ⁴for he had often been fastened with fetters and chains and had snapped the chains and broken the fetters; and there was no one strong enough to master him, ⁵and night and day he was always shrieking among the tombs and on the hills and cutting himself with stones. ⁶And catching sight of Jesus in the distance he ran up and made obeisance to him ⁷and screamed out,

“What do you want of me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God’s name, I implore you, do not torture me.” ⁸For he was saying to him,

“You foul spirit, come out of this man.”

⁹He asked him,

“What is your name?”

He said,

“My name is Legion, for there are many of us.”

¹⁰And they begged him earnestly not to send them out of that country.

¹¹Now there was a great drove of pigs feeding there on the hillside. ¹²And they implored him,

“Send us among the pigs, let us go into them.”

¹³So he gave them permission. And the foul spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the drove of about two thousand rushed over the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned. ¹⁴And the men who tended them ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around, and the people came to see what had happened. ¹⁵When they came to Jesus and found the demoniac sitting quietly with his clothes on and in his right mind—the same man who had been possessed by Legion—they were frightened. ¹⁶And those who had seen it told them what had happened to the demoniac, and all about the pigs. ¹⁷And they began to beg him to leave their district. ¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to go with him. ¹⁹And he would not permit it, but said to him,

“Go home to your own people, and tell them all the Lord has done for you and how he took pity on you.” ²⁰And he went off and began to tell everybody in the Ten Towns all Jesus had done for him; and they were all astonished.

²¹When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him as he stood on the shore. ²²And a man named Jairus, the leader of a synagogue, came up and seeing him threw himself at his feet, ²³and appealed to him, saying,

“My little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her, so that she may get well and live!”

²⁴So he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and pressed around him. ²⁵And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶and had had a great deal of treatment from various doctors and had spent all that she had and had not been benefited at all but had actually grown worse, ²⁷had heard about Jesus. And she came up in the crowd behind him and touched his coat, ²⁸for she said,

“If I can only touch his clothes, I shall get well.”

²⁹The hemorrhage stopped at once, and she felt in her body that she was cured. ³⁰Jesus instantly perceived that healing power had passed from him, and he turned around in the crowd and said,

“Who touched my clothes?”

³¹His disciples said to him,

“You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³²But he still looked around to see the person who had done it. ³³The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came forward frightened and trembling, and threw herself down at his feet and told him the whole truth. ³⁴And he said to her,

“My daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace and be free from your disease.”

³⁵Even as he spoke people came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said,

“Your daughter is dead. Why should you trouble the Master any further?”

³⁶But Jesus paid no attention to what they said, but said to the leader of the synagogue,

“Do not be afraid, just have faith.”

³⁷He let no one go with him but Peter, James, and James’s brother John. ³⁸They came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, and there he found everything in confusion, and people weeping and wailing. ³⁹And he went into the house and said to them,

“What is the meaning of all this confusion and crying? The child is not dead, she is asleep.” ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. But he drove them all out, and took the child’s father and mother and the men who were with him and went into the room where the child was lying. ⁴¹And he grasped her hand and said to her,

“Taleitha, koum!”—that is to say, “Little girl, I tell you, get up!”

⁴²And the little girl immediately got up and walked about, for she was twelve years old. The moment they saw it they were utterly amazed. ⁴³And he strictly forbade them to let anyone know of it, and told them to give her something to eat.

Chapter 6

¹Leaving there he went, followed by his disciples, to his own part of the country. ²When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue. And the people were astonished when they heard him, and said,

“Where did he get all this? How does he come to have such wisdom? How are such marvelous things done through him? ³Is he not the carpenter, Mary’s son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not his sisters live here among us?”

⁴And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is treated with honor everywhere except in his native place and among his relatives and at his home.”

⁵He could not do any wonder there, except that he put his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he wondered at their want of faith.

Then he went around among the villages teaching. ⁷And he called the Twelve to him and sent them off two by two, giving them power over the foul spirits. ⁸He forbade them to take anything for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no small change even in their girdles; ⁹they were to go in sandals, and not to wear two shirts. ¹⁰And he said to them,

“Whenever you go to stay at a house, remain in it till you leave that place. ¹¹If any place refuses to receive you or to listen to you, when you leave it shake off the very dust from the soles of your feet as a warning to them.”

¹²So they went out and preached that men should repent, ¹³and drove out many demons, and cured many sick people by anointing them with oil.

¹⁴King Herod heard of him, for his name was now well known, and people were saying that John the baptizer had risen from the dead, and that that was why he was endowed with these extraordinary powers. ¹⁵But others said he was Elijah, and still others that he was a prophet of the old prophetic kind. ¹⁶But when Herod heard of him he said,

“John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead.”

¹⁷For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him and put him in prison, on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. ¹⁸John said to Herod,

“It is not right for you to be living with your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹Herodias felt bitterly toward him and wanted him killed. But she could not bring it about, ²⁰for Herod stood in awe of John, knowing that he was an upright and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him talk he was very much disturbed, and yet he liked to hear him. ²¹When a holiday came and Herod on his birthday gave a banquet to his courtiers and officers and to the leading men of Galilee, ²²Herodias’ own daughter came in and danced for them. And Herod and his guests were delighted, and the king said to the girl,

²³“Ask me for anything you like and I will give it to you.” And he made oath to her,

“I will give you whatever you ask me for, up to half my kingdom.”

²⁴When she had left the room she said to her mother,

“What shall I ask him for?”

But she said,

“The head of John the baptizer.”

²⁵And she hurried back at once to the king and asked him for it, saying,

“I want you right away to give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter.”

²⁶The king was exceedingly sorry, but on account of his oath and his guests he did not like to break his word to her, ²⁷and he immediately sent one of his guard with orders to get John’s head. ²⁸And he went off and beheaded him in the prison and brought back his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹When his disciples heard of it they came and took his body away and put it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles rejoined Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹And he said to them,

“Come away by yourselves to some quiet place, and rest a little while.”

For people were coming and going in large numbers, and they had no time even for meals. ³²So they set off by themselves in their boat for a secluded place. ³³And many people saw them start and knew of it, and hurried around by land from all the neighboring towns, and got ahead of them. ³⁴So when he got out of the boat, he found a great crowd gathered, and his heart was touched at the sight of them, because they were like sheep that have no shepherd; and he proceeded to teach them a great deal. ³⁵When it grew late his disciples came up to him and said,

“This is a lonely place and it is getting late. ³⁶Send the people off to the farms and villages around to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But he answered,

“Give them food yourselves.”

They said to him,

“Can we go and buy forty dollars’ worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸But he said to them,

“How many loaves have you? Go and see.”

They looked, and told him.

“Five, and two fish.”

³⁹And he directed them all to sit down in parties on the fresh grass. ⁴⁰And they threw themselves down in groups, in hundreds and in fifties. ⁴¹Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed the loaves and broke them in pieces and gave them to the disciples to pass to the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²And they all ate and had enough. ⁴³And the pieces they gathered up filled twelve baskets, besides the pieces of the fish. ⁴⁴There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

⁴⁵He immediately had his disciples get into the boat and cross before him to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he was dismissing the crowd. ⁴⁶When he had taken leave of the people he went up the hill to pray. ⁴⁷When evening came on, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on shore. ⁴⁸And he saw that they were straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, and toward morning he went out to them, walking on the sea, and was going to join them. ⁴⁹They saw him walking on the sea, and thought it was a ghost and screamed aloud, ⁵⁰for they all saw him and were terrified. But he immediately spoke to them and said,

“Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.”

⁵¹Then he went up to them and got into the boat. And the wind fell. And they were perfectly beside themselves, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves, but their minds were blinded.

⁵³They crossed over to the other side and came to Gennesaret and moored the boat. ⁵⁴As soon as they came ashore, the people recognized Jesus, ⁵⁵and they hurried all over the countryside and began to bring the sick to him on their mats, wherever they heard he was. ⁵⁶And whatever village or town or farm he went to, they would lay their sick in the market-place and beg him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak, and all who touched it were cured.

Chapter 7

¹The Pharisees gathered about him with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. ²They had noticed that some of his disciples ate their food without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing to purify them. ³For the Pharisees and all the Jews observe the rules handed down from their ancestors, and will not eat until they have washed their hands in a particular way, ⁴and they will not eat anything from the market without first purifying it by sprinkling it, and they have a number of other observances which have come down to them, in the way of washing cups, pitchers, and basins. ⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him,

“Why do your disciples not observe the rules handed down by our ancestors, but eat food without purifying their hands?”

⁶But he said to them,

“It was about you hypocrites that Isaiah prophesied so finely, in the words,

“ ‘This people honor me with their lips,

Yet their hearts are far away from me.

⁷But their worship of me is all in vain,

For the lessons they teach are but human precepts.’

⁸“You give up what God has commanded and hold fast to what men have handed down.

⁹“How skilful you are,” he said to them, “in nullifying what God has commanded in order to observe what has been handed down to you. ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and again, ‘Whoever abuses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ¹¹But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Anything of mine that might have been of use to you is Korban,*#“) that is, consecrated to God, ¹²you let him off from doing anything more for his father or mother, ¹³and so you nullify what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many such practices.”

¹⁴He called the people to him again and said to them,

“Listen to me, all of you, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him. It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him.”

¹⁷When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples asked him what he meant by this figure. ¹⁸And he said to them,

“Have not even you any understanding then? Do you not see that nothing that goes into a man from outside can pollute him, ¹⁹since it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then is disposed of?” So he declared all food clean. ²⁰He went on to say,

“It is what comes out of a man that pollutes him. ²¹For it is from inside, from men’s hearts, that designs of evil come; immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, abusiveness, arrogance, folly— ²³all these evils come from inside, and they pollute a man.”

²⁴He left that place and went to the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. And he went into a certain house, and wanted no one to know of it. And he could not keep it secret, ²⁵but a woman whose little daughter was possessed by a foul spirit immediately heard about him and came and threw herself at his feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician birth. And she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷He said to her,

“Let the children first eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸But she answered,

“True, sir! and still the dogs under the table eat what the children leave!” ²⁹He said to her,

“If you can say that, go home; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰And she went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹He left the neighborhood of Tyre again and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, crossing the district of the Ten Towns. ³²And they brought to him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³He took him off by himself away from the crowd, and put his fingers in the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with saliva. ³⁴And he looked up to heaven and sighed, and said to him,

“Ephphatha!”—which means “Open.”

³⁵And his ears were opened and his tongue was released and he talked plainly. ³⁶And Jesus forbade them to tell anyone about it, but the more he forbade them the more they spread the news far and wide. ³⁷And people were utterly amazed, and said,

“How well he has done everything! He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”

Chapter 8

¹In those days when a great crowd had gathered again and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,

²“I pity these people, for they have been staying with me three days now, and they have nothing left to eat. ³And if I send them home hungry they will give out on the way, for some of them come from a distance.”

⁴His disciples replied,

“Where can anyone get bread enough, here in this solitude, to satisfy these people’s hunger?”

⁵“How many loaves have you?” he asked.

“Seven,” they said.

⁶Then he ordered the people to take their places on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and gave thanks and broke them in pieces and gave them to his disciples to pass, and they passed them to the people. ⁷They had a few small fish, and he blessed them and told the disciples to pass them also to the people. ⁸And they ate and satisfied their hunger. And the pieces that they left, that were picked up, filled seven baskets. ⁹There were about four thousand of the people. And he dismissed them. ¹⁰Then he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

¹¹The Pharisees came out and began a discussion with him, testing him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. ¹²And he sighed deeply and said,

“Why do the men of this day ask for a sign? I tell you, no sign will be given them.”

¹³And he left them and got into the boat again and crossed to the other side.

¹⁴Now they had forgotten to bring any bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵And he warned them, saying,

“Look out! Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”

¹⁶They were discussing with one another their being without bread. ¹⁷And he noticed it and said to them,

“Why do you discuss your being without bread? Do you not yet see nor understand? Are your minds so dull? ¹⁸When you have eyes can you not see, and when you have ears can you not hear? Do you not remember ¹⁹how many baskets of pieces you picked up when I broke the five loaves in pieces for those five thousand men?”

They said to him,

“Twelve.”

²⁰“When I broke the seven loaves in pieces for the four thousand, how many baskets of pieces did you pick up?”

They said to him,

“Seven.”

²¹He said to them,

“Do you not understand yet?”

²²And they came to Bethsaida. And people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. ²³He took him by the hand and led him outside of the village, and spitting in his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked him,

“Do you see anything?”

²⁴He looked up and said,

“I can see people, for they look to me like trees, only they are moving about.”

²⁵Then he laid his hands on his eyes again, and he looked steadily and was cured, and saw everything plainly. ²⁶And he sent him home and said to him,

“Do not even go into the village.”

²⁷Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he questioned his disciples and said to them,

“Who do people say that I am?”

²⁸They said to him,

“John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and others that you are one of the prophets.”

²⁹And he asked them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered and said to him,

“You are the Christ.”

³⁰And he warned them not to say this about him to anyone.

³¹Then he explained to them for the first time that the Son of Man must go through much suffering, and be refused by the elders and the high priests and the scribes, and be killed, and rise again three days after. ³²He told them this plainly. And Peter took him aside, and began to reprove him for it. ³³But turning and seeing his disciples he reproved Peter, and said,

“Get out of my sight, you Satan! for you do not side with God, but with men.”

³⁴And he called the people and his disciples to him and said to them,

“If anyone wants to go with me, he must disregard himself, and take his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to preserve his own life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me and for the good news will preserve it. ³⁶For what good does it do a man to gain the whole world and yet part with his life? ³⁷For what can a man give to buy back his life? ³⁸For if anyone is ashamed of me and my teachings in this unfaithful and sinful age, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes back in his Father’s glory, with the holy angels.”

Chapter 9

¹And he said to them, “I tell you, some of you who stand here will certainly live to see the reign of God come in its might.”

²Six days after this Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him, and led them up on a high mountain, off by themselves. And his appearance underwent a change in their presence, ³and his clothes shone whiter than any earthly bleaching could make them. ⁴And Elijah appeared to them, accompanied by Moses, and they talked with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter spoke, and said to Jesus,

“Master, how good it is that we are here! Let us put up three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶For he did not know what to say, they were so frightened. ⁷And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice,

“This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him,”

⁸And suddenly, on looking around, they saw that there was now no one with them but Jesus alone. ⁹As they were going down the mountain, he cautioned them to let no one know what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead. ¹⁰And they did not forget what he said, but discussed with one another what he meant by the rising from the dead. ¹¹And they asked him,

“Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?”

¹²He said to them,

“Elijah does come first, and reforms everything, and does not the Scripture say of the Son of Man that he will suffer much and be refused? ¹³Why, I tell you, not only has Elijah come, but people have treated him just as they pleased, as the Scripture says about him.”

¹⁴When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And all the people were amazed when they saw him, and they ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them,

“What are you discussing with them?”

¹⁷One of the crowd answered,

“Master, I brought my son to you, for he is possessed by a dumb spirit, ¹⁸and wherever it seizes him it convulses him, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth; and he is wasting away. I told your disciples to drive it out, and they could not do it.”

¹⁹He answered them and said,

“O you unbelieving people, how long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!”

²⁰And they brought the boy to him. As soon as the spirit saw him, it convulsed the boy, and he fell down on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹Jesus asked the boy’s father,

“How long has he been like this?”

And he said,

²²“From his childhood, and many a time it has thrown him into the fire or into the water, to put an end to him. But if there is anything you can do, take pity on us and help us!”

²³Jesus said to him,

“ ‘If there is anything I can do!’ Everything is possible for one who has faith!”

²⁴The boy’s father immediately cried out,

“I have faith! Help my want of faith!”

²⁵Then Jesus, seeing that a crowd was rapidly gathering, reproved the foul spirit and said to it,

“You deaf and dumb spirit, get out of him, I charge you, and never enter him again!”

²⁶And it gave a cry and convulsed him terribly, and went out of him.

And the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said that he was dead. ²⁷But Jesus grasped his hand and made him rise, and he stood up. ²⁸When he had gone home, and his disciples were alone with him, they asked him,

“Why could not we drive it out?”

²⁹He said to them,

“This kind of thing can be driven out only by prayer.”

³⁰And they left that place and made their way through Galilee, and he did not wish anyone to know it; ³¹for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them,

“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and three days after he is killed he will rise again.”

³²But they did not understand what he meant, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

³³And they reached Capernaum. When he reached home, he asked them,

“What was it that you were discussing on the way?”

³⁴But they made no answer, for on the way they had been discussing with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵And he sat down and called the Twelve in, and said to them,

“If anyone wishes to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.”

³⁶And he took a child and made him stand among them, and he put his arms around him, and said to them,

³⁷“Whoever welcomes one child like this on my account is welcoming me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but him who has sent me.”

³⁸John said to him,

“Master, we saw a man driving out demons with your name, and we told him not to do so, for he was not one of our followers.”

³⁹But Jesus said,

“Do not tell him not to do so, for there is no one who will use my name to do a mighty act, and be able soon after to abuse me. ⁴⁰For the man who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, on the ground that you belong to Christ, I tell you, will certainly not fail to be repaid. ⁴²And whoever causes one of these humble believers to fall might better have a great millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea. ⁴³If your hand makes you fall, cut it off. You might better enter upon life maimed, than go with both your hands to the pit, into the fire that cannot be put out. ⁴⁵And if your foot makes you fall, cut it off. You might better enter upon life crippled, than be thrown with both your feet into the pit. ⁴⁷And if your eye makes you fall, tear it out. You might better get into the Kingdom of God with only one eye than be thrown with both your eyes into the pit, ⁴⁸where the worm that feeds upon them never dies and the fire is never put out. ⁴⁹Everyone must be seasoned with fire. ⁵⁰Salt is a good thing, but if salt loses its strength, what will you use to season it? You must have salt within you, and live in peace with one another.”

Chapter 10

¹And he left that place and went into the district of Judea and crossed the Jordan, and crowds of people again gathered about him, and again he taught them as he was accustomed to do. ²Some Pharisees came up, and in order to test him asked him whether a man should be allowed to divorce his wife. ³But he answered,

“What has Moses commanded you to do?”

⁴They said,

“Moses permits a man to divorce his wife by drawing up a written divorce-notice.”

⁵But Jesus said to them,

“It was on account of your perversity that he laid down that law for you. ⁶But from the beginning of the creation, ‘God made them male and female. ⁷Therefore a man must leave his father and mother, and he and his wife must become one,’ ⁸and so they are no longer two but one. ⁹Therefore what God has joined together man must not try to separate.”

¹⁰When they reached the house the disciples asked him about this again. ¹¹And he said to them,

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his former wife, ¹²and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she is an adulteress.”

¹³And people brought children to him to have him touch them, but the disciples reproved them for it. ¹⁴When Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them,

“Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they. ¹⁵I tell you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”

¹⁶And he took the children in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them.

¹⁷As he was starting again on his journey, a man came running up to him, and knelt at his feet and asked him,

“Good master, what must I do to make sure of eternal life?”

¹⁸But Jesus said to him,

“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God himself. ¹⁹You know the commandments—‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’

²⁰But he said to him,

“Master, I have obeyed all these commandments ever since I was a child.”

²¹And Jesus looked at him and loved him, and he said to him,

“There is one thing that you lack. Go, sell all you have, and give the money to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come back and be a follower of mine.”

²²But his face fell at Jesus’ words, and he went away much cast down, for he had a great deal of property.

²³And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,

“How hard it will be for those who have money to enter the Kingdom of God!”

²⁴But the disciples were amazed at what he said. And Jesus said to them again,

“My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God!”

²⁶They were perfectly astounded and said to him,

“Then who can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said,

“For men it is impossible, but not for God, for anything is possible for God.”

²⁸Peter started to say to him,

“Well, we have left all we had, and have followed you.”

²⁹Jesus said,

“I tell you, there is no one who has given up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news, ³⁰but will receive now in this life a hundred times as much in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands, though not without persecution—and in the coming age eternal life. ³¹But many who are first now will be last then, and the last will be first.”

³²As they went on their way up to Jerusalem, Jesus walked ahead of them, and they were in dismay, and those who still followed were afraid. And he took the Twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

³³“See!” he said, “we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the heathen ³⁴and they will ridicule him and spit on him and flog him and kill him; and three days after he will rise again.”

³⁵And Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, came up to him and said,

“Master, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶He said to them,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

³⁷They said to him,

“Let us sit one at your right hand and one at your left, in your triumph.”

³⁸Jesus said to them,

“You do not know what you are asking for. Can you drink what I am drinking, or undergo the baptism that I am undergoing?”

³⁹They said to him,

“Yes, we can.”

Jesus said to them,

“Then you shall drink what I am drinking, and you shall undergo the baptism that I am undergoing; ⁴⁰but as for sitting at my right or at my left, that is not mine to give, but belongs to those for whom it is destined.”

⁴¹When the other ten heard of this they were at first very indignant at James and John. ⁴²And Jesus called them to him, and said to them,

“You know that those who are supposed to rule the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them; ⁴³but it is not to be so among you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be everybody’s slave. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man himself has not come to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to free many others.”

⁴⁶And they came to Jericho. As he was leaving the town with his disciples and a great crowd, Timaeus’ son Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting at the roadside. ⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out,

“Jesus, you son of David, take pity on me!”

⁴⁸Many of the people rebuked him and told him to be still. But he cried out all the louder,

“You son of David, take pity on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and said,

“Call him here.”

And they called the blind man and said to him,

“Courage now! Get up, he is calling you!”

⁵⁰And he threw off his coat and sprang to his feet and went up to Jesus. ⁵¹Jesus spoke to him and said,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said to him,

“Master, let me regain my sight!”

⁵²Jesus said to him,

“Go your way. Your faith has cured you.”

And he immediately regained his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Chapter 11

¹When they were getting near Jerusalem, and had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead, ²and said to them,

“Go to the village that lies in front of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³And if anybody says to you, ‘Why are you doing that?’ say, ‘The Master needs it, and will send it back here directly.’ ”

⁴And they set off and found a colt tied in the street at the door of a house, and they untied it. ⁵Some of the bystanders said to them,

“What are you doing, untying the colt?”

⁶But they answered them as Jesus had told them to do, and the men let them take it. ⁷So they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their coats over it and Jesus mounted it. ⁸And many of the people spread their coats in the road, and others cut straw from the fields and scattered it in his path. ⁹And those in front and those behind shouted,

“God bless him!

Blessed be he who comes in the Lord’s name!

¹⁰Blessed be the reign of our father David which is coming!

God bless him from on high!”

¹¹And he came into Jerusalem and into the Temple, and looked it all over; then, as it was already late, he went out with the Twelve to Bethany.

¹²On the next day, after they had left Bethany, he felt hungry. ¹³And he saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went up to it to see if he could find any figs on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for figs. ¹⁴And he spoke to the tree and said to it,

“May no one ever eat fruit from you any more!”

And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵When they reached Jerusalem, he went into the Temple, and began to drive out of it those who were buying or selling things in it, and he upset the money-changers’ tables and the pigeon-dealers’ seats, ¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. ¹⁷And he taught them, and said,

“Does not the Scripture say, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ cave.”

¹⁸The high priests and the scribes heard of this, and they cast about for a way of destroying him, for they were afraid of him, for all the people were amazed at what he taught. ¹⁹So when evening came, he and his disciples used to go out of the city.

²⁰In the morning as they were passing along, they saw that the fig tree was withered, to its very roots. ²¹And Peter remembered about it and said to him,

“Look, Master! The fig tree that you cursed is withered up!”

²²Jesus answered and said to them,

“Have faith in God! ²³I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Get up and throw yourself into the sea!’ and has no doubt in his mind, but has faith that what he says will happen, shall have it. ²⁴Therefore I tell you, whenever you pray or ask for anything, have faith that it has been granted you, and you shall have it. ²⁵And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven too may forgive you your offenses.”

²⁷Then they went into Jerusalem again. And as Jesus was walking about in the Temple, the high priests, scribes, and elders came up ²⁸and said to him,

“What authority have you for doing as you do? And who gave you a right to do as you are doing?”

²⁹Jesus said to them,

“Let me ask you one question, and if you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have for doing as I do. ³⁰Was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? Answer me.”

³¹And they argued with one another,

“If we say, ‘It was from heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³²Yet can we say, ‘It was from men’?” For they were afraid of the people, because all the people thought John was really a prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus,

“We do not know.”

Jesus said to them,

“Nor will I tell you what authority I have for doing as I do.”

Chapter 12

¹Then he began to speak to them in figures.

“A man once planted a vineyard and fenced it in and hewed out a wine-vat and built a watch tower, and he leased it to tenants and left the neighborhood. ²At the proper time he sent a slave to the tenants to get from them a share of the vintage. ³And they took him and beat him and sent him back empty-handed. ⁴And again he sent another slave to them. And they beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵And he sent another; and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. ⁶He still had one left to send, a dearly loved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is his heir! Come on, let us kill him, and the property will belong to us!’ ⁸So they took him and killed him, and threw his body outside of the vineyard. ⁹What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come back and put the tenants to death and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Did you never read this passage of Scripture:

“ ‘That stone which the builders rejected

Has become the cornerstone;

¹¹This came from the Lord

And seems marvelous to us’?”

¹²And they tried to have him arrested, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew that the illustration was aimed at them. And they left him and went away.

¹³They sent some Pharisees and Herodians to him to entrap him in argument. ¹⁴And they came up and said to him,

“Master, we know that you tell the truth regardless of the consequences, for you are not guided by personal considerations, but teach the way of God with sincerity. Is it right to pay the poll tax to the emperor or not? ¹⁵Should we pay it, or refuse to pay it?”

But he saw through their pretense, and said to them,

“Why do you put me to such a test? Bring me a denarius to look at.”

¹⁶And they brought him one. He said to them,

“Whose head and title is this?”

And they told him,

“The emperor’s.”

¹⁷And Jesus said,

“Pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and pay God what belongs to God!”

And they were astonished at him.

¹⁸Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question.

¹⁹“Master,” they said, “Moses made us a law that if a man’s brother died, leaving a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother. ²⁰There were once seven brothers. And the eldest married a wife and died, leaving no child. ²¹And the second married her, and died without leaving any child, and so did the third. ²²And none of the seven left any child. Finally, the woman died too. ²³At the resurrection, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven of them married her.”

²⁴Jesus said to them,

“Does not this show that you are wrong, and do not understand either the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵For when people rise from the dead, there is no marrying or being married, but they live as angels do in heaven. ²⁶But as to the dead being raised, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷He is not God of dead men but of living! You are entirely wrong.”

²⁸One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing. He saw that Jesus had answered them well, and he asked him,

“Which is the first of all the commands?”

²⁹Jesus answered,

“The first one is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord our God is one lord, ³⁰and you must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and your whole strength.’ ³¹And this is the second: ‘You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.’ No other command is greater than these.”

³²The scribe said to him,

“Really, Master, you have finely said that he stands alone, and there is none but he, ³³and to love him with one’s whole heart, one’s whole understanding, and one’s whole strength, and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self is far more than all these burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴And Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully, and he said to him,

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God!”

And no one ventured to ask him any more questions.

³⁵As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he answered them and said,

“How can the scribes say that the Christ is a son of David? ³⁶David himself, under the influence of the holy Spirit, said,

“ ‘The Lord has said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand

Until I put your enemies under your feet.*#“)

³⁷David himself calls him lord, and how can he be his son?”

The mass of the people liked to hear him. ³⁸And in the course of his teaching he said to them,

“Beware of the scribes who like to go about in long robes and to be saluted with respect in public places, ³⁹and to have the front seats in the synagogues and the best places at dinners— ⁴⁰men that eat up widows’ houses and to cover it up make long prayers! They will get a far heavier sentence!”

⁴¹And he sat down facing the treasury and watched the people dropping money into it; and many rich people were putting in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came up and dropped in two little copper coins which make a cent. ⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said,

“I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all these others who have been putting money into the treasury. ⁴⁴For they all gave of what they had to spare, but she in her want has put in everything she possessed—all she had to live on.”

Chapter 13

¹As he was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said to him,

“Look, Master! What wonderful stones and buildings!”

²Jesus said to him,

“Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be torn down.”

³As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him, apart from the others,

⁴“Tell us when this is to happen, and what the sign will be when it is all just going to be carried out.”

⁵And Jesus said to them,

“Take care that no one misleads you about this. ⁶Many will come under my name and say ‘I am he,’ and many will be misled by them. ⁷But when you hear of wars and rumors of war, you must not be alarmed. They have to come, but it is not yet the end. ⁸For nation will rise in arms against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes here and there, there will be famines. This is only the beginning of the sufferings. ⁹But you must be on your guard; they will hand you over to courts and you will be taken into synagogues and beaten, and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, to testify to them. ¹⁰For before the end the good news must be preached to all the heathen. ¹¹When they are taking you off to trial do not worry beforehand about what you ought to say, but say whatever is given you when the time comes, for it is not you that will speak, but the holy Spirit. ¹²Brother will give up brother to be put to death, and the father his child, and children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³You will be hated by everyone, because you bear my name. But he who holds out to the end will be saved. ¹⁴But as soon as you see the dreadful desecration standing where he has no right to stand” (the reader must take note of this), “then those who are in Judea must fly to the hills; ¹⁵a man on the roof of his house must not go down or go into the house to get anything out of it, ¹⁶and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷Alas for women who are with child at that time, or who have babies! ¹⁸Pray that it may not be winter when it comes, ¹⁹for there will be such misery in those days as there has never been since the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never will be again. ²⁰If the Lord had not cut those days short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of his own chosen people he has cut the days short. ²¹If anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’ do not believe it. ²²For false Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will show signs and wonders to mislead God’s chosen people if they can. ²³But you must be on your guard; I have told you all about it beforehand. ²⁴But in those days, when that misery is over, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light ²⁵and the stars will fall from the sky and the forces in the sky will shake. ²⁶Then they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory, ²⁷and then he will send out the angels and gather his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of the world to the other.

²⁸“Let the fig tree teach you the lesson. As soon as its branches grow soft and put forth leaves you know that summer is coming. ²⁹So when you see these things happening, you must know that he is just at the door. ³⁰I tell you, these things will all happen before the present age passes away. ³¹Earth and sky will pass away, but my words will not. ³²But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father. ³³You must look out and be on the alert, for you do not know when it will be time; ³⁴just as a man when he leaves home to go on a journey, and puts his slaves in charge, each with his duties, gives orders to the watchman to keep watch. ³⁵So you must be on the watch, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening or at midnight or toward daybreak or early in the morning— ³⁶for fear he should come unexpectedly and find you asleep. ³⁷And what I am telling you I mean for all—Be on the watch!”

Chapter 14

¹It was now two days before the festival of the Passover and of Unleavened Bread. And the high priests and scribes were casting about for a way to arrest him by stealth and put him to death, ²for they said,

“It must not be during the festival, or there may be a riot.”

³Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, and as he was at table, a woman came in, with an alabaster flask of pure nard perfume, very expensive; she broke the flask and poured the perfume on his head. ⁴But there were some who said indignantly to themselves,

“What was the use of wasting the perfume like that? ⁵It might have been sold for more than sixty dollars, and the money have been given to the poor.”

⁶And they grumbled at her. But Jesus said,

“Leave her alone. Why do you bother her? It is a fine thing that she has done to me. ⁷For you always have the poor among you, and whenever you please you can do for them, but you will not always have me. ⁸She has done all she could; she has perfumed my body in preparation for my burial. ⁹I tell you, wherever the good news is preached all over the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the high priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear it and promised to pay him for it. So he was watching for an opportunity to betray him to them.

¹²On the first day of the festival of Unleavened Bread, on which it was customary to kill the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him,

“Where do you wish us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover supper?”

¹³So he sent away two of his disciples, saying to them,

“Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, ¹⁴and whatever house he goes into, say to the man of the house, ‘The Master says, “Where is my room where I can eat the Passover supper with my disciples?” ’ ¹⁵And he will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make your preparations for us there.”

¹⁶So the disciples started and went into the city, and found everything just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover supper.

¹⁷When it was evening he came with the Twelve. ¹⁸And when they were at the table eating, Jesus said,

“I tell you, one of you is going to betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹And they were hurt, and said to him one after another,

“Can it be I?”

²⁰He said to them,

“It is one of the Twelve, who is dipping his bread in the same dish with me. ²¹For the Son of Man is indeed to go away as the Scriptures say of him, but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”

²²As they were eating, he took a loaf and blessed it, and he broke it in pieces and gave it to them saying,

“Take this. It is my body.”

²³And he took the wine cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and they all drank from it. ²⁴And he said to them,

“This is my blood which ratifies the agreement, and is to be poured out for many people. ²⁵I tell you, I will never drink the product of the vine again till the day when I shall drink the new wine in the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶After singing the hymn they went out of the city and up the Mount of Olives. ²⁷And Jesus said to them,

“You will all desert me, for the Scriptures say, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸But after I am raised to life again I will go back to Galilee before you.”

²⁹But Peter said to him,

“Even if they all desert you, I will not!”

³⁰Jesus said to him,

“I tell you, this very night before the cock crows twice you yourself will disown me three times!”

³¹But he persisted vehemently,

“If I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”

And they all said the same thing.

³²They came to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,

“Sit down here while I pray.”

³³And he took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to feel distress and dread, ³⁴and he said to them,

“My heart is almost breaking. You must stay here and keep watch.” ³⁵And he went on a little way and threw himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible he might be spared the hour of trial, ³⁶and he said,

“Abba!” that is, Father, “anything is possible for you! Take this cup away from me! Yet not what I please but what you do!”

³⁷When he went back he found them asleep and he said to Peter,

“Simon, are you asleep? Were you not able to watch for one hour? ³⁸You must all watch, and pray that you may not be subjected to trial. One’s spirit is eager, but human nature is weak.”

³⁹He went away again and prayed in the same words as before. ⁴⁰When he came back he found them asleep again, for they could hardly keep their eyes open; and they did not know what answer to make to him. ⁴¹When he came back for the third time, he said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough of this! The time has come. See! the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of wicked men. ⁴²Get up, let us be going. Look, here comes my betrayer!”

⁴³Just at that moment, while he was still speaking, Judas, who was one of the Twelve, came up, and with him a crowd of men with swords and clubs, from the high priests, scribes, and elders. ⁴⁴Now the man who betrayed him had given them a signal, saying,

“The one I kiss is the man. Seize him and take him safely away.”

⁴⁵So when he came he went straight up to Jesus and said, “Master!” and kissed him affectionately.

⁴⁶And they laid hands on him and seized him. ⁴⁷But one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck at the high priest’s slave and cut his ear off. ⁴⁸And Jesus spoke and said to them,

“Have you come out to arrest me with swords and clubs, as though I were a robber? ⁴⁹I have been among you day after day in the Temple teaching, and you never seized me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled!”

⁵⁰Then all the disciples left him and made their escape.

⁵¹And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him, ⁵²but he left the cloth behind and ran away naked.

⁵³They took Jesus away to the high priest, and all the high priests, elders, and scribes came together. ⁵⁴And Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest and sat down with the attendants and warmed himself at the fire. ⁵⁵The high priests and the whole council tried to get evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, and they could find none, ⁵⁶for while many gave false testimony against him their evidence did not agree. ⁵⁷Some got up and gave false testimony against him to this effect:

⁵⁸“We ourselves have heard him say, ‘I will tear down this sanctuary built by men’s hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.’ ”

⁵⁹And even then their evidence did not agree. ⁶⁰Then the high priest got up and came forward into the center and asked Jesus,

“Have you no answer to make? What about their evidence against you?”

⁶¹But Jesus was silent and made no answer. The high priest again questioned him and said to him,

“Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?”

⁶²But Jesus said,

“I am! and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming in the clouds of the sky!”

⁶³Then the high priest tore his clothing, and said,

“What do we want of witnesses now? ⁶⁴Did you hear his blasphemy? What is your decision?”

And they all condemned him as deserving to be put to death. ⁶⁵And some started to spit at him and to blindfold him and strike him, and say to him,

“Now show that you are a prophet!”

And the attendants slapped him as they took charge of him.

⁶⁶While Peter was down in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s maids came up, ⁶⁷and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said,

“You were with this Jesus of Nazareth too!”

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying,

“I do not know or understand what you mean.”

He went out into the gateway. ⁶⁹And the maid saw him there and began again to tell the bystanders,

“This fellow is one of them!”

⁷⁰But he denied it again. And again a little while after, the bystanders said to Peter,

“You certainly are one of them, for you are a Galilean!”

⁷¹But he began to swear with the strongest oaths,

“I do not know this man that you are talking about!”

⁷²At that moment for the second time a cock crowed. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will disown me three times!” And at that, he wept aloud.

Chapter 15

¹As soon as it was daylight, the high priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes, and they and the whole council bound Jesus and took him away and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate asked him,

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

He answered,

“Yes.”

³And the high priests kept heaping accusations upon him. ⁴But Pilate again asked him,

“Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you.”

⁵But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered. ⁶Now at festival time he used to set free for them one prisoner, whom they petitioned for. ⁷There was in prison a man called Barabbas, among some revolutionaries who in their outbreak had committed murder. ⁸And a crowd of people came up and started to ask him for the usual favor. ⁹Pilate asked them,

“Do you want me to set the king of the Jews free for you?”

¹⁰For he knew that the high priests had handed him over to him out of envy. ¹¹But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to set Barabbas free for them instead. ¹²And Pilate again said to them,

“Then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted back,

“Crucify him!”

¹⁴And Pilate said to them,

“Why, what has he done that is wrong?”

But they shouted all the louder,

“Crucify him!”

¹⁵And as Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, he set Barabbas free for them, and after having Jesus flogged handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶Then the soldiers took him inside the courtyard, that is, of the governor’s residence, and they called the whole battalion together. ¹⁷And they dressed him up in a purple cloak, and made a wreath of thorns and crowned him with it, ¹⁸and they began to acclaim him,

“Long live the king of the Jews!”

¹⁹And they struck him on the head with a stick and spat at him, and they knelt down and did homage to him. ²⁰When they had finished making sport of him, they took off the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.

Then they took him out of the city to crucify him. ²¹And they forced a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross—one Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus. ²²And they took him to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ²³They offered him drugged wine, but he would not take it. ²⁴Then they crucified him, and divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to see what each of them should have. ²⁵It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶And the notice of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” ²⁷They crucified two robbers along with him, one at his right and one at his left. ²⁹And the passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads and saying,

“Aha! you who would tear down the sanctuary and build one in three days! ³⁰Come down from the cross and save yourself!”

³¹The high priests too made sport of him to one another with the scribes and said,

“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! ³²Let this Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see it and believe!” And the men who were crucified with him abused him.

³³At noon darkness spread over the whole country, and lasted until three in the afternoon. ³⁴And at three o’clock Jesus called out loudly,

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

³⁵Some of the bystanders, when they heard it, said,

“See! He is calling for Elijah!”

³⁶One man ran off and soaked a sponge in common wine, and put it on the end of a stick and held it up to him to drink, saying,

“Let us see whether Elijah does come to take him down!”

³⁷But Jesus gave a loud cry, and expired. ³⁸And the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹And when the captain who stood facing him saw how he expired he said,

“This man was certainly a son of God!”

⁴⁰There were some women also watching from a distance, among them Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome, ⁴¹who used to accompany him and wait on him when he was in Galilee—besides many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him.

⁴²Although it was now evening, yet since it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the council, who was himself living in expectation of the reign of God, made bold to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. ⁴⁴Pilate wondered whether he was dead already, and he sent for the captain and asked whether he was dead yet, ⁴⁵and when he learned from the captain that he was, he gave Joseph permission to take the body. ⁴⁶And he bought a linen sheet and took him down from the cross and wrapped him in the sheet, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the doorway of the tomb. ⁴⁷And Mary of Magdala and Mary, Joses’ mother, were looking on and saw where he was put.

Chapter 16

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary, James’s mother, and Salome bought spices, in order to go and anoint him. ²Then very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, when the sun had just risen. ³And they said to one another,

“Who will roll the stone back from the doorway of the tomb for us?”

⁴And they looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled back, for it was very large. ⁵And when they went into the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe sitting at the right, and they were utterly amazed. ⁶But he said to them,

“You must not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here. See! This is where they laid him. ⁷But go and say to his disciples and to Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; you will see him there, just as he told you.’ ”

⁸And they fled out of the tomb, for they were all trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing about it to anyone, for they were afraid to do so.

⁹Now after he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom he had driven out seven evil spirits. ¹⁰She went and told it to his old companions, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹When they heard that he was alive and that she had seen him, they would not believe it. ¹²Afterward he showed himself in a different form to two of them as they were walking along, on their way into the country. ¹³They went back and told the rest, but they would not believe them. ¹⁴Still later he appeared to the Eleven themselves when they were at table, and reproached them for their obstinacy and want of faith, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead. ¹⁵And he said to them,

“Go to the whole world and proclaim the good news to all the creation. ¹⁶He who believes it and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe it will be condemned. ¹⁷And signs like these will attend those who believe: with my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in foreign tongues; ¹⁸they will take snakes in their hands, and if they drink poison it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

¹⁹So the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was caught up into heaven and took his seat at God’s right hand. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed their message by the signs that attended it.

Chapter 1

¹Many writers have undertaken to compose accounts of the movement which has developed among us, ²just as the original eye-witnesses who became teachers of the message have handed it down to us. ³For that reason, Theophilus, and because I have investigated it all carefully from the beginning, I have determined to write a connected account of it for Your Excellency, ⁴so that you may be reliably informed about the things you have been taught.

⁵In the days when Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the division of Abijah. His wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶They were both upright in the sight of God, blamelessly observing all the Lord’s commands and requirements. ⁷They had no children, for Elizabeth was barren; and they were both advanced in life.

⁸Once when he was acting as priest before God, when his division was on duty, ⁹ it fell to his lot, according to the priests’ practice, to go into the sanctuary of the Lord and burn the incense, ¹⁰while all the throng of people was outside, praying at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him he was startled and overcome with fear. ¹³And the angel said to him,

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John. ¹⁴This will bring gladness and delight to you, and many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink no wine or strong drink, but he will be filled with the holy Spirit from his very birth, ¹⁶and he will turn many of Israel’s descendants to the Lord their God. ¹⁷He will go before him with the spirit and the power of Elijah, to reconcile fathers to their children, and to bring the disobedient back to the wisdom of upright men, to make a people perfectly ready for the Lord.”

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel,

“How am I to know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in life.”

¹⁹The angel answered,

“I am Gabriel. I stand in the very presence of God. I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰Now you will keep silent and be unable to speak until the day when this happens, because you have not believed what I have said, for it will all be fulfilled in due time.”

²¹The people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondering that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. ²²But when he came out he could not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. For his part, he kept making signs to them, and remained dumb. ²³And when his period of service was over, he went back to his home.

²⁴Soon afterward his wife Elizabeth began to expect a child, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months.

²⁵“This is what the Lord has done for me,” she said, “now that he has deigned to remove the disgrace I have endured.”

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a maiden there who was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The maiden’s name was Mary. ²⁸And the angel went into the town and said to her,

“Good morning, favored woman! The Lord be with you!”

²⁹But she was startled at what he said, and wondered what this greeting meant. ³⁰And the angel said to her,

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have gained God’s approval. ³¹You are to become a mother and you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his forefather David, ³³and he will reign over Jacob’s house forever; his reign will have no end.”

³⁴Mary said to the angel,

“How can this be, when I have no husband?”

³⁵The angel answered,

“The holy Spirit will come over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason your child will be called holy, and the Son of God. ³⁶And your relative, Elizabeth, although she is old, is going to give birth to a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing is ever impossible for God.”

³⁸And Mary said,

“I am the Lord’s slave. Let it be as you say.”

Then the angel left her.

³⁹In those days Mary set out and hurried to the hill-country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰and she went to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the babe stirred within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the holy Spirit ⁴²and she gave a great cry, and said,

“You are the most favored of women,

And blessed is your child!

⁴³Who am I,

To have the mother of my Lord come to me?

⁴⁴“For the moment your greeting reached my ears,

The child stirred with joy within me!

⁴⁵Blessed is she who has believed,

For what the Lord has promised her will be fulfilled!”

⁴⁶And Mary said,

“My heart extols the Lord,

⁴⁷My spirit exults in God my Savior.

⁴⁸For he has noticed his slave in her humble station,

For from this time all the ages will think me favored!

⁴⁹“For the Almighty has done wonders for me,

How holy his name is!

⁵⁰He shows his mercy age after age

To those who fear him.

⁵¹“He has done mighty deeds with his arm,

He has routed the proud-minded,

⁵²He has dethroned monarchs and exalted the poor,

⁵³He has satisfied the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty-handed.

⁵⁴“He has helped his servant Israel,

Remembering his mercy,

⁵⁵As he promised our forefathers

To have mercy on Abraham and his descendants forever!”

⁵⁶So Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned home.

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth’s child to be born, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard of the great mercy the Lord had shown her, and they came and congratulated her. ⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father. ⁶⁰But his mother said,

“No! He is to be named John.”

⁶¹They said to her,

“There is no one among your relatives who bears that name.”

⁶²But they made signs to the child’s father and asked him what he wished to have the child named. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote,

“His name is John.”

⁶⁴And they were all amazed. Then his voice and the use of his tongue were immediately restored, and he blessed God aloud. ⁶⁵And all their neighbors were overcome with fear, and all over the hill-country of Judea all these stories were told, ⁶⁶and everyone who heard them kept them in mind, and said,

“What is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah was filled with the holy Spirit and he uttered a divine message, saying,

⁶⁸“Blessings on the Lord, the God of Israel,

Because he has turned his attention to his people, and brought about their deliverance,

⁶⁹And he has produced a mighty Savior for us

In the house of his servant David.

⁷⁰“By the lips of his holy prophets he promised of old to do this—

⁷¹To save us from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us,

⁷²Thus showing mercy to our forefathers,

And keeping his sacred agreement,

⁷³“And the oath that he swore to our forefather Abraham,

⁷⁴That we should be delivered from the hands of our enemies,

⁷⁵And should serve him in holiness and uprightness, unafraid,

In his own presence all our lives.

⁷⁶“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,

For you will go before the Lord to make his way ready,

⁷⁷Bringing his people the knowledge of salvation

Through the forgiveness of their sins.

⁷⁸“Because the heart of our God is merciful,

And so the day will dawn upon us from on high,

⁷⁹To shine on men who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

And guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰And the child grew up and became strong in the Spirit, and he lived in the desert until the day when he proclaimed himself to Israel.

Chapter 2

¹In those days an edict was issued by the Emperor Augustus that a census of the whole world should be taken. ²It was the first census, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³So everyone went to his own town to register. ⁴And Joseph went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and family of David, ⁵to register with Mary, who was engaged to him and who was soon to become a mother. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her child to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped him up, and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them at the inn.

⁸There were some shepherds in that neighborhood keeping watch through the night over their flock in the open fields. ⁹And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰The angel said to them,

“Do not be frightened, for I bring you good news of a great joy that is to be felt by all the people, ¹¹for today, in the town of David, a Savior for you has been born who is your Messiah and Lord. ¹²And this will prove it to you: You will find a baby wrapped up and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly there appeared with the angel a throng of the heavenly army, praising God, saying,

¹⁴“Glory to God in heaven and on earth!

Peace to the men he favors!”

¹⁵When the angels left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

“Come! Let us go over to Bethlehem, and see this thing that has happened, that the Lord has told us of!”

¹⁶And they hurried there, and found Mary and Joseph, with the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they told what had been said to them about this child. ¹⁸And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, ¹⁹but Mary treasured up all they had said, and pondered over it. ²⁰And the shepherds went back glorifying God and praising him for all that they had heard and seen in fulfilment of what they had been told.

²¹When he was eight days old and it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, as the angel had named him, before his birth was first expected.

²²When their purification period under the Law of Moses was over, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, ²³in fulfilment of the requirement of the Law of the Lord, “Every first-born male shall be considered consecrated to the Lord,” ²⁴and to offer the sacrifice prescribed in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Symeon, an upright, devout man, who was living in expectation of the comforting of Israel, and under the influence of the holy Spirit. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not die without seeing the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷And under the Spirit’s influence he went into the Temple, and when Jesus’ parents brought him there to do for him what the Law required, ²⁸Symeon also took him in his arms and blessed God, and said,

²⁹“Now, Master, you will let your slave go free

In peace, as you promised,

³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation

³¹Which you have set before all the nations,

³²A light of revelation for the heathen,

And a glory to your people Israel!”

³³The child’s father and mother were astonished at what Symeon said. ³⁴And he gave them his blessing, and said to Mary, the child’s mother,

“This child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a portent that will be much debated— ³⁵you yourself will be pierced to the heart—and so the thoughts of many minds will be revealed.”

³⁶There was also a prophetess there named Hannah, the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She was very old, for after her girlhood she had been married for seven years, ³⁷and she had been a widow until she was now eighty-four. She never left the Temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer. ³⁸She came up just at that time and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were living in expectation of the liberation of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had done everything that the Law of the Lord required, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

⁴⁰And the child grew up and became strong and thoughtful, with God’s blessing resting on him.

⁴¹His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the Passover Festival. ⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual to the festival and made their customary stay. ⁴³When they started back the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents’ knowledge. ⁴⁴They supposed that he was somewhere in the party, and traveled until the end of the first day’s journey, and then they looked everywhere for him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵As they could not find him, they went back to Jerusalem in search of him. ⁴⁶And on the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, ⁴⁷and everyone who heard him was astonished at his intelligence and at the answers he made. ⁴⁸When his parents saw him they were amazed, and his mother said to him.

“My child, why did you treat us like this? Here your father and I have been looking for you, and have been very anxious.”

⁴⁹He said to them,

“How did you come to look for me? Did you not know that I must be at my Father’s house?”

⁵⁰But they did not understand what he told them. ⁵¹And he went back with them to Nazareth and obeyed them. And his mother treasured all these things up in her mind.

⁵²As Jesus grew older he gained in wisdom and won the approval of God and men.

Chapter 3

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod governor of Galilee, while his brother Philip was governor of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was the governor of Abilene, ²in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, a message from God came to Zechariah’s son John in the desert. ³And he went all through the Jordan Valley preaching repentance and baptism in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as the book of the sermons of the prophet Isaiah says,

“Hark! Someone is shouting in the desert,

Get the Lord’s way ready!

Make his paths straight.

⁵Every hollow must be filled up,

And every mountain and hill leveled.

What is crooked is to be made straight,

And the rough roads are to be made smooth,

⁶And all mankind is to see how God can save!”

⁷So he would say to the crowds that came out there to be baptized by him,

“You brood of snakes! Who warned you to fly from the wrath that is coming? ⁸Then produce fruit that will be consistent with your professed repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our forefather,’ for I tell you, God can produce descendants for Abraham right out of these stones! ⁹But the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The crowds would ask him,

“Then what ought we to do?”

¹¹And he answered,

“The man who has two shirts must share with the man who has none, and the man who has food must do the same.”

¹²Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him,

“Master, what ought we to do?”

¹³He said to them,

“Do not collect any more than you are authorized to.”

¹⁴And soldiers would ask him,

“And what ought we to do?”

He said to them,

“Do not extort money or make false charges against people, but be satisfied with your pay.”

¹⁵As all this aroused people’s expectations, and they were all wondering in their hearts whether John was the Christ, ¹⁶John said to them all,

“I am only baptizing you in water, but someone is coming who is stronger than I am, whose shoes I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you in the holy Spirit and in fire. ¹⁷He has his winnowing fork in his hand, to clean up his threshing-floor, and store his wheat in his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with inextinguishable fire.”

¹⁸So with many varied exhortations he would preach the good news to the people, ¹⁹but Herod the governor, whom he condemned because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the wicked things Herod had done, ²⁰crowned them all by putting John in prison.

²¹Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also after his baptism was praying, heaven opened ²²and the holy Spirit came down upon him in the material shape of a dove, and there came a voice from heaven,

“You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!”

²³Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son, it was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Eli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷the son of Johanan, the son of Resa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Jesus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Symeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Ragau, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Maleleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Chapter 4

¹Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the holy Spirit, and he was led about in the desert ²for forty days by the Spirit, and was tempted by the devil. In all those days he ate nothing, and when they were over he was famished. ³And the devil said to him,

“If you are God’s son, tell this stone to turn into bread!”

⁴Jesus answered,

“The Scripture says, ‘Not on bread alone is man to live!’ ”

⁵And he took him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil said to him,

“I will give you all this power and their splendor, for it has been turned over to me, and I can give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you will do homage before me, it shall all be yours.”

⁸Jesus answered,

“The Scripture says, ‘You must do homage before the Lord your God, and worship him alone.’ ”

⁹And he took him to Jerusalem, and made him stand on the summit of the Temple, and said to him,

“If you are God’s son, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for the Scripture says, ‘He will give his angels orders about you, to protect you,’ ¹¹and, ‘They will lift you up with their hands, so that you may never strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

¹²Jesus answered,

“We have been told, ‘You shall not try the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³When the devil had tried every kind of temptation he left him till another time.

¹⁴Under the power of the Spirit Jesus returned to Galilee, and news of him went all over that region. ¹⁵And he taught in their synagogues, and was honored by them all.

¹⁶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath he went to the synagogue, as he was accustomed to do, and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷And the roll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he unrolled it and found the place where it says,

¹⁸“The spirit of the Lord is upon me,

For he has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor,

He has sent me to announce to the prisoners their release and to the blind the recovery of their sight,

To set the down-trodden at liberty,

¹⁹To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor!”

²⁰And he rolled up the roll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed upon him. ²¹And he began by saying to them,

“This passage of Scripture has been fulfilled here in your hearing today!”

²²And they all spoke well of him and were astonished at the winning words that fell from his lips, and they said,

“Is he not Joseph’s son?”

²³He said to them,

“No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Doctor, cure yourself! Do the things here in your own country that we hear you did at Capernaum.’ ²⁴I tell you,” said he, “no prophet is welcome in his own country. ²⁵But, I tell you, there were plenty of widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine all over the land, ²⁶and Elijah was not sent to one of them, but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷And there were plenty of lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cured, but Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸And when the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all very angry, ²⁹and they got up and drove him out of the town and took him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, intending to throw him down from it. ³⁰But he made his way through the midst of them and went on.

³¹And he came down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee. And he taught them on the Sabbath, ³²and they were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority. ³³There was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by the spirit of a foul demon and he cried out loudly,

³⁴“Ha! What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One!”

³⁵Jesus reproved him and said,

“Silence! Get out of him!”

And the demon threw the man down in the midst of them, and came out of him, without doing him any harm. ³⁶And they were all amazed and said to one another,

“What is the meaning of this teaching? For he gives orders authoritatively and effectually to the foul spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷And news of him spread to every place in that region.

³⁸When he got up and left the synagogue, he went to Simon’s house. And Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering with a severe attack of fever, and they asked him about her. ³⁹And he stood over her and reproved the fever and it left her, and she got up and waited on them.

⁴⁰As the sun went down all who had friends sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and cured them. ⁴¹And demons came out of many people, crying out,

“You are the Son of God!”

But he reproved them and forbade them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

⁴²When it was day, he left the house and made his way to a lonely spot, and crowds of people went in search of him, and overtook him and tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³But he said to them,

“I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is what I was sent to do.”

⁴⁴So he went about Judea, preaching in the synagogues.

Chapter 5

¹Once as the crowd was pressing about him to hear God’s message, he happened to be standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²and he saw two boats on the shore of the lake, for the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³And he got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds of people from the boat. ⁴When he stopped speaking, he said to Simon,

“Push out into deep water, and then put down your nets for a haul.”

⁵Simon answered,

“Master, we worked all night and caught nothing, but as you tell me to do it, I will put down the nets.”

⁶So they did so, and inclosed such a shoal of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷And they signaled to their comrades in the other boat to come and help them. And they came, and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet and said,

“Leave me, Master, for I am a sinful man.”

⁹For he and all the men with him were perfectly amazed at the haul of fish they had made, ¹⁰and so were Zebedee’s sons, James and John, who were Simon’s partners. Jesus said to Simon,

“Do not be afraid. From now on you are to catch men!”

¹¹And they brought the boats to land and left everything and followed him.

¹²When he was in one of the towns, he came upon a man covered with leprosy. And when he saw Jesus he fell down on his face, and begged him, saying,

“If you only choose, sir, you can cure me!”

¹³And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,

“I do choose! Be cured!”

And the leprosy immediately left him, ¹⁴Then he warned him to tell nobody,

“But go,” he said, “show yourself to the priest, and in proof of your cure make the offerings for your purification, just as Moses prescribed.”

¹⁵Yet the news about him spread more and more, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. ¹⁶But Jesus himself would retire into the desert and pray.

¹⁷One day as he was teaching, there were some Pharisees and experts in the Law sitting near by, who had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there, so that he might cure people. ¹⁸Some men came up carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they tried to get him in and lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹And as they could find no way to get him in, on account of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his mat through the tiles, among the people in front of Jesus. ²⁰When he saw their faith, he said,

“Friend, your sins are forgiven!”

²¹And the scribes and the Pharisees began to debate and say,

“Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But Jesus saw what they were discussing, and said to them,

“What are you pondering over in your minds? ²³Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”—turning to the man who was paralyzed he said to him—“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

²⁵And he got up at once before them all, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, praising God. ²⁶They were all seized with astonishment, and praised God, and filled with awe they said,

“We have seen something wonderful today!”

²⁷After this he went out, and he saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him,

“Follow me!”

²⁸And he left everything and got up and followed him. ²⁹Then Levi gave a great entertainment for him in his house, and there was a great throng of tax-collectors and others who were at table with them. ³⁰And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled about it to his disciples, and said,

“Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and irreligious people?” ³¹Jesus answered them,

“It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor. ³²I have not come to invite the pious but the irreligious to repentance!”

³³They said to him,

“John’s disciples observe frequent fasts and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples eat and drink.”

³⁴Jesus said to them,

“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵But other days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, in those days they will fast.”

³⁶He used this figure also in speaking to them:

“No one tears a piece from a new coat and sews it on an old one, or if he does, he will both tear the new one and the piece from the new one will not match the old one. ³⁷And nobody puts new wine into old wine-skins, or if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and run out, and the skins will be spoiled. ³⁸New wine has to be put into fresh skins. ³⁹No one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better!’ ”

Chapter 6

¹One Sabbath he happened to be passing through the wheat fields, and his disciples were picking the heads of wheat, and eating them, rubbing them in their hands. ²And some of the Pharisees said,

“Why do you do what it is against the Law to do on the Sabbath?”

³Jesus answered,

“Have you not read even what David did, when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴How he went into the house of God and took the Presentation Loaves, which it was against the Law for anyone but the priests to eat, and ate them with his companions?” ⁵And he said to them, “The Son of Man is master of the Sabbath.”

⁶On another Sabbath he happened to go to the synagogue and teach. There was a man there whose right hand was withered. ⁷And the scribes and the Pharisees were on the watch to see whether he would cure people on the Sabbath, in order to find a charge to bring against him. ⁸But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand,

“Get up and stand in front.”

And he got up and stood there. ⁹Jesus said to them,

“I want to ask you, Is it allowable on the Sabbath to do people good or to do them harm? to save life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰And he looked around at them all and said to the man,

“Hold out your hand!”

And he did so, and his hand was restored.

¹¹But they were perfectly furious, and discussed with one another what they could do to Jesus.

¹²It was in those days that he went up on the mountain to pray, and passed the whole night in prayer to God. ¹³When day came, he called his disciples to him, and chose twelve of them whom he named apostles: ¹⁴Simon, whom he named Peter, his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alpheus, Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who turned out a traitor. ¹⁷And he came down with them and took his stand on a level place with a great throng of his disciples, and a large number of people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and the seacoast district of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. ¹⁸And those who were troubled with foul spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all the people tried to touch him, because power went forth from him and cured them all. ²⁰Then he fixed his eyes on his disciples, and said,

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours!

²¹“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied!

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh!

²²“Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and denounce you and spurn the name you bear as evil, on account of the Son of Man. ²³Be glad when that happens, and leap for joy, for you will be richly rewarded in heaven, for that is the way their forefathers treated the prophets.

²⁴“But alas for you who are rich, for you have had your comfort!

²⁵“Alas for you who have plenty to eat now, for you will be hungry!

“Alas for you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep!

²⁶“Alas for you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is the way their forefathers treated the false prophets!

²⁷“But I tell you who hear me, love your enemies, treat those who hate you well, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹To the man that strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from the man who takes away your coat, do not keep back your shirt either. ³⁰Give to everyone that asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. ³¹And treat men just as you wish them to treat you. ³²If you love only those who love you, what merit is there in that? For even godless people love those who love them. ³³And if you help only those who help you, what merit is there in that? Even godless people act in that way. ³⁴And if you lend only to people from whom you expect to get something, what merit is there in that? Even godless people lend to godless people, meaning to get it back again in full. ³⁵But love your enemies, and help them and lend to them, never despairing, and you will be richly rewarded, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶You must be merciful, just as your Father is. ³⁷Do not judge others, and they will not judge you. Do not condemn them, and they will not condemn you. Excuse others and they will excuse you. ³⁸Give, and they will give to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, they will pour into your lap. For the measure you use with others they in turn will use with you.”

³⁹And he used a figure saying,

“Can one blind man lead another? Will they not both fall into a hole? ⁴⁰A pupil is not better than his teacher, but every pupil when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹Why do you keep looking at the speck in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, just let me get that speck out of your eye,’ when you cannot see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First get the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see to get out the speck in your brother’s eye. ⁴³For sound trees do not bear bad fruit, nor bad trees sound fruit. ⁴⁴Every tree is known by its fruit. They do not pick figs off thorns, or gather grapes from brambles. ⁴⁵A good man, out of the good he has accumulated in his heart, produces good, and a bad man, out of what he has accumulated that is bad, produces what is bad. For his mouth says only what his heart is full of. ⁴⁶Why do you call me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ and not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷If anyone comes to me and listens to this teaching of mine and acts upon it, I will show you whom he is like. ⁴⁸He is like a man who was building a house, who dug deep and laid his foundation upon the rock, and when there was a flood the torrent burst upon that house and could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But the man who listens to it, and does not act upon it, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The torrent burst upon it, and it collapsed at once, and the wreck of that house was complete.”

Chapter 7

¹When he had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum.

²A Roman captain had a slave whom he thought a great deal of, and the slave was sick and at the point of death. ³When the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, to ask him to come and save his slave’s life. ⁴And they went to Jesus and urged him strongly to do it, and said,

“He deserves to have you do this for him, ⁵for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

⁶So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the captain sent some friends to him, to say to him,

“Master, do not take any more trouble, for I am not a suitable person to have you under my roof. ⁷That is why I did not think I was fit to come to you. But simply say the word, and have my servant cured. ⁸For I am myself under the orders of others, and I have soldiers under me, and I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes, and my slave to do something, and he does it.”

⁹When Jesus heard this, he was astonished at him, and turning to the crowd that was following him, he said,

“I tell you, I have not found such faith as this even in Israel!”

¹⁰And when the messengers went back to the house, they found the slave well.

¹¹Soon afterward he happened to go to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great throng of people were with him. ¹²As he came up to the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out; he was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A crowd of the townspeople was with her. ¹³And when the Master saw her, he pitied her, and said to her,

“Do not weep.”

¹⁴And he went up and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said,

“Young man, I tell you, wake up!”

¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him back to his mother. ¹⁶And they were all overcome with awe, and they praised God, and said,

“A great prophet has appeared among us!” and “God has not forgotten his people!”

¹⁷This story about him spread all over Judea and the surrounding country.

¹⁸John’s disciples told him of all this, ¹⁹and he called two of them to him, and sent them to the Master to ask him,

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

²⁰And the men went to him and said,

“John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?’ ”

²¹Just then he cured many of diseases and ailments and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. ²²And he answered them,

“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind are regaining their sight, the lame can walk, the lepers are being cured and the deaf can hear, the dead are being raised and good news is being preached to the poor. ²³And blessed is the man who finds nothing that repels him in me.”

²⁴When John’s messengers were gone, he began to speak to the crowds about John.

“What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind? ²⁵Then what did you go out there to see? A man luxuriously dressed? Men who wear fine clothes and live in luxury you find in palaces. ²⁶Then what did you go out there to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet! ²⁷This is the man of whom the Scripture says,

“ ‘Here I send my messenger on before you,

He will prepare the road ahead of you!’

²⁸“I tell you, among men born of women there is none greater than John; and yet those who are of little importance in the Kingdom of God are greater than he. ²⁹And all the people, even the tax-collectors, when they heard him, acknowledged the justice of God’s demands, by accepting baptism from John, ³⁰but the Pharisees and experts in the Law thwarted God’s purpose for themselves, by refusing to be baptized by him. ³¹So what is there to which I can compare the men of this age? What are they like? ³²They are like children sitting about in the bazaar and calling out to one another,

“ ‘We have played the flute for you, and you would not dance!

We have wailed and you would not weep!’

³³“For when John the Baptist came, he did not eat any bread or drink any wine, and you said, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴Now that the Son of Man has come, he does eat and drink, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drinker, the companion of tax-collectors and irreligious people!’ ³⁵So wisdom is vindicated by all who are really wise.”

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked him to have dinner with him, and he went to the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. ³⁷Now there was a woman in the town who was leading a sinful life, and when she learned that he was having dinner at the Pharisee’s house, she got an alabaster flask of perfume, ³⁸and came and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with her hair, and kissed them, and put the perfume on them. ³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself,

“If this man were really a prophet, he would know who and what the woman is who is touching him, for she leads a wicked life.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, and said to him,

“Simon, there is something I want to say to you.”

He said,

“Proceed, Master.”

⁴¹“Two men were in debt to a money-lender. One owed him a hundred dollars and the other ten. ⁴²As they could not pay him, he canceled what they owed him. Now which of them will be more attached to him?”

⁴³Simon answered,

“The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled most.”

“You are right,” he said. ⁴⁴And turning to the woman, he said to Simon,

“Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but from the moment I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put any oil upon my head, but she has put perfume upon my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little.”

⁴⁸And he said to her,

“Your sins are forgiven!”

⁴⁹The men at table with him began to say to themselves,

“Who is this man, who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰But he said to the woman,

“It is your faith that has saved you. Go in peace.”

Chapter 8

¹Soon afterward he went about among the villages and towns preaching and telling the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Twelve went with him, ²and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and sickness—Mary, who was called Mary of Magdala, out of whom seven demons had been driven, ³and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them with their means.

⁴When a great throng was gathering and people were coming to him from one town after another, he said in his figurative way,

⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the path and was trodden on, and the wild birds ate it up. ⁶And some of it fell upon the rock, and when it sprang up it withered, because it had no moisture. ⁷And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. ⁸And some fell on good soil, and grew up and yielded a hundred fold!”

As he said this he called out,

“Let him who has ears to hear with, listen!”

⁹His disciples asked him what this figure meant. ¹⁰And he said,

“You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but they are given to others in the form of figures, so that they may look and yet not see, and hear and yet not understand. ¹¹This is what the figure means. The seed is God’s message. ¹²The ones by the path are those who hear, and then the devil comes and carries off the message from their hearts, so that they may not believe it and be saved. ¹³The ones on the rock are those who receive the message joyfully when they first hear it, but it takes no real root. They believe for a little while, and then in the time of trial they draw back. ¹⁴And what falls among the thorns means those who listen and pass on, and the worries and wealth and pleasures of life stifle them and they yield nothing. ¹⁵But the seed in the good soil means those who listen to the message and keep it in good, true hearts, and yield unfailingly.

¹⁶“Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a dish or puts it under a bed, but he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ¹⁷For there is nothing hidden that shall not be disclosed, nor kept secret that shall not be known and come to light. ¹⁸So take care how you listen. For people who have will have more given to them, and from people who have nothing, even what they think they have will be taken away.”

¹⁹His mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not get near him, on account of the crowd. ²⁰And the word came to him,

“Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to see you.”

²¹He answered,

“My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God’s message and obey it!”

²²It happened one day that he got into a boat with his disciples, and said to them,

“Let us cross to the other side of the lake.”

²³So they set sail. As they sailed along, he fell asleep. And a squall of wind came down upon the lake, and they were being swamped and were in peril. ²⁴And they went to him and woke him up, and said to him,

“Master! Master! We are lost!”

Then he awoke and reproved the wind and the rough water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵And he said to them,

“Where is your faith?”

But they were frightened and amazed, and said to one another,

“Who can he be? For he gives orders even to the winds and the water, and they obey him!”

²⁶They made a landing in the neighborhood of Gerasa, which is just across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷And when he landed, he met a man possessed by demons, who was coming out of the town. He had worn no clothing for a long time, and did not live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus he cried out and threw himself down before him, and said in a loud voice,

“What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to torture me!”

²⁹For he was commanding the foul spirit to get out of the man. For it had often seized him, and though he had been fastened with chains and fetters, and was closely watched, he would snap his bonds and the demon would drive him away to the desert. ³⁰And Jesus asked him,

“What is your name?”

He said,

“Legion!” For many demons had gone into him. ³¹And they begged him not to order them off to the bottomless pit. ³²Now there was a large drove of pigs feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to give them leave to go into them. And he did so. ³³Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the drove rushed over the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned. ³⁴When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran away and spread the news in the town and in the country around. ³⁵And the people came out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the demons had gone sitting there, at Jesus’ feet, with his clothes on and in his right mind, and they were frightened. ³⁶And those who had seen it told them how the man who had been possessed was cured. ³⁷Then all the people of the neighborhood of Gerasa asked him to go away from them, for they were terribly frightened. And he got into a boat and went back. ³⁸The man out of whom the demons had gone begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, and said,

³⁹“Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.”

And he went and told all over the town what Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰When Jesus returned, the people welcomed him, for they were all watching for him. ⁴¹And a man named Jairus came up—he was leader of the synagogue—and he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house, ⁴²because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he was going, the crowds of people almost crushed him. ⁴³And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and whom nobody had been able to cure, ⁴⁴came up behind him and touched the tassel of his cloak, and the hemorrhage stopped at once. ⁴⁵Jesus said,

“Who was it who touched me?” And as everyone denied having done so, Peter said,

“Master, the people are all around you and they are crowding you.”

⁴⁶But Jesus said,

“Somebody touched me, for I know that power passed from me.”

⁴⁷When the woman saw that she had not escaped his notice, she came forward trembling, and fell down before him, and before all the people told why she had touched him, and how she had been cured at once. ⁴⁸And he said to her,

“My daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹Even as he spoke someone came from the house of the leader of the synagogue and said,

“Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Master any more.”

⁵⁰But Jesus heard it and said to him,

“Do not be afraid; just have faith, and she will get well.”

⁵¹When he got to the house, he let no one go in with him but Peter, John, and James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵²And they were all wailing and beating their breasts for her. But he said,

“Stop wailing! For she is not dead, she is asleep.”

⁵³And they laughed at him, for they knew that she was dead. ⁵⁴But he grasped her hand and called out,

“Get up, my child!”

⁵⁵And her spirit returned and she stood up immediately, and he directed them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶And her parents were amazed, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Chapter 9

¹Then he called the Twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to cure the sick. ³He said to them,

“Do not take anything for your journey, no staff nor bag nor bread nor money, nor an extra shirt. ⁴Whatever house you go to stay in, remain there, and start on again from it. ⁵And where they will not welcome you, leave that town and shake off the very dust from your feet as a protest against them.”

⁶And they set forth and went from village to village, telling the good news and curing people everywhere.

⁷Herod the governor heard of all that was happening, and he was perplexed because some people said that John had risen from the dead, ⁸and some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. ⁹But Herod said,

“John I have beheaded, but who can this be about whom I hear such reports?”

And he endeavored to see him.

¹⁰Then the apostles came back and told Jesus what they had done. And he took them and quietly retired to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹But the crowds learned of it and followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed to be cured. ¹²When the day began to decline, the Twelve came up and said to him,

“Send the crowd away to the villages and farms around to find food and shelter, for we are in a lonely place here.”

¹³But he said to them,

“Give them food yourselves!”

And they said,

“We have only five loaves and two fish, unless we go ourselves and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men.

But he said to his disciples,

“Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

¹⁵And they did so, and made them all sit down. ¹⁶Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and blessed them, and he broke them in pieces and gave them to the disciples to pass to the people. ¹⁷And they all ate and had enough, and the pieces left over that were gathered up filled twelve baskets.

¹⁸Once when he was praying by himself, with only the disciples near him, he asked them,

“Who do the people say that I am?”

¹⁹They answered,

“John the Baptist, though others say Elijah, and others that one of the old prophets has come back to life.”

²⁰And he said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered,

“The Christ of God!”

²¹But he warned them particularly not to tell this to anyone, ²²and said,

“The Son of Man must endure great suffering and be refused by the elders, the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and be raised to life on the third day.”

²³And he said to everyone,

“If anyone wants to go with me, he must disregard himself, and take his cross day after day and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will preserve it. ²⁵What good does it do a man to gain the whole world and lose or forfeit himself? ²⁶For if anyone is ashamed of me and my teaching the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes with all the glory of his Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷I tell you, some of you who stand here will certainly live to see the Kingdom of God!”

²⁸It was about eight days after Jesus said this that he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And as he was praying, the look of his face changed and his clothes turned dazzling white. ³⁰And two men were talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah, ³¹and they appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was to go through with at Jerusalem. ³²Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but waking up they saw his glorious appearance and the two men standing by him. ³³Just as they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus,

“Master, how good it is that we are here! Let us put up three huts, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah!” For he did not know what he was saying.

³⁴But as he said it, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were frightened as they passed under the cloud. ³⁵And from the cloud came a voice that said,

“This is my Son, my Chosen! Listen to him!”

³⁶At the sound of the voice, they saw that Jesus was alone. And they kept silence, and said nothing about it to anyone at that time.

³⁷The next day, when they had come down from the mountain, it happened that a great crowd met him. ³⁸And a man in the crowd shouted,

“Master, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child, ³⁹and all at once a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him until he foams at the mouth, and it leaves him, after a struggle, badly bruised. ⁴⁰And I begged your disciples to drive it out, and they could not.”

⁴¹Jesus answered,

“O you unbelieving, obstinate people! How long must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here!”

⁴²Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him, but Jesus reproved the foul spirit and cured the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³And they were all amazed at the power of God.

While everybody was full of wonder at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples,

⁴⁴“You must store up these teachings in your minds, for the Son of Man is going to be handed over to men.”

⁴⁵But they did not understand what he meant, indeed it was concealed from them, in order that they might not comprehend it, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

⁴⁶A discussion arose among them as to which of them would be the greatest. ⁴⁷But Jesus knew the question that was in their minds and he took a child and made him stand by his side, ⁴⁸and said to them,

“Whoever welcomes this child on my account is welcoming me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes him who has sent me. For it is the lowliest among you all who is really great.”

⁴⁹John answered,

“Master, we saw a man driving out demons with your name, and we told him not to do so, for he does not go with us.”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him,

“Do not try to stop him, for the man who is not against you is for you.”

⁵¹As the time approached when he was to be taken up to heaven, he set his face toward Jerusalem, ⁵²and sent messengers before him. They started out and went into a Samaritan village, to make preparations for him. ⁵³And the people there would not receive him, because he was going to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said,

“Master, will you have us order fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

⁵⁵But he turned and reproved them. ⁵⁶And they went on to another village.

⁵⁷As they were going along the road, a man said to him,

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸Jesus said to him,

“Foxes have holes, and wild birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head!”

⁵⁹He said to another,

“Follow me.”

But he said,

“Let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰Jesus said to him,

“Leave the dead to bury their own dead; you must go and spread the news of the Kingdom of God!”

⁶¹Yet another man said to him,

“Master, I am going to follow you, but let me first say goodbye to my people at home.”

⁶²Jesus said to him,

“No one who puts his hand to the plough, and then looks back, is fitted for the Kingdom of God.”

Chapter 10

¹After this the Master appointed seventy-two others, and sent them on before him, two by two, to every town or place to which he intended to come.

²And he said to them,

“The harvest is abundant enough, but the reapers are few. So pray to the owner of the harvest to send reapers to gather it. ³Now go. Here I send you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Carry no purse nor wallet nor shoes, and do not stop to exchange civilities with anyone on the way. ⁵Whenever you go to stay at a house, first say, ‘Peace to this household!’ ⁶If there is anyone there who loves peace, your blessing will rest upon him, but if there is not, it will come back to you. ⁷Stay at the same house, eating and drinking what they offer you, for the workman deserves his pay. Do not change from one house to another. ⁸Whenever you come to a town and they welcome you, eat what is offered you, ⁹and cure the sick there, and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is close upon you!’ ¹⁰But whenever you come to a town and they do not welcome you, go out into the open streets and say, ¹¹‘The very dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off in protest. But understand this: the Kingdom of God is at hand!’ ¹²I tell you, on that Day Sodom will fare better than that town! ¹³Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes! ¹⁴But Tyre and Sidon will fare better than you at the Judgment! ¹⁵And you, Capernaum! Are you to be exalted to the skies? You will go down among the dead! ¹⁶Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever disregards you disregards me, and whoever disregards me disregards him who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two came back delighted, and said,

“Master, when we use your name the very demons submit to us!”

¹⁸He said to them,

“I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning! ¹⁹Here I have given you the power to tread on snakes and scorpions, and to trample on all the power of the enemy. Nothing will hurt you at all. ²⁰But do not be glad that the spirits submit to you, but be glad that your names are enrolled in heaven.”

²¹At that moment he was inspired with joy, and said,

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the learned and intelligent, and revealing it to children! Yes, I thank you, Father, for choosing to have it so! ²²Everything has been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, nor who the Father is but the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³And he turned to his disciples when they were alone, and said,

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴For I tell you, many prophets and kings have wished to see what you see, and could not see it, and to hear what you hear, and could not hear it!”

²⁵Then an expert in the Law got up to test him and said,

“Master, what must I do to make sure of eternal life?”

²⁶Jesus said to him,

“What does the Law say? How does it read?”

²⁷He answered,

“ ‘You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength, and your whole mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as you do yourself.’ ”

²⁸Jesus said to him,

“You are right. Do that, and you will live.”

²⁹But he, wishing to justify his question, said,

“And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus replied,

“A man was on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went off leaving him half dead. ³¹Now a priest happened to be going that way, and when he saw him, he went by on the other side of the road. ³²And a Levite also came to the place, and when he saw him, he went by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon him, and when he saw him he pitied him, ³⁴and he went up to him and dressed his wounds with oil and wine and bound them up. And he put him on his own mule and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out a dollar and gave it to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend I will refund to you on my way back.’ ³⁶Which of these three do you think proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”

³⁷He said,

“The man who took pity on him.”

Jesus said to him,

“Go and do so yourself!”

³⁸As they continued their journey, he came to a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him to her house. ³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Master’s feet, and listened to what he was saying. ⁴⁰But Martha was worried with all she had to do for them, and she came up and said,

“Master, does it make no difference to you that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.”

⁴¹The Master answered,

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and anxious about many things, ⁴²but our wants are few, indeed there is only one thing we need. For Mary has chosen the right thing, and it must not be taken away from her.”

Chapter 11

¹Once as he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him,

“Master, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

²He said to them,

“When you pray, say, ‘Father, your name be revered! Your kingdom come! ³Give us each day our bread for the day, ⁴and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive anyone who wrongs us; and do not subject us to temptation.’ ”

⁵And he said to them,

“Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him in the middle of the night, and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶for a friend of mine has just come to my house after a journey, and I have nothing for him to eat,’ ⁷and he answers from inside, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now fastened, and my children and I have gone to bed; I cannot get up and give you any.’ ⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him some because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rouse himself and give him all he needs. ⁹So I tell you, ask, and what you ask will be given you. Search, and you will find what you search for. Knock, and the door will open to you. ¹⁰For it is always the one who asks who receives, and the one who searches who finds, and the one who knocks to whom the door opens. ¹¹Which of you fathers, if his son asks him for a fish will give him a snake instead? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³So if you, bad as you are, know enough to give your children what is good, how much more surely will your Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him for it!”

¹⁴Once he was driving out a dumb demon, and when the demon was gone the dumb man spoke. And the people were amazed. ¹⁵But some of them said,

“It is with the aid of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, that he drives the demons out.”

¹⁶Others to test him asked him for a sign from heaven. ¹⁷But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to them,

“Any kingdom that is disunited is on the way to destruction, and one house falls after another. ¹⁸And if Satan is disunited, how can his kingdom last? Because you say that I drive out demons with Beelzebub’s aid. ¹⁹But if it is with his aid that I drive out demons, by whose do your sons drive them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. ²⁰But if it is with the finger of God that I am driving the demons out, then the Kingdom of God has overtaken you. ²¹When a strong man fully armed guards his own dwelling, his property is undisturbed. ²²But when somebody stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he strips him of the arms that he relied on, and divides up the spoils. ²³Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not join me in gathering, scatters. ²⁴When a foul spirit goes out of a man, it roams through deserts in search of rest, and when it finds none, it says, ‘I will go back to my house that I left.’ ²⁵And it goes and finds it unoccupied, cleaned, and all in order. ²⁶Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and in the end the man is worse off than he was before.”

²⁷As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him,

“Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you!”

²⁸But he said,

“You might better say, ‘Blessed are those who hear God’s message and observe it!’ ”

²⁹As the crowds pressed a round him, he went on to say,

“This is a wicked age! It demands a sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah. ³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this age. ³¹The queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation at the Judgment and will condemn them, for she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here! ³²Men of Nineveh will rise with this generation at the Judgment and will condemn it, for they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and there is more than Jonah here. ³³No one lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar or under a peck measure; he puts it on its stand, so that people who come in can see the light. ³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is light, but when it is unsound, your body is dark. ³⁵So take care! Your very light may be darkness! ³⁶If, therefore, your whole body is light with no darkness in it at all, it will all be as light as a lamp makes things for you by its light.”

³⁷When he said this, a Pharisee asked him to lunch with him, and he went to his house and took his place at table. ³⁸The Pharisee noticed that he did not wash before the meal, and he was surprised. ³⁹But the Master said to him,

“You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You fools! Did not the Creator of the outside make the inside too? ⁴¹But give your inmost life as charity, and you will immediately find everything clean. ⁴²But alas for you Pharisees! For you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny herb, and disregard justice and the love of God. But you should have observed these, without neglecting the others. ⁴³Alas for you Pharisees! For you love to have the front seat in the synagogues and to be saluted with respect in public places. ⁴⁴Alas for you! For you are like unmarked graves which men tread upon without knowing it.”

⁴⁵At this, one of the experts in the Law said to him,

“Master, when you say that, you affront us too.”

⁴⁶But he said,

“Yes, alas for you experts in the Law too! For you load men with burdens they can hardly carry, and you will not touch them yourselves with a single finger. ⁴⁷Alas for you! For you build monuments for the prophets, whom your forefathers killed. ⁴⁸So you testify to what your fathers did and approve it, for they killed them and you build their monuments. ⁴⁹This is why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute’— ⁵⁰so that this age may be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the creation of the world, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you! This age will be charged with it all! ⁵²Alas for you experts in the Law! For you have taken the key to the door of knowledge, but you have not entered it yourselves, and you have kept out those who tried to enter.”

⁵³After he left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began to watch him closely and to try to draw him out on many subjects, ⁵⁴plotting to entrap him in something he might say.

Chapter 12

¹Meanwhile as the people gathered in thousands, until they actually trod on one another, he proceeded to say to his disciples first of all,

“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, hypocrisy. ²There is nothing covered up that is not going to be uncovered, nor secret that is not going to be known. ³For what you say in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you whisper in someone’s ear, behind closed doors, will be proclaimed from the housetops. ⁴I tell you, who are my friends, have no fear of those who kill the body, and after that can do no more. ⁵I will show you whom to fear: fear him who, after killing you, has power to hurl you into the pit. Yes, fear him, I tell you. ⁶Do not sparrows sell five for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. ⁷But the very hairs on your heads are all counted! You must not be afraid, you are worth more than a great many sparrows! ⁸I tell you, everyone who will acknowledge me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God, ⁹but anyone who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. ¹⁰And anyone who speaks against the Son of Man will be forgiven for it, but no one who reviles the holy Spirit will be forgiven. ¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues or the magistrates or the authorities, you must have no anxiety about how to defend yourselves or what to say, ¹²for at the very moment the holy Spirit will teach you what you ought to say.”

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him,

“Master, tell my brother to give me my share of our inheritance.”

¹⁴But he said to him,

“Who made me a judge or arbitrator of your affairs?”

¹⁵And he said to them,

“Take care! You must be on your guard against any form of greed, for a man’s life does not belong to him, no matter how rich he is.”

¹⁶And he told them this story:

“A certain rich man’s lands yielded heavily. ¹⁷And he said to himself, ‘What am I going to do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸Then he said, ‘This is what I will do; I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have great wealth stored up for years to come. Now take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul will be demanded of you. Then who will have all you have prepared?’ ²¹That is the way with the man who lays up money for himself, and is not rich with God.”

²²And he said to his disciples,

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about life, wondering what you will have to eat, or about your body, wondering what you will have to wear. ²³Life is more important than food, and the body than clothes. ²⁴Think of the crows! They do not sow or reap, and they have no storehouses or barns, and God feeds them. How much more you are worth than the birds! ²⁵Which of you with all his worry can add a single hour to his life? ²⁶So if you cannot do the least good, why should you worry about the rest? ²⁷See how the lilies grow. They do not toil or spin, but, I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was never dressed like one of them. ²⁸But if God so dresses the wild grass, which is alive today, and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more surely will he clothe you, who have so little faith? ²⁹So you must not ask what you are to have to eat or drink, and you must not be anxious about it. ³⁰For these are all things the nations of the world are in pursuit of, and your Father knows well that you need them. ³¹But you must strive to find his kingdom, and you will have these other things besides. ³²Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell what belongs to you, and give away the money! Get yourselves purses that will never wear out, inexhaustible riches in heaven, where thieves cannot get near nor moths destroy. ³⁴For wherever your treasure is, your heart will be too. ³⁵You must be ready with your lamps burning, ³⁶like men waiting for their master to come home from a wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. ³⁷Blessed are the slaves whom their master will find on the watch when he comes. I tell you, he will gird up his robe and make them take their places at table, and go around and wait on them. ³⁸Whether he comes late at night or early in the morning and finds them on the watch, they are blessed. ³⁹But you may be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You must be ready too, for the Son of Man is coming at a time when you do not expect him.”

⁴¹Peter said to him,

“Master, do you mean this figure for us, or is it for everybody?”

⁴²And the Master said,

“Who then will be the faithful, thoughtful manager, whom his master will put in charge of his household, to give the members of it their supplies at the proper time? ⁴³Blessed is that slave if his master when he returns finds him doing it. ⁴⁴I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his property. ⁴⁵But if the slave says to himself, ‘My master is not coming back for a long time,’ and begins to beat the men and women slaves and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶that slave’s master will come back some day when he does not expect him, and at some time of which he does not know, and will cut him in two, and put him with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷The slave who knows his master’s wishes, but does not get ready or act upon them, will be severely punished. ⁴⁸But one who does wrong without knowing them will be lightly punished. From anyone who has been given much, much will be required, and of the man to whom people have intrusted much, they will demand even more. ⁴⁹I have come to bring fire down to the earth, and how I wish it were kindled already! ⁵⁰I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am till it is over! ⁵¹Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? Not peace, I tell you, but discord! ⁵²For from now on if there are five people in a house they will be divided three against two and two against three. ⁵³Father will be 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 her mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴And he said to the crowds,

“When you see a cloud rise in the west, you say at once, ‘It is going to rain,’ and it does. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘It is going to be very hot,’ and it is. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the look of the earth and sky; and why can you not interpret this present time? ⁵⁷Why do you not decide what is right yourselves? ⁵⁸For when you are going before the magistrate with your opponent, do your best on the way to get rid of him, or he may hurry you off to the judge and the judge hand you over to the constable and the constable throw you into prison. ⁵⁹I tell you, you will never get out again until you have paid the last cent!”

Chapter 13

¹Just then some people came up to bring him word of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. ²And he answered,

“Do you think, because this happened to them, that these Galileans were worse sinners than any other Galileans? ³No, I tell you; unless you repent, you will all perish as they did! ⁴Or those eighteen people at Siloam who were killed when the tower fell upon them—do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; unless you repent, you will all perish as they did!”

⁶He used this figure:

“A man had a fig tree growing in his garden, and he went to look for fruit on it, and could not find any. ⁷And he said to the gardener, ‘Here I have come three years to look for fruit on this fig tree, without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it waste the ground?’ ⁸He answered, ‘Let it stand this one year more, sir, till I dig around it and manure it; ⁹perhaps it will bear fruit next year. But if it does not, you can have it cut down.’ ”

¹⁰One Sabbath he was teaching in one of the synagogues, ¹¹and there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten herself up at all. ¹²When Jesus saw her he called to her,

“You are freed from your sickness!”

¹³And he laid his hands on her, and she instantly became erect, and praised God. ¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, in his vexation because Jesus had cured her on the Sabbath, spoke out and said to the crowd,