1

¹ INASMUCH as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative of those facts which are firmly believed among us,

² just as those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and who became bearers of the message handed them down to us;

³ it has seemed good to me also \'97 since I have followed everything from the beginning accurately \'97 to write a consecutive account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

⁴ so that you may know the exact truth in regard to the matters which you have been taught by word of mouth.

⁵ There was in the days of Herod, King of Judaea, a certain priest by the name of Zacharias, of the course of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶ They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and regulations of the Lord blameless.

⁷ But they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

⁸ It happened that as Zacharias was performing his priestly duties before God in the order of his course,

⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him to enter the Temple of the Lord and offer the incense.

¹⁰ All the congregation of people was in prayer outside, at the hour of incense.

¹¹ There appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

¹² Zacharias, on seeing him, was alarmed and fear fell upon him.

¹³ But the angel said to him, "Do not fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has been heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you will call his name John.

¹⁴ You will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth.

¹⁵ For he will be great before the Lord. He will not drink wine or strong drink. He will be full of the Holy Spirit even from his birth,

¹⁶ and many of the sons of Israel will he turn to the Lord their God.

¹⁷ He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him."

¹⁸ Zacharias said to the angel, "By what proof shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."

¹⁹ The angel answered, "I am Gabriel, who stands before the face of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to give you this good news.

²⁰ And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that this comes to pass, because you have not believed my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."

²¹ The people were waiting for Zacharias and wondering at his staying so long in the Temple.

²² But when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the Temple. He kept making signs to them and remained dumb.

²³ When the days of his priestly service were finished, he went away to his home.

²⁴ After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived and hid herself five months, saying,

²⁵ "So has the Lord done for me in the days in which he has looked upon me to take away my reproach among men."

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The name of the virgin was Mary.

²⁸ The angel entered and said to her, "Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you!"

²⁹ But she was alarmed at his words, and wondered what such a greeting could mean.

³⁰ The angel said to her, "Do not fear, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

³¹ You will conceive in your womb and will bear a son, and you must call his name Jesus.

³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

³³ He will be king over the house of Jacob through the ages, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

³⁴ But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am not united to a man?"

³⁵ The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. For that reason the child that is begotten will be called holy, Son of God.

³⁶ And, indeed, Elizabeth your relative, even she, has conceived a son, in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

³⁷ For "no word that comes from God will fail."

³⁸ Mary said, "Here I am, the Lord's handmaid. Let it be to me according to your word." Then the angel left her.

³⁹ In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill-country to a city of Judah,

⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

⁴² and spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴³ But why do I have the honor of having the mother of my Lord come to me?

⁴⁴ For, indeed, when the sound of your greeting fell upon my ears, the babe leapt for joy in my womb.

⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a complete fulfillment of the things spoken to her from the Lord!"

⁴⁶ Then Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷ And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

⁴⁸ Because he has looked upon the low estate of his handmaid. Indeed, from this time all generations will call me blessed.

⁴⁹ Because the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

⁵⁰ His kindness is from generation to generation upon those who fear him.

⁵¹ He shows strength with his arm; He scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵² He casts down princes from their thrones and raises up the lowly.

⁵³ The hungry he fills with good things and the affluent he sends away empty.

⁵⁴ He brings help to Israel his servant, mindful of kindness,

⁵⁵ just as he promised our fathers, Abraham and his descendants, forever."

⁵⁶ Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

⁵⁷ When Elizabeth's due time came, she gave birth to a son.

⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great kindness to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by the name of his father Zacharias.

⁶⁰ But his mother said, "No, but he shall be called John."

⁶¹ They said to her, "There is no one of your family who is called by that name."

⁶² Then they made signs to his father to know what he wanted him called.

⁶³ He asked for a tablet and wrote, "His name is John." They all wondered.

⁶⁴ At once Zacharias's mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke, praising God.

⁶⁵ Awe fell on all their neighbors, and in the whole hill-country of Judaea all these matters were talked about.

⁶⁶ All who heard them laid them up in their minds, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷ Zacharias, his father, was filled with the Holy Spirit and said prophetically:

⁶⁸ "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! For he has looked upon his people, and made deliverance for them.

⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant,

⁷⁰ As he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old,

⁷¹ Salvation from our enemies and from the hands of all those that hate us,

⁷² Dealing kindly with our forefathers, mindful of his holy covenant,

⁷³ The oath which he swore to Abraham our father,

⁷⁴ To grant that we, saved from the hands of our enemies, may serve him Without fear

⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. You will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷ To give the knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸ Through the tender compassion of our God, With which the sunrise from on high will shine upon us;

⁷⁹ To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the path of peace."

⁸⁰ The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilds until the day of his appearance before Israel.

2

¹ IN those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus for the registration of the whole world.

² This first registration took place while Cyrenius was Governor of Syria.

³ Everybody went to be registered \'97 each to his own city.

⁴ Joseph went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,

⁵ to be registered with Mary who was betrothed to him, and was with child.

⁶ While they were there, her time came

⁷ and she gave birth to her son, her first-born, and she wrapped him up and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸ There were shepherds in the same country staying in the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night.

⁹ Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were much afraid,

¹⁰ but the angel said to them, "Have no fear! Indeed, I am bringing you good news of a great joy which is to be for all the people;

¹¹ for there was born for you to-day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ and Lord.

¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find the babe wrapped up and lying in a manger."

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude from the army of heaven, praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ "Glory in highest heaven to God, and peace on earth among men in whom he delights."

¹⁵ When the angels went away into heaven, the shepherds spoke to one another: "Let us go to Bethlehem and see this that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

¹⁶ So they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger.

¹⁷ When they saw it, they told what had been spoken to them about this child.

¹⁸ All who heard it wondered at what was said to them by the shepherds.

¹⁹ Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.

²⁰ Then the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

²¹ When eight days had passed and the time to circumcise him had come, his name was called Jesus \'97 the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²² When the days of their purification were completed, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,

²³ as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be called holy to the Lord,"

²⁴ and to give an offering according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

²⁵ There was in Jerusalem a man named Simeon, and this man was upright and God-fearing, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he saw the Lord's Christ.

²⁷ Led by the Spirit he came into the Temple courts, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus in order to do for him according to the custom of the law,

²⁸ he took him into his arms and blessed God, and said,

²⁹ "Now, O Lord, thou art letting thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.

³⁰ For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

³¹ which thou hast prepared before the face of all the peoples,

³² a light for revelation to Gentiles and a glory to thy people Israel."

³³ His father and his mother wondered at the things that were spoken about him.

³⁴ Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, "This child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign much spoken against

³⁵ yes a sword will pierce your own soul in order that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

³⁶ And there was Anna, a prophetess, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was far advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from her maidenhood

³⁷ and having been a widow for now eighty-four years. She never left the Temple courts, but worshiped by fastings and prayers, night and day.

³⁸ She too came up at that time and praised God and spoke about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹ When they had completed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth.

⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong and was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

⁴¹ His parents used to go up every year to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

⁴² When he had reached the age of twelve years, and they had gone up according to the custom of the feast

⁴³ and had completed the days and were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But his parents did not know it.

⁴⁴ Thinking that he was in the company, they went a day's journey. But when they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances

⁴⁵ and did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

⁴⁶ On the third day they found him in the Temple courts, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷ All who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us so? See, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

⁴⁹ He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be at my Father's?"

⁵⁰ They did not understand the words that he spoke.

⁵¹ Then he went down with them, and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and in height and in favor with God and with men.

3

¹ IN the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Judaea and Herod Prince of Galilee, and Philip his brother Prince of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias Prince of Abilene,

² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wild lands.

³ Then he came into all the neighborhood of the Jordan proclaiming baptism for a change of heart in order to forgiveness of sins,

⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!'

⁵ Every ravine shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be graded down, and the crooked places shall become straight and the rough roads shall become smooth,

⁶ and all men shall see the salvation of God."

⁷ He said to the crowds that went out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸ Produce then fruits suitable for a change of heart, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father.' For I tell you, God is able out of these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

⁹ Already the axe is lying at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not yield good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire."

¹⁰ The crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?"

¹¹ He answered, "Let him who has two tunics give to him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."

¹² Some tax collectors came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"

¹³ He said to them, "Do nothing beyond what you are authorized."

¹⁴ Soldiers asked him, "And what shall we do?" He said to them, "Do violence to no man; bring no false accusations; be content with your rations."

¹⁵ As the people were in expectation and all were debating in their minds about John, whether he was the Christ,

¹⁶ John said to them all, "I am baptizing you with water, but there is coming the One mightier than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

¹⁷ He has his fan in his hand to cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his granary. But the chaff he will burn up with fire unquenchable."

¹⁸ With many different exhortations John proclaimed the good news to the people.

¹⁹ But Herod, the prince, because John reproved him regarding Herodias, his brother's wife, and regarding all the wicked things which Herod had done,

²⁰ added also this wickedness to all the rest \'97 he shut up John in prison.

²¹ When all the people were being baptized, and when Jesus had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened,

²² and the Holy Spirit in bodily form like a dove descended upon him, and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my Son, the Beloved. In thee I delight."

²³ Jesus, when he began, was about thirty years old, being the son as was thought of Joseph, the son of Heli,

²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,

²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

²⁹ the son of Jesus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

³⁰ the son of Symeon, the son of Judas, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

³² the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,

³⁶ the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

³⁸ the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

4

¹ JESUS, full of the Holy Spirit, turned back from the Jordan and was led about in the Spirit in the wilderness

² forty days while being tempted by the Devil. During those days he ate nothing, and when they were ended he was hungry.

³ The Devil said to him, "If you are God's Son, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread."

⁴ Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.' "

⁵ The Devil led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,

⁶ and said to him, "To you I will give all this power and glory, for it has been handed over to me and I give it to whomever I will.

⁷ If you do homage before me, all shall be yours."

⁸ Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou worship.' "

⁹ The Devil took him to Jerusalem and placed him on the roof of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down,

¹⁰ for it is written, 'He will command his angels to guard you,'

¹¹ and, 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you shall not strike your foot against a stone.' "

¹² Jesus answered him, "It has been said, 'Thou shalt not try the Lord thy God.' "

¹³ After exhausting every kind of temptation, the Devil went away from him till a better opportunity.

¹⁴ Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and reports about him went out through all the region.

¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and, according to his custom, went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

¹⁷ The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book and found the place where it is written,

¹⁸ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to captives and sight to the blind, to set at liberty the crushed,

¹⁹ to proclaim the favored year of the Lord."

²⁰ Then he rolled up the book and handed it over to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him.

²¹ He began and said to them, "To-day this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

²² All bore witness to him, and wondered at the gracious words that came from his mouth, and said, "Is not he a son of Joseph?"

²³ He said to them, "Of course, you will quote to me the saying, 'Physician, heal yourself.' 'Whatever we have heard of as done in Capernaum, do here in your native place.'

²⁴ He continued: "I tell you truly no prophet is acceptable in his native place.

²⁵ In truth I tell you, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah the prophet, when heaven was shut up three years and six months so that a great famine came on all the land,

²⁶ yet to no widow was Elijah sent except to one in Zarephath, in Sidonia.

²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and no leper was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

²⁸ Upon hearing these words, all in the synagogue were filled with rage,

²⁹ and they rose up and expelled him from the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, intending to throw him down.

³⁰ But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

³¹ He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. There he was teaching them on the Sabbath,

³² and they were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an impure demon, and he shouted with a loud voice,

³⁴ "Ha, what have you to do with us, Nazarene Jesus? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are \'97 The Holy One of God."

³⁵ Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him." The demon flung him prostrate in the midst, but came out of him without injuring him at all.

³⁶ Astonishment fell upon all, and they talked to one another, saying, "What is this word? With authority and power he commands the impure spirits and they come out!"

³⁷ Reports about him spread into every part of that region.

³⁸ Jesus arose and left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon. Simon's wife's mother was suffering from a severe fever, and they asked him to help her.

³⁹ He came and stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. At once she rose up and waited upon them.

⁴⁰ As the sun was setting, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he put his hands on each of them and healed them.

⁴¹ Demons came out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and did not permit them to speak, for they knew that he was the Christ.

⁴² When morning came, he went out and departed to a solitary place. The crowds were looking for him and came to where he was and tried to hinder his going away from them.

⁴³ But he said to them, "I must tell the good news about the kingdom of God in the other cities also, because for this I have been sent."

⁴⁴ So he continued teaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

5

¹ IT happened that, as the crowd was pressing upon him and listening to the word of God, he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret,

² and he saw two boats by the shore. The fishermen had gone away from them and were washing their nets.

³ He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push off a little from the land. Then, sitting down, he taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

⁵ Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets."

⁶ When they had done this, they enclosed a great mass of fishes and their nets began to break.

⁷ They beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them. They came, and both the boats were filled so that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down on his knees before Jesus and said, "Leave my boat and me, Sir, for I am a sinful man."

⁹ For amazement seized him and all those who were with him at the catch of fishes they had taken.

¹⁰ It was just the same with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. But Jesus said to Simon, "Never fear; from now on you will be catching men."

¹¹ Then they brought their boats to land and left all and followed him.

¹² It happened that, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man present full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Sir, if you will, you can cleanse me."

¹³ Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said, "I will it; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴ Jesus commanded him to tell no one. "But go," he said, "and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded, for evidence to them."

¹⁵ But all the more the reports about him spread, and great crowds came together to hear and to be healed of their infirmities.

¹⁶ But he stayed out in the wild country and prayed.

¹⁷ It happened on one of those days that he was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting who had come from every village of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal.

¹⁸ Then came some men bearing on a bed a man who was paralytic, and they tried to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.

¹⁹ When they could not contrive to bring him in on account of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his pallet into the midst in front of Jesus.

²⁰ He saw their faith and said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

²¹ The scribes and Pharisees began to argue, saying, "Who is this man who speaks profane words? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

²² But Jesus perceived their arguing and asked them, "What are you arguing in your hearts?

²³ Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?

²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on the earth to forgive sins" \'97 he said to the paralytic \'97 "I tell you, Rise and take up your pallet and go to your house."

²⁵ Immediately he stood up before them and took up what he had been lying on and went away to his house, glorifying God.

²⁶ Amazement seized them all and they gave glory to God, yet they were also filled with awe, and said, "We have seen astonishing things today!"

²⁷ After this he went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me."

²⁸ Leaving everything, he arose and followed him.

²⁹ Levi held a great reception for him at his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes grumbled to his disciples, and said, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

³¹ Jesus answered them, "The well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick have.

³² I have not come to call righteous men, but sinners to a change of heart."

³³ They said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do those of the Pharisees, but your followers eat and drink."

³⁴ Jesus said to them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

³⁵ But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast \'97 in those days."

³⁶ He gave them also some illustrations. "No one tears a piece from a new cloak and sews it on an old cloak. If he did, he would make a tear in his new cloak, and even in the old cloak the patch taken from the new would not match.

³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins. If he did, the new wine would burst the skins and it would be spilled, and the skins would be ruined.

³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wine-skins.

³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wishes to drink new, for he says, 'The old is fine.' "

6

¹ IT happened that he was passing one Sabbath through some grainfields, and his disciples were plucking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

² But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

³ Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he was hungry, he and the men with him \'97

⁴ how he went into the house of God and took the consecrated loaves and ate them and gave them to his men, loaves that it is unlawful for any but the priests alone to eat?"

⁵ He said further to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

⁶ It happened on another Sabbath that he went into the synagogue and was teaching. There was a man there whose right hand was withered.

⁷ The scribes and Pharisees watched to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, wishing to find something to accuse him of.

⁸ But he knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, "Rise, and stand in the center." He rose and stood.

⁹ Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"

¹⁰ He looked around at all of them, then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so and his hand was restored.

¹¹ But they were filled with blind fury, and discussed with one another what they could do to Jesus.

¹² It happened during those days that he went out to the mountain and prayed and was all night in prayer to God.

¹³ When day came, he called to him his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom also he named "Apostles":

¹⁴ Simon, whom he named Peter Rock, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew,

¹⁵ and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot,

¹⁶ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level spot where were gathered a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judaea and Jerusalem and the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.

¹⁸ Those who were troubled by impure spirits were healed.

¹⁹ The whole crowd tried to touch him, because power went out from him and healed all.

²⁰ He raised his eyes to his disciples and said: "Blessed are you poor! For yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹ "Blessed are you who are hungry now! For you will be abundantly fed. "Blessed are you who are weeping now! For you will laugh.

²² "Blessed are you when men hate you and when they shut you out and reproach you and cast out your name as evil because of the Son of Man!

²³ Rejoice on that day and leap for joy. For, indeed, your reward will be great in heaven. Just so their fathers treated the prophets.

²⁴ "But alas for you rich men! For you have now your comfort in full.

²⁵ "Alas for you who are filled now! For you will hunger. "Alas for you who are laughing now! For you will mourn and wail.

²⁶ "Alas for you, when all men speak well of you! Just so their fathers treated the false prophets.

²⁷ But I tell you, my hearers, love your enemies; act nobly to those who hate you;

²⁸ bless those who curse you; pray for those who insult you.

²⁹ To him who strikes you on one cheek, offer also the other. To him who takes your cloak, do not refuse your tunic.

³⁰ To every one who asks, give, and from him who takes your things, do not ask them back.

³¹ Do to men just as you wish them to do to you.

³² If you love those who love you, what grace have you? For sinners also love those who love them.

³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what grace have you? Sinners also do the same.

³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what grace have you? Sinners also lend to sinners in order to get back as much.

³⁵ But love your enemies and do good and lend without hope of return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For he is generous to the ungrateful and wicked.

³⁶ Become compassionate as your Father is compassionate.

³⁷ Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

³⁸ Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed in, shaken down, and running over they will pour into your lap. For with the measure that you measure with will the return to you be measured."

³⁹ He gave them an illustration: "The blind cannot lead the blind, can he? Will not both fall into the ditch?

⁴⁰ A scholar is not superior to his teacher. Every scholar when finished will be like his teacher.

⁴¹ Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye while you do not perceive the beam in your own eye?

⁴² How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me get out the speck that is in your eye,' while you yourself never notice the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite, take out first the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to get out the speck in your brother's eye.

⁴³ "There is no good tree that yields worthless fruit, nor is there a worthless tree that yields fine fruit.

⁴⁴ Every tree will be known by its own fruit. They do not gather figs from thorns, nor from a bramble-bush do they harvest grapes.

⁴⁵ A good man from the good treasury of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man from his evil treasury brings forth what is evil. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

⁴⁶ "Why do you call me: 'Master, Master,' and yet not do what I say?

⁴⁷ Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you whom he is like.

⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the river dashed against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹ But he who hears and does not do is like a man building a house on the earth without foundation, against which the river dashed, and at once it fell, and the wreck of that house was great."

7

¹ WHEN he had finished all his discourses in the hearing of the people, he went into Capernaum.

² The servant of a certain Centurion was sick and about to die. He was highly valued by his master,

³ who hearing about Jesus sent to him some elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.

⁴ When they came to Jesus they begged him earnestly, saying, "He deserves to have this done,

⁵ for he loves our nation and he built us our synagogue."

⁶ Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the Centurion sent friends to say to him, "Do not trouble yourself, Sir, for I am not fit to have you come under my roof.

⁷ On that account I did not think myself worthy to come to you. But say the word and have my servant cured.

⁸ For I am a man \'97 under authority \'97 with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to that one, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."

⁹ When Jesus heard this, he wondered, and, turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, in Israel I have not found such faith."

¹⁰ Those who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

¹¹ It happened soon afterwards that he went to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd were going along with him.

¹² As he approached the gate of the city, they were carrying out a dead man, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A great crowd from the city was with her.

¹³ When the Master saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep,"

¹⁴ and he went up and touched the bier. The bearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I say, arise!"

¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ All were awe-struck, and they gave praise to God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us and God has visited his people."

¹⁷ The reports about him spread through all Judaea and all the region of the Jordan.

¹⁸ John's disciples told him about all these things.

¹⁹ So he called to him two of his disciples and sent them to the Master to ask, "Are you 'the Coming One' or are we to expect some other person?"

²⁰ When they came to him, the men said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, Are you 'the Coming One' or are we to expect some other person?"

²¹ At that very time he was curing many of diseases and pains and wicked spirits, and to many blind people he was giving sight.

²² He answered them, "Go and relate to John what you have seen and heard. Blind men see, lame men walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf men hear, dead men are raised, poor men hear good news.

²³ Blessed is he who does not stumble through misunderstanding me!"

²⁴ After John's messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wild country to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵ But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Indeed, the people in splendid clothing and living in luxury are in kings' palaces.

²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

²⁷ For this is he about whom it was written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will make ready your way before you.'

²⁸ I tell you there is not among those born of women a greater than John. But an inferior in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors when they heard him, had confessed that God was right by being baptized with the baptism of John.

³⁰ But the Pharisees and the lawyers had thwarted the purpose of God in reference to themselves by not being baptized by him.)

³¹ "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation? What are they like?

³² They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you but you did not dance. We mourned but you did not wail!'

³³ For John the Baptist has come, not eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'

³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'See there a man who is a glutton and wine-drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

³⁵ Yet Wisdom is shown to be in the right by all her children."

³⁶ One of the Pharisees kept asking him to dine with him. Entering the house of this Pharisee, he reclined at the table.

³⁷ Now there was a certain woman in the city, a sinner, and when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment

³⁸ and took her place behind, beside his feet, weeping. Her tears began to rain down on his feet, and with the hair of her head she wiped them off, and she passionately kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said within himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what this woman who is touching him is, for she is a sinner."

⁴⁰ Jesus, answering his thought, said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he said, "say it."

⁴¹ "A certain money-lender had two debtors; one owed him five hundred shillings; the other fifty.

⁴² Because they had nothing to pay with, he graciously forgave both. Which of them will love him most?"

⁴³ Simon answered, "I suppose the one to whom he forgave most." He said to him, "You have answered correctly."

⁴⁴ Then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet. But she has rained tears upon my feet and has wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but she, since I came in, has not ceased passionately kissing my feet.

⁴⁶ My head with oil you did not anoint, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷ For this reason I tell you her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven, for she loved much. For he to whom little is forgiven loves little."

⁴⁸ He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven."

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say to themselves, "Who is this that even forgives sins?"

⁵⁰ He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

8

¹ SHORTLY afterwards he was making his way through cities and villages preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,

² and certain women who had been relieved of evil spirits and infirmities \'97 Mary, who was called Magdalene, out of whom seven demons had gone,

³ and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod's manager, and Susanna, and many others. These women provided for Jesus and his apostles out of their means.

⁴ When a great multitude was coming together and some from every city were crowding upon him, he spoke to them with an illustration:

⁵ "A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the roadside and was trodden on, and the birds of heaven ate it up.

⁶ Other seed fell on the rock, and when it sprang up it withered away because it had no moisture.

⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

⁸ Other seed fell into the good ground, and grew up and yielded a harvest a hundred fold." When he said this, he called out, "Let him who has ears to hear, hear."

⁹ His disciples kept asking him what the illustration meant.

¹⁰ He said: "To you it is granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the rest the message comes in figures of speech, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand.

¹¹ This is the illustration: The seed is the message of God.

¹² Those by the roadside are those who hear, and then the Devil comes and takes away the message from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

¹³ Those on the rock are those who, though they receive the message with joy, yet have no root, who for a while believe, but in the time of trial desert.

¹⁴ That which fell among thorns means those who hear, and as they go on are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and bring nothing to completion.

¹⁵ That in the good ground means those who with a noble and good heart hear the message and hold it fast and bear fruit in patience.

¹⁶ "No one lights a lamp and hides it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. No, he puts it on a stand so that all who come in may see the light.

¹⁷ For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest, nor secret which will not be known and come to light.

¹⁸ Be careful, then, how you hear; for whoever has, to him will be given, and whoever has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away from him."

¹⁹ His mother and his brothers came where he was, but could not get to him on account of the crowd.

²⁰ It was told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside wishing to see you."

²¹ He answered, "My mother and my brothers are these who are hearing the word of God and doing it."

²² It happened one day that he got into a boat, and his disciples went with him. He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." They put out.

²³ While they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale of wind came down on the lake and the boat was filling and in peril.

²⁴ Coming to him, they awoke him, saying, "Master, Master, we are going down!" He awoke and rebuked the wind and the waves. They grew quiet and there was a calm.

²⁵ He said to the disciples, "Where is your faith?" They were awed and amazed, and said to one another, "Who then is this man who commands the winds and the water and they obey him?"

²⁶ They sailed to the land of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee.

²⁷ When he got out on to the land, there met him a certain man from that city who had demons. For a long time he had not worn clothes and had not lived in a house, but in the tombs.

²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed and fell down before him, and in a loud voice said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of God Most High? I pray you, do not torment me."

²⁹ For he had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and, though he was bound with chains and fetters and kept under guard, yet bursting his chains he would be driven by the demon off into the wilds.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion," for many demons had entered into him.

³¹ They begged him not to bid them go away into the abyss.

³² There was near by a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. The demons begged him to permit them to go into the swine. He gave them leave.

³³ The demons left the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

³⁴ The herdsmen, seeing what had happened, fled and told it in the city and on the farms.

³⁵ The people came out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were struck with awe.

³⁶ Those who had seen it told them how the demoniac had been cured.

³⁷ Whereupon all the crowd from the region of the Gerasenes asked him to go away from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into a boat and returned.

³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone out begged him to let him be with him. But he sent him away, saying,

³⁹ "Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you." He went through the whole city proclaiming how much Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰ As Jesus came back, a crowd welcomed him, for all were expecting him.

⁴¹ There came a man by the name of Jairus \'97 he was a synagogue director. Falling at the feet of Jesus, he begged him to come to his house

⁴² because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he was going the crowds pressed around him.

⁴³ A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be cured by any one,

⁴⁴ came up behind him and touched the tassel of his cloak. At once her hemorrhage ceased.

⁴⁵ Jesus said, "Who is it that touched me?" All denied, and Peter said, "Master, the crowd is pressing upon you on every side."

⁴⁶ Jesus said, "Some one touched me, for I know that power has gone forth from me."

⁴⁷ The woman, seeing that she had not escaped notice, came trembling and fell before him, and told before all the people why she had touched him and how she was instantly cured.

⁴⁸ He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking some one came from the Director's house, saying, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher any longer."

⁵⁰ Jesus heard it and said to him, "Never fear. Only believe and she will be saved."

⁵¹ When he came to the house, he did not permit any one to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the father of the child and her mother.

⁵² All were weeping and wailing for her. He said, "Do not weep. She is not dead, but asleep."

⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴ But he took hold of her hand and said to her, "Little girl, rise up."

⁵⁵ Her spirit returned and at once she stood up. He told them to give her something to eat.

⁵⁶ Her parents were amazed, but he told them not to tell any one of what had happened.

9

¹ JESUS called together the twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.

² Then he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

³ He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no stick, no bag, no bread, no money, nor have so much as two tunics.

⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.

⁵ Whoever do not receive you \'97 as you go out from that city, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them."

⁶ Going forth, they began telling the good news from village to village and performing cures everywhere.

⁷ Herod the Prince heard of all that was going on, and he was at a loss because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

⁸ by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that some one of the old prophets had arisen.

⁹ Herod said, "John I beheaded. Who is this about whom I hear such things?" And he made efforts to see him.

¹⁰ The apostles returned and told Jesus all that they had done. Taking them with him, he went away privately to a city called Bethsaida.

¹¹ The crowds found it out and followed him. He welcomed them and talked to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing.

¹² When the day began to decline, the twelve came and said to him, "Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go to the villages and farms around and put up for the night and find food, for here we are in the wild lands."

¹³ He said to them, "Give them something to eat yourselves." They replied, "We have not more than five loaves and two fishes. We cannot go and buy food for all this crowd, can we?"

¹⁴ There were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, "Have them recline in rows of fifty."

¹⁵ They did so, and made all recline.

¹⁶ Taking the five loaves and the fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed them and broke them and gave to the disciples to distribute to the crowd.

¹⁷ They all ate and had abundance, and what was left over was picked up \'97 twelve baskets of fragments.

¹⁸ Once when he was praying alone, his disciples joined him, and he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

¹⁹ They answered, "John the Baptist; others say Elijah; others that some one of the old prophets has arisen."

²⁰ He said to them, "But you, who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

²¹ But he rebuked him, and charged them not to say this to any one,

²² telling them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and high priests and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

²³ He said to all: "If any one chooses to come after me, let him disown himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

²⁴ He who chooses to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

²⁵ For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world if he has lost or forfeited himself?

²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and that of his Father and of the holy angels.

²⁷ I tell you truly there are some of those standing here who will not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God."

²⁸ About eight days after this conversation, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray.

²⁹ While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothing became radiant white.

³⁰ Suddenly two men were talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah,

³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of his passing which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

³² Peter and his companions had been weighed down with sleep, but becoming fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him.

³³ As they were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is fine for us to be here. Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not knowing what he was saying.

³⁴ While he was saying it there came a cloud and over-shadowed them. They were frightened as they entered the cloud.

³⁵ Then a voice came from the cloud saying, "This is my Son, the Chosen, listen to him."

³⁶ When the voice came, Jesus was there alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

³⁷ On the next day, as they were coming down from the mountain, a great crowd met him,

³⁸ and suddenly a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I pray you look at my son, for he is my only one,

³⁹ and see, a spirit seizes him and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him till he foams and it hardly leaves off tormenting him.

⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

⁴¹ Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverted generation, how long must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."

⁴² Even while he was coming, the demon dashed him down and convulsed him. Jesus rebuked the impure spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father.

⁴³ They were amazed at the greatness of God. While they were all wondering at all the things that he did, he said to his disciples,

⁴⁴ "Receive these words into your ears. The Son of Man will soon be betrayed into the hands of men."

⁴⁵ But they did not understand this remark, and it was hidden from them so that they did not take it in, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

⁴⁶ A dispute started among them as to which of them was greatest.

⁴⁷ Jesus knew the question that was in their minds, and he took a little child and stood him beside himself.

⁴⁸ Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. For he who is least among you all, he is great."

⁴⁹ John answered, "Master, we saw one casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he is not following along with us."

⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for he who is not against you is for you."

⁵¹ As the days before his being taken up to heaven were passing, he set his face to go to Jerusalem

⁵² and sent on messengers in advance. In journeying they came to a village of Samaritans to make arrangements for him.

⁵³ The Samaritans did not receive him because his face was toward Jerusalem.

⁵⁴ On seeing this, his disciples James and John said, "Sir, do you want us to bid fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them. So they journeyed to another village.

⁵⁶ TEXT OMITTED

⁵⁷ As they were traveling on the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

⁵⁸ Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have coverts, but the Son of Man has not where to lay his head."

⁵⁹ He said to another, "Follow me." But he said, "Let me first go and bury my father."

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and announce far and wide the kingdom of God."

⁶¹ Another said, "I will follow you, Sir, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home."

⁶² Jesus said to him, "No one who has put his hand to the plow and is looking backward is fit for the kingdom of God."

10

¹ AFTER this, the Master appointed seventy others and sent them out two and two before him into every city and place where he was soon to come.

² He said to them, "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, to the Owner of the harvest to hurry out laborers into his harvest.

³ Go; I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves.

⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes, and salute no one by the way.

⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.'

⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon it; but if not, it will return upon you.

⁷ In the same house remain, eating and drinking what they have, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not change about from house to house.

⁸ Whatever city you enter, if they welcome you, eat what is set before you.

⁹ Heal those in it that are sick and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'

¹⁰ Whatever city you enter and they do not welcome you, go out into the streets of it and say,

¹¹ 'Even the dust of your city that clings to our feet we wipe off for you; but know this, that the kingdom of God is near.'

¹² I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom in that day than for that city.

¹³ Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴ But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.

¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be abased to Hades!

¹⁶ "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me. He who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

¹⁷ The seventy returned with joy saying, "Master, even the demons are subject to us in your name."

¹⁸ He said to them, "I was looking when Satan fell like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹ See, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

²⁰ However, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

²¹ At that hour in exultant joy through the Holy Sprit he said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and hast revealed them to babes. Yea, Father, I thank thee that such became thy good pleasure.

²² "All things have been committed to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, or who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son may will to reveal him."

²³ Turning to his disciples, he said privately, "Blessed are your eyes that see what you see!

²⁴ I tell you, many prophets and kings wished to see the things that you see and did not see them, and to hear the things that you hear and did not hear them."

²⁵ Then a certain lawyer stood up to test him, and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit life eternal?"

²⁶ He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

²⁷ He answered, " 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.'

²⁸ Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."

²⁹ But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

³⁰ Jesus rejoined, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and went away leaving him half dead.

³¹ By chance a certain priest was going down that road. When he saw him, he went by on the other side.

³² In the same way a Levite came to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side.

³³ But a certain Samaritan as he traveled came near him, and saw him and pitied him,

³⁴ and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine. Then placing him on his own beast he took him to the inn and cared for him.

³⁵ The next morning he took out two shillings and gave them to the inn-keeper and said, 'Care for him, and what evermore you spend, I will pay in full when I come back.'

³⁶ Which of these three seems to you to have become neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"

³⁷ He said, "He who did kindness to him." Jesus said to him, "Go and act in the same way yourself."

³⁸ As they journeyed, he entered a certain village. There a woman named Martha welcomed him to her house.

³⁹ She had a sister called Mary who seated herself at the feet of the Master and was listening to his words.

⁴⁰ But Martha was busy and worried over a great deal of service. Coming to him she said, "Master, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the work alone? Tell her to take hold with me."

⁴¹ But the Master answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things,

⁴² but there is need only of a few, or one. Mary has chosen the good part and it shall not be taken from her."

11

¹ ONCE he was in a certain place praying. When he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Master, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

² He said to them, "When you pray say: Father, thy name be kept holy; Thy kingdom come;

³ Our bread for the coming day Give us day by day;

⁴ And forgive us our sins; For we ourselves forgive every one who fails toward us. And bring us not into trial."

⁵ He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves,

⁶ for a friend of mine has come to my house after a journey and I have nothing to set before him';

⁷ and he from within answers, 'Do not trouble me; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

⁸ I tell you, even if he will not rise and give them to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him all that he needs.

⁹ So I tell you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰ For every one who asks obtains, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.

¹¹ What father is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

¹³ If then you, evil though you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give a holy spirit to those who ask him."

¹⁴ He was casting out a demon and it was dumb. After the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke and the crowds wondered.

¹⁵ But some of them said, "By Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, he casts out the demons."

¹⁶ Others, by way of test, demanded of him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ But he, knowing their reasonings, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself comes to desolation, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say that I am casting out demons by Beelzebul;

¹⁹ but if I am casting out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore let them be your judges.

²⁰ But if I am casting out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already reached you.

²¹ "When a strong man fully armed guards his castle, his possessions are in peace.

²² But when a stronger than he comes upon him and conquers him, he takes all the armor in which he trusted and divides the spoils.

²³ He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me is scattering.

²⁴ "When the impure spirit comes out from a man, he goes through waterless places, seeking rest. Not finding it, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came out.'

²⁵ When he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

²⁶ Then he goes and takes along seven spirits worse than himself, and they enter and settle down there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

²⁷ While he was saying this a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, "Blessed was the womb that carried you and the breasts that you sucked!"

²⁸ He said, "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it!"

²⁹ As the crowds were thronging about him, he began and said, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰ For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites so the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the South will rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and more than a Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it. For they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed more than a Jonah is here.

³³ "No one lights a lamp and places it in a cellar or under the peck-measure, but on the stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴ The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eye is clear the whole body is lighted. But when it is bad, your body is dark.

³⁵ Make sure that the light that is in you is not darkness.

³⁶ If your body is all lighted up, not having any part dark, it will be all lighted as when the lamp lights you by its brilliance."

³⁷ During his talk a Pharisee kept asking him to dine with him. He went in and reclined at table.

³⁸ The Pharisee, seeing this, wondered that he had not first washed before dinner.

³⁹ The Master said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but the inside of you is full of rapacity and wickedness.

⁴⁰ You foolish men, did not he who made the outside make the inside too?

⁴¹ But give the things inside as gifts of mercy and at once all will be clean for you.

⁴² But alas for you, Pharisees! Because you tithe mint, and rue, and every herb, and pass by justice and the love of God. These things you ought to have practiced, without omitting the others.

⁴³ Alas for you, Pharisees! for you love the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places.

⁴⁴ Alas for you! for you are like unmarked graves. The men who walk over them do not know it."

⁴⁵ One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you treat us roughly too."

⁴⁶ He said, "Alas for you lawyers also! for you burden men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ Alas for you! for you build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹ Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute.'

⁵⁰ So the blood of all the prophets which has been shed from the foundation of the world will be required of this generation \'97

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the House. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

⁵² Alas for you lawyers! because you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered and you have prevented those who were entering."

⁵³ After he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon him angrily and cross-question him on many points,

⁵⁴ laying traps to catch something from his mouth.

12

¹ MEANWHILE, as the myriads of the crowd were thronging together so that they trod down one another, he began and said to his disciples first, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.

² For nothing is covered up which will not be revealed, nor secret which will not be known.

³ Whatever you have said in darkness will, on the contrary, be heard in the light, and what you have spoken into the ear in inner moms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴ I tell you, my friends, never fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I say, fear him.

⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

⁷ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Never fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.

⁸ But I tell you every one who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man confess before the angels of God.

⁹ And he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

¹⁰ Every one who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who says profane words against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹ When they bring you in before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not be anxious about how to defend yourselves or what to say.

¹² For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you must say."

¹³ One out of the crowd said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴ But he said, "Man, who appointed me judge or divider over you?"

¹⁵ He said to them, "See to it and be on your guard against every form of covetousness, for not even when one has a superabundance is his life from the things he owns."

¹⁶ He gave them an illustration, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded abundantly.

¹⁷ He debated within himself, saying, 'What shall I do? for I have no place to store my crops.'

¹⁸ Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and will build larger ones, and there I will store all my wheat and my goods;

¹⁹ and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry!'

²⁰ But God said to him, 'Foolish man, this night your soul will be required of you; and the things that you have prepared \'97 whose will they be?'

²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

²² He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, never worry about your life, what you are to eat, nor about your body, what you are to put on.

²³ For the life is more than the food and the body is more than the clothing.

²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have neither granary nor barn; yet God feeds them. How much more you are worth than the birds!

²⁵ Which of you can by worrying add a foot to his height?

²⁶ If you cannot do the least, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they neither spin nor weave. Yet I tell you even Solomon in all his splendor was not arrayed like one of these.

²⁸ But if God so clothes the herbage which to-day is in the field and to-morrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!

²⁹ Do not seek after something to eat and something to drink, and do not be agitated by cares.

³⁰ For these things all the nations of the world are seeking after.

³¹ But strive for his kingdom and these things will be provided for you.

³² Never fear, little flock! For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

³³ Sell what you have and give gifts of mercy. Make for yourselves purses that never grow old, an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief approaches nor moth consumes;

³⁴ for where your treasure is there your heart will be.

³⁵ Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning;

³⁶ and be like men expecting their Master when he returns from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when he comes, will find watching! Truly I tell you he will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

³⁸ If he comes in the second watch or in the third watch and finds them so, blessed are they!

³⁹ But know this, if the householder had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰ And you be ready, for in an hour that you do not think the Son of Man is coming."

⁴¹ Peter said, "Master, do you intend this illustration for us or for all?"

⁴² The Master said, "Who then is the faithful, the wise, manager whom the master will appoint over his establishment to give out rations at the proper time?

⁴³ Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing!

⁴⁴ I tell you truly he will appoint him over all his possessions.

⁴⁵ But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master will be long in coming,' and begins to strike the men servants and the maids and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not expecting and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷ That servant who knew his master's will and is not ready, and has not done according to his will, will be beaten with many lashes.

⁴⁸ But he who did not know and yet has done things worthy of lashes will be beaten with few. From every one to whom much was given, much will be required, and from him to whom they have committed much, men will ask the more.

⁴⁹ "I came to cast fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled?

⁵⁰ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I distressed until it is accomplished!

⁵¹ Do you think that I came to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but dissension.

⁵² There will be from now on five in one house split into parties, three against two and two against three,

⁵³ father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

⁵⁴ He said also to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens.

⁵⁵ And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be burning heat,' and so it happens.

⁵⁶ Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky, why do you not interpret this crisis?

⁵⁷ Why do you not of yourselves judge correctly?

⁵⁸ As you are going with your opponent to the magistrate, take pains on the road to get free from him, so that he may not drag you before the judge and the judge deliver you to the officer and the officer cast you into prison.

⁵⁹ I tell you you will not come out until you pay in full to the last penny."

13

¹ AT that time some were present telling him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

² He answered them, "Do you think that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans because they suffered this?

³ No, I tell you, but unless you have a change of heart, you will all perish in the same way.

⁴ Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were deserving of punishment beyond all the people that dwell at Jerusalem?

⁵ No, I tell you, but unless you have a change of heart, you will all perish just the same."

⁶ He gave this illustration: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷ He said to the gardener, 'See, three years I have been coming, looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I do not find any. Gut it down. Why should we waste land for it?'

⁸ But he answered him, 'Leave it this year too, Sir, until I dig around it and throw on manure.

⁹ Then, if it yields fruit in the future, all right. But if not, then you shall cut it down.'

¹⁰ He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹ And a woman was there who had had a spirit of weakness eighteen years, and was bent together and could not stand up straight.

¹² When Jesus saw her he called to her and said, "Woman, you have been freed from your weakness,"

¹³ and he laid his hands on her. Immediately she was straightened and gave glory to God.

¹⁴ But the synagogue Director, angry because Jesus was healing on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in which work should be done. On those days come and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day."

¹⁵ The Master answered him, "Hypocrite, does not each of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the manger and lead him away and water him?

¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, to have been freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

¹⁷ As he said this, all his opposers were ashamed, and all the crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things that he did.

¹⁸ He said, "To what is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?

¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed which a man took and cast into his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds of heaven lodged in its branches."

²⁰ Again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹ It is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until the whole was leavened."

²² He was journeying through the cities and villages teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem.

²³ A man said to him, "Master, are there few that are saved?" He said to them,

²⁴ "Try hard to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

²⁵ After the house-holder has arisen and has shut the door, then you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, and say, 'Master, open to us.' And he will answer you, 'I do not know you or where you come from.'

²⁶ Then you will begin and say, 'We have eaten and drunk before you and you have taught in our streets.'

²⁷ And he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from. Go away from me, all you workers of wickedness.'

²⁸ There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and yourselves thrust outside.

²⁹ People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

³⁰ Indeed, there are last who will be first and there are first who will be last."

³¹ At that time there came to him some Pharisees, saying, "Go out and leave this place, for Herod purposes to kill you."

³² He said to them, "Go tell that fox, 'See, I am casting out demons and performing cures to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day I will finish.'

³³ But I must journey to-day, and to-morrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!

³⁵ See, your house is left to you! I tell you, you will not see me until the day when you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' "

14

¹ ONCE, when he went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him closely.

² And there before him was a man who had dropsy.

³ Jesus said to the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it allowable to heal on the Sabbath or is it not?"

⁴ They kept quiet. Then taking hold of him he cured him and dismissed him.

⁵ He said to them, "If the son or the ox of any one of you falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will he not at once draw him out?"

⁶ They could not say anything in answer to this.

⁷ Observing how the guests were choosing the best couches, he gave them an illustration:

⁸ "When you are invited by any one to a wedding, do not recline on the best couch, for some one more honored than you may have been invited,

⁹ and when he who invited you and him comes he may say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will with shame begin and take the humblest place.

¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline in the humblest place, so that when he who has invited you comes he may say, 'Friend, come up higher.' Then you will have honor before all your fellow guests.

¹¹ For every one who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹² He said, too, to the man who had invited him, "When you make a breakfast or a dinner, do not call your friends or your brothers or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, for they may invite you in return and you may be repaid.

¹³ But when you hold a reception, invite poor men, maimed men, lame men, blind men.

¹⁴ And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

¹⁵ On hearing this, one of his fellow guests said to him, "Blessed will he be who eats bread in the kingdom of God!"

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, "A certain man made a great dinner and invited many,

¹⁷ and sent his servant at the hour of the dinner to tell the guests, 'Come, for things are now ready.'

¹⁸ But they all began with one mind to make excuse. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field and must go and see it. I beg of you to have me excused.'

¹⁹ Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them. I beg of you, have me excused.'

²⁰ Another said, 'I have married a wife and on that account I cannot come.'

²¹ The servant came back and told his master these things. Then the householder, becoming angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and lead in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame.'

²² The servant said, 'Master, what you ordered has been done and still there is room.'

²³ The master said to the servant, 'Go out into the roads and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴ I tell you not one of those men that were invited shall taste of my dinner.' "

²⁵ Great crowds were traveling along with him, and he turned and said to them,

²⁶ "If any one comes to me and does not hate his father and his mother and his wife and his children and his brothers and his sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

²⁷ Whoever does not take up his own cross and come after me cannot be a disciple of mine.

²⁸ For which of you wishing to build a tower does not first sit down and compute the cost, whether he has enough to complete it,

²⁹ for fear that, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers may begin to ridicule him,

³⁰ saying, 'This man began to build and could not finish.'

³¹ Or what king going to meet another king in war does not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who is coming against him with twenty thousand?

³² If not, while the other is still far off he sends an embassy and asks for conditions of peace.

³³ Just so no one of you who does not renounce all that he has can be a disciple of mine.

³⁴ Salt is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what shall it be seasoned?

³⁵ It is fit neither for the land nor for the manure heap. They throw it away. Let him who has ears to hear, hear."

15

¹ ALL the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to him in order to hear him.

² The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled to one another, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

³ He gave them this illustration:

⁴ "What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he has found it?

⁵ And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders with joy,

⁶ and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!'

⁷ I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner whose heart is changed than over ninety-nine righteous men who have no need to change.

⁸ "Or what woman who has ten shillings, if she loses one shilling, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and look for it carefully until she finds it?

⁹ And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the shilling that I lost.'

¹⁰ So I tell you there springs joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner whose heart is changed."

¹¹ He said further, "A certain man had two sons.

¹² And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of the property that is coming to me.' So he divided his wealth between them.

¹³ Not many days later, the younger son got everything together and went away to a far country and there squandered his property in a dissolute life.

¹⁴ When he had spent everything, there came a terrible famine in that land and he began to be in want.

¹⁵ So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed swine.

¹⁶ And he would fain have filled his stomach with the pods the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ Then, coming to himself, he said, 'How many hired men of my father have bread more than enough, and here I am perishing with famine.

¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men.'

²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him tenderly.

²¹ The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son' \'97

²² But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet;

²³ and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry.

²⁴ For this, my son, was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to be merry.

²⁵ Now his older son was in the field, and when on returning he drew near the house he heard music and dancing.

²⁶ Calling to him one of the servants, he inquired what this was. The servant said to him,

²⁷ 'Your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back in health.'

²⁸ But he grew angry, and would not go in. Then his father came out and begged him.

²⁹ But he answered his father, 'See, all these years I have been serving you, and I never broke a command of yours, yet you have never given me a kid to make merry with my friends.

³⁰ But when this son of yours, who has wasted your property with bad women, came, you have killed for him the fattened calf.'

³¹ But the father said to him, 'Child, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.

³² We could not but make merry and rejoice, for your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.'

16

¹ HE said to his disciples, "A certain rich man had a manager who was accused to him of wasting his property.

² Calling him to him, he said, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management; for you cannot longer be manager.'

³ The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do? for my master is going to take the management away from me. I have not strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ I know what I will do, so that when I am dismissed from the management they may welcome me into their houses.'

⁵ So, calling to him all of the debtors of his master, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe to my master?'

⁶ He replied, 'A hundred measures of oil.' He said, 'Take your account and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

⁷ Then to another he said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your account and write eighty.'

⁸ The master praised the wicked manager because he had done prudently. For the sons of this world are with reference to their own generation wiser than the sons of light.

⁹ I tell you, make for yourselves friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails they may welcome you into the eternal tents.

¹⁰ He who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest in the least is also dishonest in much.

¹¹ If, then, you have not been faithful in the dishonest Mammon, who will entrust to you the true?

¹² And if you were not faithful in what was another's, who will give you what is your own?

¹³ No house servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon."

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all this and they were sneering at him.

¹⁵ He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God.

¹⁶ "The Law and the Prophets were until John. From that time the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed and every one is forcing his way into it.

¹⁷ "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

¹⁸ "Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

¹⁹ "A certain man was rich and was clothed in purple and fine linen and lived merrily every day in splendor.

²⁰ And a certain poor man by the name of Lazarus had been laid at his gate, full of sores

²¹ and longing to be fed from what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² It happened that the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³ And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ He called and said, 'Father Abraham, have compassion on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'

²⁵ But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you had your good things in full in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise had his evil things. Now he is here receiving comfort and you are in anguish.

²⁶ Moreover, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who wish to cross from here to you cannot, nor can any cross from there to us.'

²⁷ But he said, 'I beg you, then, Father, to send him to my father's house,

²⁸ for I have five brothers, in order to testify to them, so that they may not come also to this place of torment.'

²⁹ Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'

³⁰ But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will have a change of heart.'

³¹ Abraham replied, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rises from the dead.'

17

¹ HE said to his disciples, "It cannot be but that occasions of stumbling will arise, but alas for him through whom they come!

² It would be better for him if, with a millstone hung around his neck, he had been flung into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³ "Be on your guard. If your brother sins against you, reprove him, and if he changes his mind, forgive him.

⁴ Even if seven times in the day he sins against you and seven times turns to you, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."

⁵ The apostles said to the Master, "Increase our faith."

⁶ The Master said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

⁷ "Who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come quickly and recline at table'?

⁸ On the contrary, will he not say to him, 'Make ready something for my dinner and gird yourself and wait on me while I eat and drink, and after that you may eat and drink yourself'?

⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told?

¹⁰ Just so you, when you have done all that has been commanded you, say, 'We are useless servants; we have done merely what we ought to have done.' "

¹¹ It happened that on his journey toward Jerusalem he was going through Samaria and Galilee.

¹² As he was approaching a certain village, ten leprous men met him. They stood at a distance,

¹³ and, raising their voices, called, "Jesus, Master, have compassion on us."

¹⁴ When Jesus saw them, he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." While they were going, they became clean.

¹⁵ One of them, seeing that he had been cured, turned back with a loud shout giving glory to God,

¹⁶ and he fell on his face at the feet of Jesus, thanking him. He was a Samaritan.

¹⁷ Jesus said, "Were not ten cleansed? But the nine \'97 where are they?

¹⁸ Was there none found returning to give glory to God except this foreigner?"

¹⁹ He said to him, "Rise and go. Your faith has healed you."

²⁰ On being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, Jesus answered them, "The kingdom of God will not come in a way that can be observed,

²¹ nor will they say, 'Here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For indeed the kingdom of God is among you."

²² He said to the disciples, "There will come days when you will wish to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it.

²³ They will say to you, 'See here!' or, 'See there!' but do not start off or go in pursuit.

²⁴ For as the lightning when it flashes shines from one part of the heavens to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

²⁵ But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶ As it happened in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

²⁷ They were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day that Noah went into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ Just so it was in the days of Lot; they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

²⁹ But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ So will the Son of Man be on the day that he is revealed.

³¹ On that day, if a man is on the housetop and his things in the house, he must not come down to get them, and for the same reason if he is in the field he must not turn back.

³² Remember Lot's wife.

³³ Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will save it.

³⁴ I tell you that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken with him and the other will be left.

³⁵ There will be two women grinding at the same mill, one will be taken with him and the other will be left."

³⁶ TEXT OMITTED

³⁷ They said to him, "Where, Master?" He said to them, "Where the carcass is, there will the vultures come flocking together."

18

¹ HE gave them an illustration that they ought always to pray and not to lose courage.

² He said, "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God or regard man.

³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'

⁴ For a time he would not. Later he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor regard man,

⁵ yet because this widow is annoying me I will do her justice so that she may not keep coming and mauling me forever.'

⁶ The Master said, "Hear what the wicked judge says;

⁷ and will not God do justice for his elect, who are calling to him day and night, even though he is long-suffering with their adversaries?

⁸ I tell you, he will do justice for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

⁹ He gave also this illustration to some who trusted in themselves as being righteous and despised others:

¹⁰ "Two men went up to the Temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, cheats, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹² I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get.'

¹³ But the tax collector stood far off and would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me, the sinner!'

¹⁴ I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹⁵ They were bringing to him babes for him to touch. The disciples on seeing this rebuked them.

¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him, saying, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for of such is the kingdom of God.

¹⁷ Truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter it."

¹⁸ One of the rulers asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit life eternal?"

¹⁹ Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one \'97 God.

²⁰ You know the commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not commit murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother."

²¹ He said, "All these I have kept from my boyhood up."

²² On hearing that, Jesus said to him, "You lack still one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow me."

²³ But he, on hearing this, became deeply sorrowful, for he was very rich.

²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, "With how much difficulty do those who have riches enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!"

²⁶ Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

²⁷ He said, "The things that are impossible with men are possible with God."

²⁸ Peter said, "See, we have left our property and have followed you."

²⁹ He said to them, "I tell you truly there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God

³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this world, and in the world to come life eternal."

³¹ Taking the twelve aside, he said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things written through the prophets will be fully done to the Son of Man.

³² For he will be handed over to the Gentiles and he will be made sport of and insulted and spit upon,

³³ and they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

³⁴ But they understood none of these things, and what he said was hidden from them. They did not grasp the meaning of his words.

³⁵ As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

³⁶ Hearing a crowd passing, he inquired what this was.

³⁷ They told him, "Jesus, the Nazarene, is passing by."

³⁸ Then he shouted, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!"

³⁹ Those who were in front rebuked him and told him to be still. But he kept crying out much louder, "Son of David, have pity on me!"

⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be led to him. When he had come up, Jesus asked him,

⁴¹ "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Sir, I want my sight."

⁴² Jesus said to him, "See. Your faith has healed you."

⁴³ Immediately he received sight and followed him, giving glory to God. All the people upon seeing this gave praise to God.

19

¹ HE entered and was passing through Jericho.

² In the city there was a man called Zacchaeus, who was chief of the tax collectors and was rich.

³ He was trying to see Jesus \'97 what he was like; but he could not on account of the crowd, for he was short in stature.

⁴ So running ahead he climbed up into a mulberry tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.

⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, make haste and come down; to-day I must stay at your house."

⁶ He hurriedly descended and welcomed him joyfully.

⁷ All who saw it grumbled, saying that Jesus was going in to stay with a sinner.

⁸ Zacchaeus stood and said to the Master, "See, the half of my property, Sir, I give to the poor, and if I have unjustly taken anything from any one, I will give him back four-fold."

⁹ Jesus said to him, "To-day salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

¹¹ While they were listening to this, he added an illustration, because he was near to Jerusalem and they were thinking that the kingdom of heaven was going to appear immediately.

¹² He said, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to get for himself a kingdom and return.

¹³ Calling his ten servants, he gave them each an equal sum of money and said to them, 'Do business until I come.'

¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him to say, 'We do not want this man to be king over us.'

¹⁵ When he returned, having secured the royal power, he ordered those servants to whom he had given the silver to be called to him that he might know what each had gained in trading.

¹⁶ The first came saying, 'Sir, your money has gained tenfold.'

¹⁷ He said, 'Well done, good servant, because you were faithful in the least you shall be ruler over ten cities.'

¹⁸ Then came the second, saying, 'Your money, Sir, has made fivefold.'

¹⁹ He said to this one, 'And you shall be over five cities.'

²⁰ Another one came, saying, 'Sir, here is your silver, which I kept laid away in a napkin.

²¹ For I feared you, because you are an austere man; you take up what you did not lay down and you reap where you did not sow.'

²² He said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. Did you know that I was an austere man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping where I did not sow?

²³ Then why did you not put my silver into the bank, so that when I came I could have exacted it with interest?'

²⁴ Then to those who stood by he said, 'Take from him the silver and give it to him who has tenfold.'

²⁵ They said to him, 'Sir, he has tenfold.'

²⁶ 'I tell you,' he said, 'that to every one who has, shall be given, and from him who has not, even what he has shall be taken.

²⁷ But those enemies of mine, who did not want me to be king over them, bring here and slaughter them before me.'

²⁸ When he had said these things, he journeyed onward, going up toward Jerusalem.

²⁹ When they approached Bethphage and Bethany at the mount called the Olive Orchard, he sent two of his disciples,

³⁰ telling them, "Go into the village across there, and as you enter it you will find a colt tied upon which no man has ever sat. Loose it and lead it here.

³¹ If any one asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' say, 'The Master has need of it.' "

³² Those who were sent went and found everything just as he had said to them.

³³ While they were loosing the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?"

³⁴ They said, "The Master has need of it."

³⁵ They led it to Jesus and threw their cloaks on the colt and mounted Jesus on it.

³⁶ As he advanced, some spread their cloaks in the road,

³⁷ and as he approached the descent of the Mount of Olives all the multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God in a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen,

³⁸ saying: "Blessed be he who comes as king, in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the heights above!"

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

⁴⁰ But he said, "I tell you if these become silent, the stones will cry out."

⁴¹ As he drew near and looked at the city, he wept over it,

⁴² saying, "If this day you also knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes!

⁴³ For days will come when your enemies will throw up a palisade against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side

⁴⁴ and level you to the ground, and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time when you were visited."

⁴⁵ Entering into the Temple courts he began and drove out the dealers,

⁴⁶ saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers."

⁴⁷ He was teaching every day in the Temple courts. But the high priests and the scribes were bent on destroying him, and so were the first citizens.

⁴⁸ But they could find no way to do it; for all the people hung upon him listening.

20

¹ ON one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the Temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the high priests and the scribes came up with the elders

² and said to him, "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things or who it is that gave you this authority."

³ He answered them, "I too will ask you a question and you must tell me:

⁴ the baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?"

⁵ They conferred among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

⁶ and if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us; for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

⁷ So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

⁸ Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

⁹ He began and gave the people this illustration: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to grape-growers and went abroad for a long time.

¹⁰ At the proper season he sent to the grape-growers a servant for them to give him a part of the fruit of the vineyard. But the grape-growers beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ He afterwards sent another servant. That one, too, they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed.

¹² Then he sent a third. But this one, too, they wounded and threw out.

¹³ The owner of the vineyard said, 'I will send my son, my beloved. Perhaps they will reverence him.'

¹⁴ But when the grape-growers saw him, they conferred with one another and said, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.'

¹⁵ So they threw him outside of the vineyard and killed him. What now will the owner of the vineyard do?

¹⁶ He will come and destroy those grape-growers and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they exclaimed, "May it never be!"

¹⁷ He turned his eyes upon them and said, "What does this Scripture mean, 'The stone which the builders rejected \'97 that one has become the corner stone'?

¹⁸ Every one who falls upon that stone will be shattered, but whomever it falls on it will crush to pieces."

¹⁹ The scribes and the high priests were eager to lay hands on him at that very time, for they knew that he had aimed the illustration at them; but they were afraid of the people.

²⁰ So watching insidiously for an opportunity they sent spies, who pretended to be honest men, to seize upon anything he might say, so as to hand him over to the authorities and to the power of the Governor.

²¹ They asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly and that you do not regard personal influences, but you teach the way of God according to truth.

²² Is it right for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?"

²³ He saw through their cunning and said to them,

²⁴ "Show me a coin. Whose head and inscription does it have on it?" They said, "Caesar's."

²⁵ He said to them, "Then pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and pay to God what belongs to God."

²⁶ They could not seize upon his words before the people, and in astonishment at his answer they were silent.

²⁷ There came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, and asked him,

²⁸ "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If any one's married brother dies childless, that man must marry his brother's widow and raise up offspring for his brother.'

²⁹ Well, there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless.

³⁰ The second

³¹ and the third and the rest of the seven took her and died leaving no children.

³² Finally the woman also died.

³³ Now this woman \'97 whose wife will she be at the resurrection? For she was wife to the seven."

³⁴ Jesus said to them, "The children of this world marry and are married,

³⁵ but those who are judged worthy to reach that world and the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are married,

³⁶ neither can they die, for they are like angels and are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.

³⁷ But that the dead rise Moses has made known in the passage regarding the Bush where he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.'

³⁸ He is not a God of dead men, but of living men. For all are alive to him."

³⁹ Some of the scribes answered him, "Teacher, you have spoken well."

⁴⁰ And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

⁴¹ He said to them, "How do they say that the Christ is the son of David?

⁴² David himself says in the book of Psalms, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right

⁴³ until I make your enemies your footstool.'

⁴⁴ So David calls him 'Lord'; how is he then his son?"

⁴⁵ While all the people were listening, he said to the disciples,

⁴⁶ "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes and love salutations in the market-places and front seats in the synagogues and the best couches at dinners,

⁴⁷ who devour widows' houses and in pretense make long prayers. These will receive unusual condemnation."

21

¹ Looking up, he saw those who were dropping their gifts into the contribution box, the rich people.

² But he saw a poor widow dropping in two mites,

³ and he said, "Truly I tell you this widow, poor as she is, has dropped in more than all.

⁴ For they all out of their abundance contributed to the gifts, but she out of her lack put in all that she had to live on."

⁵ As some were speaking about the Temple buildings, how they were decorated with beautiful stones and votive gifts,

⁶ he said, "As to these things that you are looking at, there will come days in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be thrown down."

⁷ They asked him, "Teacher, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when they are about to happen?"

⁸ He said, "Be on your guard against being misled. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is at hand.' Do not follow them.

⁹ And when you hear of wars and disorders, do not be terrified. For these things must take place first, but the end will not come immediately."

¹⁰ Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,

¹¹ and there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines and terrors and great portents from heaven.

¹² Before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors because of my name.

¹³ It will turn out your opportunity for testimony.

¹⁴ Settle it, then, in your hearts not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves.

¹⁵ For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your opponents will be unable to resist or reply to.

¹⁶ You will be betrayed by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death

¹⁷ and you will be hated by all on account of my name.

¹⁸ Yet not a hair of your head will perish.

¹⁹ By your endurance you will win your lives.

²⁰ "But when you see Jerusalem encircled by camps, then know that her desolation is near.

²¹ Then those who are in Judaea are to flee to the mountains, and those in the midst of it are to depart, and those in the country places must not come into the city;

²² for these are days of vengeance, that all the prophecies may be fulfilled.

²³ Alas for the women with child and the nursing mothers in those days! For there will be great distress on earth and wrath upon this people,

²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be taken as captives into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles have gone by.

²⁵ "There will be portents in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, and on earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roar of the sea and its surges,

²⁶ men fainting from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon mankind. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

²⁷ And then they will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.

²⁸ When these things are beginning to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your liberation is drawing near."

²⁹ He gave them an illustration: "See the fig tree, and all the trees.

³⁰ When they put out leaves, you see for yourselves that summer is near.

³¹ So, too, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

³² Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away before all takes place.

³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³⁴ Take care that your hearts are not dull through overeating and drinking and the cares of life, so that that day may come on you unexpectedly like a trap.

³⁵ For it will come on all who dwell on the face of all the earth.

³⁶ Be watchful at every season in prayer that you may be able to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man."

³⁷ During the days he continued to teach in the Temple courts, but every night he went out and stayed on the mount called Olive Orchard.

³⁸ All the people came early every morning to him in the Temple courts to listen to him.

22

¹ THE Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.

² The high priests and the scribes were intent upon finding some way to destroy Jesus; for they were afraid of the people.

³ But Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve,

⁴ and he went away and talked over with the high priests and officers how he could betray him.

⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

⁶ He promised, and was on the lookout for an opportunity to betray him to them when the crowd was not with him.

⁷ The day of unleavened bread came, when the Passover lamb must be sacrificed,

⁸ and Jesus sent Peter and John, telling them, "Go and make ready the Passover for us so that we may eat it."

⁹ They said to him, "Where do you wish us to make ready?"

¹⁰ He said, "As you are entering the city a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters

¹¹ and say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the dining room where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?'

¹² And he will show you an upper room, large and furnished. There make ready."

¹³ They went away and found everything just as he had said, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴ When the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him.

¹⁵ He said to them, "I have strongly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

¹⁶ For, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

¹⁷ He took a cup and gave thanks and said, "Take this and share it among yourselves.

¹⁸ For, I say to you, I shall not again drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

¹⁹ Then he took a loaf and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me."

²⁰ He took the cup in the same manner after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

²¹ But, see, the hand of the traitor is with me on the table!

²² The Son of Man is going, as it is appointed, but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!"

²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do this.

²⁴ There was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be regarded as superior.

²⁵ He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those of them who exercise authority are called benefactors.

²⁶ But you are not to be so. The greatest among you is to be like the youngest and the leader like him who serves.

²⁷ For which is superior, he who reclines at table or he who serves? Is not he who reclines? But I am in the midst of you as the one who serves.

²⁸ You are those who have stood by me in my trials

²⁹ and I will assign to you, as my Father has assigned to me, a kingdom,

³⁰ that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. You shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹ Simon, Simon, Satan has begged to be allowed to sift all of you like wheat.

³² But I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail. And when you come back to yourself, strengthen your brothers."

³³ Peter said to him, "Master, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."

³⁴ Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow to-day before you three times deny that you know me."

³⁵ He said to them, "When I sent you out without purse or bag or shoes, did you lack for anything?" They said, "We lacked for nothing."

³⁶ He said to them, "But now whoever has a purse must take it, and so with a bag, and he who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.

³⁷ For I tell you that the prophecy must be fulfilled in me \'97 the prophecy, 'He was numbered among the lawless.' For what concerns me is coming to an end."

³⁸ They said, "Master, here are two swords." He said to them, "That is enough."

³⁹ He went out and made his way, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

⁴⁰ When he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray not to enter into temptation."

⁴¹ He parted from them about a stone's throw and kneeled down and prayed,

⁴² "Father, if thou wilt, take away this cup from me. Yet not my will, but thine, be done."

⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him strengthening him.

⁴⁴ Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood failing upon the ground.

⁴⁵ Then he rose from prayer and came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.

⁴⁶ He said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."

⁴⁷ While he was still speaking there came a crowd, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He came up to Jesus to kiss him.

⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, "Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the Son of Man?"

⁴⁹ Those about Jesus, seeing what was going to happen, said, "Master, shall we strike with the sword?"

⁵⁰ One of them did strike the High Priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus said, "Let me at least do this," and he touched his ear and healed it.

⁵² Jesus said to the high priests and officers of the Temple and elders who had come out against him, "You come out with swords and clubs, just as if after a robber.

⁵³ In the daytime while I was with you in the Temple courts you did not stretch out your hands to take me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness."

⁵⁴ After arresting him they led him away and brought him into the house of the High Priest. Peter followed at a distance.

⁵⁵ They lighted a fire in the center of the court and seated themselves around it, and Peter seated himself in the midst of them.

⁵⁶ A maid saw him sitting near the light, and, looking hard at him, said, "This man was with him too."

⁵⁷ But he denied, saying, "Woman, I do not know him."

⁵⁸ After a short space another \'97 a man \'97 saw him, and said, "You too are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not."

⁵⁹ About an hour later, another man asserted positively, "Truly this man was with him too, for he is a Galilaean."

⁶⁰ But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." Immediately while he was speaking the cock crew,

⁶¹ and the Master turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Master, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows to-day you will disown me three times."

⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.

⁶³ The men who had arrested Jesus made sport of him, beating him,

⁶⁴ and, after blindfolding him, they asked him, "Prophesy who it is that struck you."

⁶⁵ Many other insulting words they said to him.

⁶⁶ When daylight came, the eldership of the people assembled, both high priests and scribes, and they led him to their council, saying,

⁶⁷ "If you are the Christ, tell us." He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe.

⁶⁸ If I question you, you will not answer.

⁶⁹ But from this time the Son of Man will be seated at the powerful right hand of God."

⁷⁰ They all said, "You then are the Son of God?" He said to them, "I am what you say."

⁷¹ They said, "Why do we need any more testimony? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth."

23

¹ THEN the whole assemblage arose and led him to Pilate.

² They began accusing him, saying, "We have found this man corrupting our nation and opposing the payment of tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ a king."

³ Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "I am."

⁴ Pilate said to the high priests and the crowd, "I find nothing criminal in this man."

⁵ But they were violent in saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching through the whole of Judaea. Starting in Galilee, he is now here."

⁶ Pilate, on hearing of Galilee, asked if the man was a Galilaean,

⁷ and when he learned that he was of Herod's jurisdiction he sent him to Herod, who was himself also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸ Herod on seeing Jesus was much pleased because for a long time he had been anxious to see him on account of hearing about him, and he was hoping to see some miracle done by him.

⁹ He questioned him with many words; but Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰ The high priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him.

¹¹ Herod along with his soldiers treated him with contempt and after making sport of him and putting a gorgeous robe on him, sent him back to Pilate.

¹² So Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that day. Previously they had been at enmity.

¹³ Pilate called together the high priests and the rulers and the people

¹⁴ and said to them, "You have brought before me this man as one who misguides the people, and yet I, in examining him before you, have found in this man not one criminal thing of all that you charge against him.

¹⁵ No more has Herod; for he has sent him back to us. See, nothing deserving of death has been done by him.

¹⁶ So I will scourge him and release him."

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¹⁸ But the whole crowd cried out together, "Put him out of the way and free Barabbas for us!"

¹⁹ Barabbas, on account of a riot that had occurred in the city and for murder, had been thrown into prison.

²⁰ Again Pilate spoke to them, wishing to release Jesus.

²¹ But they shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

²² For the third time he said to them, "What wrong has he done? I have found nothing criminal in him. I will therefore scourge him and let him go."

²³ But they insisted with loud voices asking to have him crucified, and their voices prevailed.

²⁴ So Pilate gave sentence that what they asked should be done.

²⁵ He freed the man who for riot and murder had been thrown into prison \'97 the man they asked for; but Jesus he handed over to their will.

²⁶ As they led him away, they took hold of Simon, a Cyrenian coming from the country, and laid on him the cross to bear behind Jesus.

²⁷ There followed him a great crowd of people and of women who were beating their breasts and bewailing him.

²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹ For days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed a babe!'

³⁰ Then they will begin and say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Hide us!'

³¹ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?"

³² There were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death.

³³ When they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

³⁴ Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They divided his clothes by casting lots.

³⁵ The people stood looking on. The rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen."

³⁶ The soldiers made sport of him, coming up and offering him sour wine

³⁷ and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"

³⁸ There was a writing over him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS

³⁹ One of the criminals who were crucified insulted him, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us."

⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him and said, "Have you no fear of God, since you are under the same sentence?

⁴¹ And we are here justly, for we are receiving our due for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong."

⁴² Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

⁴³ Jesus said to him, "I tell you truly to-day you will be with me in Paradise."

⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness came over all the land until three,

⁴⁵ the sun being eclipsed. And the curtain in the Temple was torn in the middle.

⁴⁶ Then Jesus said in a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." After saying this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷ When the Centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, "Certainly this was an upright man!"

⁴⁸ And all the crowds that had stood by looking on the scene, after seeing what happened, turned away beating their breasts.

⁴⁹ All his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee were standing at a distance looking on.

⁵⁰ There was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man

⁵¹ who had not participated in their plan and action. He was of Arimathaea, a city of the Judaeans, and was looking for the kingdom of God.

⁵² This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³ He took it down and wrapped it in fine linen and laid him in a tomb cut in the rock where no one was yet lying.

⁵⁴ It was the day of Preparation and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed along and saw the tomb and how his body was laid,

⁵⁶ and they went back and prepared perfumes and ointments. On the Sabbath they abstained from work according to the commandment.

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¹ BUT on the first day of the week at early dawn they came to the tomb, bringing the perfumes which they had prepared.

² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

³ and on entering they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴ While they were at a loss about this, suddenly two men in glittering robes stood beside them.

⁵ They were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?

⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee

⁷ that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and rise on the third day."

⁸ Then they remembered his words

⁹ and turned back from the tomb and told all this to the eleven and all the rest.

¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them also told these things to the apostles.

¹¹ But these reports seemed in their eyes like idle talk. They did not believe the women.

¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb and stooping down he saw nothing but the linen cloths, and he went away to his place wondering at what had happened.

¹³ On that day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, seven miles distant from Jerusalem,

¹⁴ and they were talking to each other about all these occurrences.

¹⁵ It happened as they talked and discussed that Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them.

¹⁶ But their eyes were restrained from recognizing him.

¹⁷ He said to them, "What are these matters that you are debating with each other as you walk?" They stood still with sad faces.

¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, said to him, "Are you a stranger living alone in Jerusalem and do you not know the things that have happened there in recent days?"

¹⁹ He said to them, "What things?" They said to him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet powerful in deed and word before God and all the people \'97

²⁰ how our high priests and leading men handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.

²¹ But we were hoping that he was the one who was to redeem Israel. But now, however, the third day is passing since these things took place.

²² Yet some women from our company amazed us. They went at dawn to the tomb

²³ and did not find his body, but came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

²⁴ Some of our company went out to the tomb and found things as the women had said, but they did not see him."

²⁵ Jesus said to them, "O men lacking insight and slow in heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!

²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?"

²⁷ Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things about himself.

²⁸ They drew near to the village where they were going and he acted as if he were going on.

²⁹ But they urged him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the sun is already low." So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ As he reclined at table with them, he took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them.

³¹ And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; but he vanished from their sight.

³² They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he was talking to us on the road and was explaining the Scriptures to us?"

³³ Then, rising that very hour, they returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and their associates assembled

³⁴ and saying, "Really the Lord has risen and he has appeared to Simon."

³⁵ They then narrated what had happened on the road and how they knew him by his breaking the bread.

³⁶ While they were talking of these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, "Peace be with you!"

³⁷ They were terrified and much alarmed, and thought that they were seeing a spirit.

³⁸ But he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

³⁹ See my hands and my feet \'97 that it is I myself. Feel me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me having."

⁴⁰ Saying this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹ While they still were doubting for joy and wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish,

⁴³ and he took it and ate before them.

⁴⁴ He said to them, "This is what I said to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms about me must be fulfilled."

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

⁴⁶ and he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

⁴⁷ and in his name change of heart for forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹ And, see, I am sending upon you the promise of my Father. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

⁵⁰ He led them out as far as Bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them.

⁵¹ While he was blessing them he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵² They bowed down before him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

⁵³ and were constantly in the Temple courts blessing God.