BibleWare/BibWare.bin/bibtrans/weymouth.exe/LU.WNT

Text File | 1993-06-07 | 150KB | 2,956 lines

1:1 Seeing that many have attempted to draw up a narrative of
 the facts which are /1 received with full assurance among us
1:2 on the authority of those who were from the beginning
 eye-witnesses and were devoted to /2 the service of the divine
 Message,
1:3 it has seemed right to me also, after careful investigation
 of the facts from their commencement, to write for you, most
 noble Theophilus, a connected account,
1:4 that you may fully know the truth of the things which you
 have been taught by word of mouth.
1:5 There was in the time of Herod, the king of Judaea, a priest
 of the name of /3 Zechariah, belonging to the class of /3
 Abijah. He had a wife who was a descendant of Aaron, and her
 name was /4 Elizabeth.
1:6 They were both of them upright before God, blamelessly
 obeying all the Lord's precepts and ordinances.
1:7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and
 both of them were far advanced in life.
1:8 Now while he was doing priestly duty before God in the
 prescribed course of his class,
1:9 it fell to his lot--according to the custom of the
 priesthood--to go into the Sanctuary of the Lord and burn the
 incense;
1:10 and the whole multitude of the people were outside praying,
 at the hour of incense.
1:11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on
 the right side of the altar of incense;
1:12 and Zechariah on seeing him was /5 agitated and terrified.

1:13 But the angel said to him, /1 "Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
 for your petition has been heard: and your wife Elizabeth will
 bear you a son, and you are to call his name John.
1:14 Gladness and exultant joy shall be yours, and many will
 rejoice over his birth.
1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; no wine or
 fermented drink shall he ever drink; but he will be filled with
 the Holy Spirit from the very hour of his birth.
1:16 Many of the descendants of Israel will he turn to the Lord
 their God;
1:17 and he will be His forerunner in the spirit and power of
 Elijah, to turn fathers' hearts to the children, and cause the
 rebellious to walk in the wisdom of the upright, to make a
 people perfectly ready for the lord."
1:18 "By what proof," asked Zechariah, "shall I know this? For I
 am an old man, and my wife is far advanced in years."
1:19 "I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God," answered
 the angel, "and I have been sent to talk with you and tell you
 this good news.
1:20 And now you will be dumb and unable to speak until the day
 when this has taken place; because you did not believe my
 words--words which will be fulfilled at their appointed time."
1:21 Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were
 surprised that he stayed so long in the Sanctuary.
1:22 When, however, he came out, he was unable to speak to them;
 and they knew that he must have seen a vision in the Sanctuary;
 but he kept making signs to them and continued dumb.
1:23 When his days of service were at an end, he went to his
 home;
1:24 and in course of time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and
 kept herself secluded five months.
1:25 "Thus has the Lord dealt with me," she said, "now that He
 has /2 graciously taken away my reproach among men."
1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God
 to a town in Galilee called /3 Nazareth,
1:27 to a maiden betrothed to a man of the name of Joseph, a
 descendant of David. The maiden's name was /4 Mary.
1:28 So Gabriel went into the house and said to her, "Joy be to
 you, favoured one! the Lord is /5 with you."

1:29 She was greatly /1 agitated at his words, and wondered what
 such a greeting meant.
1:30 But the angel said, /2 "Do not be frightened, Mary, for you
 have found favour with God.
1:31 You will conceive in your womb and bear a son; and you are
 to call His name /3 JESUS.
1:32 He will be great and He will be called `Son of the Most
 High.' And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
 forefather David;
1:33 and He will be King over the House of Jacob for the Ages,
 and of His Kingdom there will be no end."
1:34 "How can this be," Mary replied, "seeing that I have no
 husband?"
1:35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
 and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for
 this reason your holy /4 offspring will be called `the Son of
 God.'
1:36 And see, your relative Elizabeth--she also has conceived a
 son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who
 was called barren.
1:37 For no promise from God will be /5 impossible of
 fulfilment."
1:38 "I am the Lord's /6 maidservant," Mary replied; "may it be
 with me in accordance with your words!" And then the angel left
 her.
1:39 /7 Not long after this, Mary rose up and went /8 in haste
 into the hill country to a town in Judah.
1:40 Here she came to the house of Zechariah and greeted
 Elizabeth;
1:41 and as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe
 leapt within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
 Spirit,
1:42 and uttered a loud /9 cry of joy. /10 "Blest among women
 are you," she said, "and the offspring of your body is blest!
1:43 But why is this honour done me, that the mother of my Lord
 should come to me?

1:44 For, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the babe
 within me leapt for joy.
1:45 And blessed is she /1 who has believed, /2 for the word
 spoken to her from the Lord shall be fulfilled."
1:46 Then Mary said: "My soul extols the Lord,
1:47 And my spirit /3 triumphs in God my /4 Saviour;
1:48 Because He has not turned from His maidservant in her lowly
 position; For from this time forward all generations will
 account me happy,
1:49 Because the mighty One has done great things for me--Holy
 is His name!--
1:50 And His compassion is, generation after generation, Upon
 those who fear Him.
1:51 He /5 has manifested His supreme strength. He has scattered
 those who were haughty in the thoughts of their hearts.
1:52 He has cast monarchs down from their thrones, And exalted
 men of low estate.
1:53 The hungry He has satisfied with choice gifts, But the rich
 He has sent empty-handed away.
1:54 His servant Israel He has helped, /6 Remembering His
 compassion--
1:55 In fulfillment of His promises to our forefathers--For
 Abraham and his posterity for ever."
1:56 So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then
 returned home.
1:57 Now when Elizabeth's full time was come, she gave birth to
 a son;
1:58 and her neighbours and relatives heard how the Lord /7 had
 had great compassion on her; and they rejoiced with her.
1:59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child,
 and were going to call him Zechariah, after his father.

1:60 His mother, however, said, "No, he is to be called John."
1:61 "There is not one of your family," they said, "who has that
 name."
1:62 They asked his father by signs what he wished him to be
 called.
1:63 So he asked for a writing-tablet, and wrote, "His name is
 John." And they all wondered.
1:64 Instantly his mouth and his tongue were set free, and he
 began to speak and bless God.
1:65 And all who lived round about them were filled with awe,
 and throughout the hill country of Judaea reports of all these
 things were spread abroad.
1:66 All who heard the story treasured it in their memories.
 "What then will this child be?" they said. For the lord's hand
 was indeed with him.
1:67 And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit,
 and spoke in a rapture of praise.
1:68 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel," he said, "Because
 He /1 has not forgotten His people but has effected redemption
 for them,
1:69 And has raised up /2 a mighty Deliverer for us In the house
 of David His servant--
1:70 As He has spoken /3 from all time by the lips of His holy
 Prophets--
1:71 /4 To deliver us from our foes and from the power of all
 who hate us.
1:72 He dealt pitifully with our forefathers, And remembered His
 holy covenant,
1:73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our forefather,
1:74 To grant us to be rescued from the power of our foes And so
 render worship to Him free from fear,
1:75 In /5 piety and uprightness before Him all our days.
1:76 And you moreover, O child, shall be called Prophet of the
 Most High; For you shall go on in front before the Lord to
 prepare the way for Him,

1:77 To give to His People a knowledge of /1 salvation In the
 forgiveness of their sins,
1:78 Through the tender compassion of our God, Through which the
 daybreak from on high /2 will come to us,
1:79 /3 Dawning on those who now /4 dwell in the darkness and
 shadow of death--To direct our feet into the path of peace."
1:80 And the child grew and became strong in character, and
 lived in the /5 Desert till the time came for him to appear
 publicly to Israel.
2:1 Just at this time an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for
 the /6 registration of /7 the whole Empire.
2:2 It was the first registration made during the governorship
 of Quirinius in Syria;
2:3 and all went to be registered--every one to the town to
 which he belonged.
2:4 So Joseph went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth,
 to Judaea, to David's town of Bethlehem, because he was of the
 house and lineage of David,
2:5 to have himself registered together with Mary, who was
 betrothed to him and was with child.
2:6 But while they were there, her full time came,
2:7 and she gave birth to her first-born son, and wrapped Him
 round, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for
 them in the /8 inn.
2:8 Now there were shepherds in the same part of the country,
 keeping watch over their sheep by night /9 in the open fields,
2:9 when suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the
 glory of the Lord shone round them; and they were filled with
 terror.
2:10 But the angel said to them, "Put away all fear; for I am
 bringing you good news of great joy--joy for all the People.

2:11 For a /1 Saviour who is the Anointed Lord is born to you
 to-day, in the town of David.
2:12 And this is the token for you: you will find a babe wrapped
 in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
2:13 And immediately there was with the angel a multitude of the
 army of Heaven praising God and saying,
2:14 "Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace
 among /2 men who please Him!"
2:15 Then, as soon as the angels had left them and returned to
 Heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go over
 as far as Bethlehem and see this that has happened, which the
 Lord has made known to us."
2:16 So they made haste and came and found Mary and Joseph, with
 the babe lying in the manger.
2:17 And when they saw the child, they told what had been said
 to them about Him;
2:18 and all who listened were astonished at what the shepherds
 told them.
2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things, often dwelling on
 them in her mind.
2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
 all that they had heard and seen in accordance with the
 announcement made to them.
2:21 When eight days had passed and the time for circumcising
 Him had come, He was called JESUS, the name given Him by the
 angel before His conception in the womb.
2:22 And when the days for their purification appointed by the
 Law of Moses had passed, they took Him up to Jerusalem to
 present Him to the Lord--
2:23 as it is written in the Law of the Lord: <"Every first-born
 male shall be called holy to the Lord.">
2:24 And they also offered a sacrifice as commanded in the Law
 of the Lord, <"a pair of /3 turtle doves or two young
 pigeons.">

2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem of the name of Symeon, an
 upright and God-fearing man, who was waiting for the
 consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
2:26 To him it had been revealed by the Holy Spirit that he
 should /1 not see death until he had seen the Lord's Anointed
 One.
2:27 /2 Led by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the
 parents brought in the child Jesus to do with regard to Him
 according to the custom of the Law,
2:28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
2:29 "Now, O Sovereign Lord, Thou dost send Thy servant away in
 peace, in fulfilment of Thy word,
2:30 Because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
2:31 Which Thou hast made ready in the sight of all nations--
2:32 A light /3 to shine upon the Gentiles, And the glory of Thy
 people Israel."
2:33 And while the child's father and mother were wondering at
 the words of Symeon concerning Him,
2:34 Symeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, "This
 child /4 is appointed for the falling and the /5 uprising of
 many in Israel and for a token to be spoken against;
2:35 and a sword will pierce through your own soul also; that
 the reasonings /6 in many hearts may be /7 revealed."
2:36 There was also /8 Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of
 Phanuel, belonging to the tribe of Asher. She was of a very
 great age, having had after her maidenhood seven years of
 married life,
2:37 and then being a widow /9 of eighty-four years. She was
 never absent from the Temple, but worshipped, by day and by
 night, with fasting and prayer.
2:38 And coming up just at that moment, she gave thanks to God,
 and spoke about the child to all who were expecting the /10
 deliverance of Jerusalem.

2:39 Then, as soon as they had accomplished all that the Law
 required, they returned to Galilee to their own town of
 Nazareth.
2:40 And the child grew and became strong and full of wisdom,
 and the favour of God rested upon Him.
2:41 Now His parents used to go up year by year to Jerusalem at
 the Feast of the Passover.
2:42 And when He was twelve years old they went up as was
 customary at the time of the Feast, and,
2:43 after staying the full number of days, when they started
 back home the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His
 parents did not discover this,
2:44 but supposing Him to be in the travelling company, they
 proceeded a day's journey. Then they searched up and down for
 Him among their relatives and acquaintances;
2:45 but being unable to find Him they returned to Jerusalem,
 making anxious inquiry for Him.
2:46 /1 On the third day they found Him in /2 the Temple sitting
 among the /3 Rabbis, both listening to them and asking them /4
 questions,
2:47 while all who heard Him were astonished at His intelligence
 and at /5 the answers He gave.
2:48 When they saw Him, they were smitten with amazement, and
 His mother said to Him, "My child, why have you behaved thus to
 us? Your father and I have been searching for you in anguish."
2:49 "Why is it that you have been searching for me?" He
 replied; "did you not know that it is my duty /6 to be engaged
 upon my Father's business?"
2:50 But they did not understand the significance of these
 words.
2:51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was
 always obedient to them; but His mother carefully treasured up
 all these /7 incidents in her

/1 memory.
2:52 And as Jesus grew older He gained in both wisdom and
 stature, and in favour with God and man.
3:1 /2 Now in the fifteenth year of the /3 reign of Tiberius
 Caesar, Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judaea, Herod Tetrarch
 of Galilee, his brother Philip Tetrarch of Ituraea and
 Trachonitis, and Lysanias Tetrarch of Abilene,
3:2 during the High-priesthood of /4 Annas and Caiaphas, a
 message from God came /5 to John, the son of Zechariah, in the
 Desert.
3:3 John went into all the district about the Jordan proclaiming
 a baptism /6 of the penitent for the forgiveness of sins;
3:4 as it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah, <"The
 voice of one crying aloud! `In the Desert prepare ye a road for
 the Lord: make His highway straight.
3:5 Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill
 levelled down, the crooked places shall be turned into straight
 roads, and the rugged ways into smooth;
3:6 and then shall all mankind see God's salvation.'">
3:7 Accordingly John used to say to the crowds who came out to
 be baptized by him, "O vipers' /7 brood, who has /8 warned you
 to flee from the coming wrath?
3:8 Live lives which shall prove your change of heart; and do
 not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our
 forefather,' for I tell you that God can /9 raise up
 descendants for Abraham from these stones.
3:9 And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so
 that every tree /10 which fails to yield good fruit will
 quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire."
3:10 The crowds repeatedly asked him, "What then are we to do?"

3:11 "Let the man who has two /1 coats," he answered, "give one
 to the man who has none; and let the man who has food share it
 with others."
3:12 There came also a party of tax-gatherers to be baptized,
 and they asked him, /2 "Rabbi, what are we to do?"
3:13 "Do not exact more than the legal amount," he replied.
3:14 The soldiers also once and again inquired of him, "And we,
 what are we to do?" His answer was, "Neither intimidate any one
 nor lay false charges; and be content with your pay."
3:15 /3 And while the people were in suspense and all were
 debating in their minds whether John might possibly be the
 Anointed One,
3:16 he answered the question by saying to them all, "As for me,
 I am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is
 coming, whose very sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten: He
 will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.
3:17 His winnowing-shovel is in His hand to clear out His
 threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into His storehouse;
 but the chaff He will burn up in fire unquenchable."
3:18 With many exhortations besides these he declared the Good
 News to the people.
3:19 /4 But Herod the Tetrarch, being repeatedly rebuked by him
 about Herodias his brother's wife, and about all the wicked
 deeds that he had done,
3:20 now added this to crown all the rest, that he threw John
 into prison.
3:21 /5 Now when /6 all the people /7 had been baptized, and
 Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the sky opened,

3:22 and the Holy Spirit came down in bodily shape, like a dove,
 upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, "Thou art
 My Son, dearly loved: in Thee /1 is My delight."
3:23 And /2 He--Jesus--when He began His ministry, was about
 thirty years old. He was /3 the son (it was supposed) of
 Joseph, son of Heli,
3:24 son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai,
 son of Joseph,
3:25 son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli,
 son of Naggai,
3:26 son of Mahath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of
 Josech, son of Joda,
3:27 son of Johanan, son of Resa, son of Zerubbabel, son of
 Shealtiel, son of Neri,
3:28 son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam,
 son of Er,
3:29 son of Joshua, son of Eliezar, son of Jorim, son of
 Maththat, son of Levi,
3:30 son of Symeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam,
 son of Eliakim, son of
3:31 Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of
 David,
3:32 son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Salmon, son
 of Nahshon,
3:33 son of Amminadab, /4 son of Admin, son of Arni, son of
 Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah,
3:34 son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah,
 son of Nahor,
3:35 son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of
 Shelah,
3:36 son of Cainan, son of Arpachshad, son of Shem, son of Noah,
 son of Lamech,
3:37 son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of
 Mahalalel, son of Kenan,
3:38 son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.
4:1 /5 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the
 Jordan, and was led about /6 by the Spirit in the Desert for
 forty days,
4:2 tempted all the while by the Devil. During those days He ate
 nothing, and at the close of them He suffered from hunger.
4:3 Then the Devil said to Him, /7 "If you are God's Son, tell
 this stone to become bread."

4:4 "It is written," replied Jesus, <"`It is not on bread alone
 that a man shall live.'"> /1
4:5 The Devil next led Him up and caused Him to see /2 at a
 glance all the kingdoms of the world.
4:6 And the Devil said to Him, "To you will I give all this
 authority and /3 this splendour; for it has been handed over to
 me, and on whomsoever I will I bestow it.
4:7 If therefore you do homage to me, it shall all be yours.'
4:8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, <`To the Lord thy God
 thou shalt do homage, and to Him alone shalt thou render
 worship.'">
4:9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem and caused Him to stand on
 the roof of the Temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son,
 throw yourself down from here; for it is written,
4:10 <`He will give orders to His angels concerning thee, to
 guard thee safely;'>
4:11 and <`On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest at any
 moment thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.'">
4:12 The reply of Jesus was, "It is said, <`Thou shalt not put
 the Lord they God to the proof.'">
4:13 So the Devil, having /4 fully tried /5 every kind of
 temptation on Him, left Him /6 for a time.
4:14 /7 Then Jesus returned in the Spirit's power to Galilee;
 and His fame spread through all the adjacent districts.
4:15 And /8 He proceeded to teach in their synagogues, winning
 praise from all.
4:16 He came to Nazareth also, where He had been brought up;
 and, as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the
 Sabbath, and stood up to read.

4:17 And there was handed to Him the /1 book of the Prophet
 Isaiah, and, opening the book, He found the place where it was
 written,
4:18 <"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has
 anointed me to proclaim Good News to the poor; He has sent me
 to announce release to the prisoners of war and recovery of
 sight to the blind: to send away free those whom tyranny has
 crushed,
4:19 to proclaim the year of acceptance with the Lord.">
4:20 And rolling up the book, He returned it to the attendant,
 and /2 sat down--to speak. And the eyes of all in the synagogue
 were fixed on Him.
4:21 Then He proceeded to say to them, "To-day is this Scripture
 fulfilled in your hearing."
4:22 And they all /3 spoke well of Him, wondering at the /4
 sweet words of kindness which fell from His lips, while they
 asked one another, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
4:23 "Doubtless," said He, "you will quote to me the proverb,
 `Physician, cure yourself: all that we hear that you have done
 /5 at Capernaum, do here also in your native place.'"
4:24 "I tell you /6 in solemn truth," He added, "that no Prophet
 is welcomed among his own people.
4:25 But I tell you in truth that there was many a widow in
 Israel in the time of Elijah, when /7 there was no rain for
 three years and six months and there came a severe famine over
 all the land;
4:26 and yet to not one of them was Elijah sent: /8 he was only
 sent to a widow at Zarephath in the Sidonian country.

4:27 And there was also many a leper in Israel in the time of
 the Prophet Elisha, and yet not one of them was cleansed, but
 Naaman the Syrian was."
4:28 Then all in the synagogue, while listening to these words,
 were filled with fury.
4:29 They rose, hurried Him outside the town, and brought Him to
 the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to throw
 Him down the cliff;
4:30 but He passed through the midst of them and went His way.
4:31 /1 So He came down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, where
 He frequently taught the people on the Sabbath days.
4:32 And they were greatly impressed by His teaching, because He
 spoke with the language of authority.
4:33 But in the synagogue there was a man /2 possessed by the
 spirit of a foul demon. In a loud voice he cried out,
4:34 "Ha! Jesus the Nazarene, what have you to do with us? I
 know who you are--God's Holy One!"
4:35 But Jesus rebuked the demon. "Silence!" He exclaimed; "come
 out of him." Upon this, the demon hurled the man into the midst
 of them, and came out of him without doing him any harm.
4:36 All were astonished and awe-struck; and they asked one
 another, "What sort of language is this? For with authority and
 real power He gives orders to the foul spirits and they come
 out."
4:37 And the talk about Him spread into every part of the
 neighbouring country.
4:38 /3 Now when He rose and left the synagogue He went to
 Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was /4 suffering from an
 acute attack of fever; and they consulted Him about her.
4:39 Then standing over her He /5 rebuked the fever, and it left
 her; and she at once rose and waited on them.
4:40 At sunset all who had friends suffering from any illness
 brought them to Him, and He laid His hands on them all, one by
 one, and cured them.

4:41 Demons also came out of many, loudly calling out, "You are
 the Son of God." But He rebuked them and forbad them to speak,
 because they knew Him to be /1 the Christ.
4:42 /2 Next morning, at daybreak, He left the town and went
 away to a solitary place; but the people flocked out to find
 Him, and, coming to the place where He was, they endeavoured to
 detain Him that He might not leave them.
4:43 But He said to them, "I have to tell the Good News of the
 Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because for this
 purpose I was sent."
4:44 And /3 for some time He preached in the synagogues in /4
 Galilee.
5:1 On one occasion the crowd was pressing on Him and listening
 to God's Message, while He was standing by the Lake of
 Gennesaret.
5:2 He, however, saw two fishing-boats drawn up on the beach
 (for the men had gone away from them and were washing the
 nets),
5:3 and going on board one of them, which was Simon's He asked
 him to push out a little from land. Then He sat down and taught
 the crowd of people from the boat.
5:4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, /5 "Push
 out into deep water, and /5 let down your nets for a haul."
5:5 /6 "Rabbi," replied Peter, "all night long we have worked
 hard and caught nothing; but at your command I will let down
 the nets."
5:6 This they did, and enclosed a vast number of fish; and their
 nets began to break.
5:7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to
 come and help them; they came, and they filled both the boats
 so that they almost sank.

5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of
 Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master, /1 leave my boat, for I am a
 sinful man."
5:9 (For he was /2 astonished and terrified--he and all his
 companions--at the haul of fish which they had taken;
5:10 and so were Simon's partners James and John, the sons of
 Zabdi.) But Jesus replied to Simon, "Fear not: from this time
 you shall be a catcher of men."
5:11 Then, after bringing their boats to land, they left
 everything and followed Him.
5:12 /3 On another occasion, when He was in one of the towns,
 there was a man there covered with leprosy, who, seeing Jesus,
 threw himself at His feet and implored Him, saying, "Sir, if
 only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."
5:13 Reaching out His hand and touching him, Jesus said, "I am
 willing; be cleansed!" And instantly the leprosy left him.
5:14 He ordered him to tell no one. "But go," He said, "show
 yourself to the Priest, and make the offering for your
 purification which Moses appointed, as evidence for them."
5:15 But all the more the report about Him spread abroad, and
 great multitudes crowded to hear Him and to be cured of their
 diseases;
5:16 but Jesus Himself constantly withdrew into the Desert and
 there prayed.
5:17 /4 One day He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and
 teachers of the Law /5 sitting there who had come from every
 village in Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the power
 of the Lord was present /6 for Him to cure people.
5:18 And a party of men came carrying a palsied man on a bed,
 and they endeavoured to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.

5:19 But when they could find no way of doing so because of the
 crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the
 tiling--bed and all--into the midst, in front of Jesus.
5:20 He saw their faith and said to him, /1 "Friend, your sins
 are /2 forgiven."
5:21 Then the Scribes and Pharisees began to cavil, asking, "Who
 is /3 this, uttering blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive
 sins?"
5:22 Well aware of their reasonings, Jesus answered their
 questions by asking in turn, /4 "What is this that you are
 debating in your hearts?
5:23 Which is easier? --to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to
 say, `Rise and walk'?
5:24 But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on
 earth to forgive sins" --Turning to the paralytic He said, "I
 bid you, Rise, take up your bed, and go home."
5:25 Instantly he stood up in their presence, took up the
 mattress on which he had been lying, and went away to his home,
 giving glory to God.
5:26 /5 Amazement seized them all. "Glory to God!" was the
 abiding feeling. Yet fear flashed through their minds and they
 said, "We have seen strange things to-day."
5:27 /6 After this He went out and noticed a tax-gatherer, Levi
 by name, sitting at the Toll office; and He said to him,
 "Follow me."
5:28 He rose, left everything, and followed Him.
5:29 Levi also gave a great entertainment at his house in honour
 of Jesus, and there was a large party of tax-gatherers and
 others at table with them.
5:30 This led the Pharisees and Scribes of their party to
 expostulate with His disciples and ask, "Why are you eating and
 drinking with these tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"
5:31 But Jesus replied to them, "It is not men in good health
 who require a physician, but the sick.

5:32 I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but
 sinners."
5:33 /1 Again they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and
 pray, as do also those of the pharisees; but yours eat and
 drink."
5:34 "Can you compel the bridal party to fast," replied Jesus,
 "so long as they have the bridegroom among them?
5:35 But a time for this will come, when the Bridegroom has been
 taken away from them: then, at that time, they will fast."
5:36 He also spoke in figurative language to them. "No one," He
 said, "tears a piece from a new garment to mend an old one.
 Otherwise he would not only spoil the new, but the patch from
 the new would not match the old.
5:37 Nor does any one pour new wine into old wine-skins.
 Otherwise the new wine would burst the skins, the wine itself
 would be spilt, and the skins be destroyed.
5:38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
5:39 Nor does any one after drinking old wine wish for new; for
 he says, `The old is /2 better.'"
6:1 /3 Now on the /4 second-first Sabbath while He was passing
 through the wheatfields, His disciples were plucking the ears
 and rubbing them with their hands to eat the grain.
6:2 And some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what the
 Law forbids on the Sabbath?"
6:3 "Have you /5 never read so much as this," answered
 Jesus--"what David did when he and his followers were hungry;
6:4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the
 Presented Loaves and gave some to his followers--loaves which
 none but the Priests are allowed to eat?"
6:5 "The Son of Man," He added, "is Lord of the Sabbath /6
 also."

6:6 /1 On another Sabbath He had gone to the synagogue and was
 teaching there; and in the congregation was a man whose right
 arm was withered.
6:7 The Scribes and the Pharisees were on the watch to see
 whether He would cure him on the Sabbath that they might be
 able to bring an accusation against Him.
6:8 He knew their thoughts, and said to the man with the
 withered arm, "Rise, and /2 stand there in the middle." And he
 rose and stood there.
6:9 Then Jesus said to them, "I put it to you all whether we are
 allowed to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil; to save a
 life, or to destroy it."
6:10 And looking round upon them all He said to the man,
 "Stretch out your arm." He did so, and the arm was restored.
6:11 But they were filled with madness, and began to discuss
 with one another what they should do to Jesus.
6:12 /3 About that time He went out on one occasion into the /4
 hill country to pray; and He remained all night in /5 prayer to
 God.
6:13 When it was day, He called His disciples; and He selected
 from among them twelve, whom He also named Apostles.
6:14 /6 These were Simon, to whom also He /7 had given the name
 of Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and
 Bartholomew;
6:15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon
 called the Zealot;
6:16 /8 James's relative Judas, and Judas Iscariot who proved to
 be a traitor.
6:17 With these He came down /9 till He reached a level place,
 where there was a great crowd of His disciples, and a multitude
 of people from every part of Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from
 the sea-side district of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him
 and to be cured of their diseases;
6:18 and those who were tormented by foul spirits were cured.

6:19 The whole crowd were eager to touch Him, because power went
 forth from him and cured every one.
6:20 /1 Then fixing His eyes upon His disciples, Jesus said to
 them, "Blessed are you poor, because the Kingdom of God is
 yours.
6:21 "Blessed are you who hunger now, because your hunger shall
 be satisfied. "Blessed are you who now weep aloud, because you
 shall laugh.
6:22 /2 "Blessed are you when men shall hate you and exclude you
 from their society and insult you, and spurn your very names as
 evil things, for the Son of Man's sake.
6:23 "Be glad at such a time, and dance for joy; for your reward
 is great in Heaven; for that is just the way their forefathers
 behaved to the Prophets!
6:24 "But /3 alas for you rich men, because you already have
 your consolation!
6:25 "Alas for you who now have plenty to eat, because you will
 be hungry! "Alas for you who laugh now, because you will mourn
 and weep aloud!
6:26 "Alas for you when men shall all have spoken well of you;
 for that is just the way their forefathers behaved to the false
 Prophets!
6:27 /4 "But to you who are listening to me I say, Love your
 enemies; seek the welfare of those who hate you;
6:28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who revile you.
6:29 To him who gives you a blow on one side of the face offer
 the other side also; and to him who is robbing you of your
 outer garment refuse not the under one also.
6:30 To every one who asks, give; and from him who takes away
 your property, do not demand it back.
6:31 /5 And behave to your fellow men just as you would have
 them behave to you.

6:32 /1 "If you love those who love you, what credit is it to
 you? Why, even bad men love those who love them.
6:33 And if you are /2 kind to those who are kind to you, what
 credit is it to you? /3 Even bad men act thus.
6:34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive,
 what credit is it to you? Even bad men lend to their fellows so
 as to receive back an equal amount.
6:35 Nevertheless love your enemies, be beneficent; and lend
 without hoping for any repayment. Then your recompense shall be
 great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to
 the ungrateful and wicked.
6:36 Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.
6:37 /4 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not,
 and you shall not be condemned; /5 pardon, and you shall be /6
 pardoned;
6:38 give, and gifts shall be bestowed on you. Full measure,
 pressed, shaken down, and running over, shall they pour into
 your laps; for with the same measure that you use they shall
 measure to you in return."
6:39 /7 He also spoke to them in figurative language. "Can a
 blind man lead a blind man?" He asked; "would not both fall
 into the ditch?
6:40 There is no disciple who is superior to his teacher; but
 every one whose instruction is complete will be like his
 teacher.
6:41 "And why look at the splinter in your brother's eye instead
 of giving careful attention to the beam in your own?
6:42 How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me take that
 splinter out of your eye,' when all the while you yourself do
 not see the beam in your own eye? Vain pretender! take the beam
 out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly to
 take the splinter out of your brother's eye.
6:43 /8 "There is no good tree that yields unsound fruit, nor
 again any unsound tree that yields good fruit.
6:44 Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is not from thorns
 that men gather figs, nor from the bramble that they can get a
 bunch of grapes.

6:45 A good man from the good stored up in his heart brings out
 what is good; and an evil man from the evil stored up brings
 out what is evil; for from the overflow of his heart his mouth
 speaks.
6:46 "And why do you all call me `Master, Master' and yet not do
 what I tell you?
6:47 Every one who comes to me and listens to my words and puts
 them in practice, I will show you whom he is like.
6:48 He is like a man building a house, who /1 digs and goes
 deep, and lays the foundation on the rock; and when a flood
 comes, the torrent bursts upon that house, but is unable to
 shake it, because it is securely built.
6:49 But he who has heard and not practised is like a man who
 has built a house upon the soft soil without a foundation,
 against which the torrent bursts, and immediately it collapses,
 and terrible is the wreck and ruin of that house."
7:1 /2 After He had finished teaching all these things /3 in the
 hearing of the people, He went into Capernaum.
7:2 Here the /4 servant of a certain Captain, a man dear to his
 master, was ill and at the point of death;
7:3 and the Captain, hearing about Jesus, sent to Him some of
 the Jewish Elders, begging Him to come and /5 restore his
 servant to health.
7:4 And they, when they came to Jesus, earnestly entreated Him,
 pleading, "He deserves to have this favour granted him,
7:5 for he loves our nation, and at his own expense he built our
 synagogue for us."
7:6 Then Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the
 house, the Captain sent friends to Him with the message: "Sir,
 do not trouble to come. /6 I am not worthy of having you come
 under my roof;
7:7 and therefore I did not deem myself worthy to come to you.
 Only speak the word, and /7 let my /8 young man be cured.
7:8 For I too am a man obedient to authority, and have soldiers
 under me; and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes; to another,
 `Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, `Do this or that,' and
 he does it."

7:9 Jesus listened to the Captain's message and was astonished
 at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him,
 "I tell you that not even in Israel have I found faith like
 that."
7:10 And the friends who had been sent, on returning to the
 house, found the servant in perfect health.
7:11 /1 Shortly afterwards He went to a town called Nain,
 attended by /2 His disciples and a great crowd of people.
7:12 And just as He reached the gate of the town, they happened
 to be bringing out for burial a dead man who was his mother's
 only son; and she was a widow; and a great number of the
 townspeople were with her.
7:13 The Lord saw her, was moved with pity for her, and said to
 her, "Do not weep."
7:14 Then He went close and touched the bier, and the bearers
 halted. "Young man," He said, "I command you, wake!"
7:15 The dead man sat up and began to speak; and He restored him
 to his mother.
7:16 All were awe-struck, and they gave glory to God--some
 saying, "A Prophet, a great Prophet, has /3 risen up among us."
 Others said, "God has not forgotten His People."
7:17 And the report of what Jesus had done spread through the
 whole of Judaea and in all the surrounding districts.
7:18 /4 John's disciples brought him an account of all these
 things;
7:19 so John called two of his disciples and sent them to the
 Lord. "Are you the Coming One?" he asked, "or is there /5
 another that we are to expect?"
7:20 The men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist has sent
 us to you with this question: `Are you the Coming One, or is
 there another that we are to expect?'"

7:21 /1 He immediately cured many of diseases, severe pain, and
 evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave the gift of
 sight.
7:22 Then He answered the messengers, "Go and report to John
 what you have seen and heard. Blind men /2 receive sight, the
 lame walk, lepers are purified, deaf persons hear, the dead are
 /3 raised to life, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to
 them.
7:23 And blessed is every one who does not stumble and fall
 because of my claims."
7:24 /4 When John's messengers were gone, He proceeded to say to
 the multitude concerning John, "What did you go out into the
 Desert to gaze at? A reed waving in the wind?
7:25 But what did you go out to see? A man wearing luxurious
 clothes? People who are gorgeously dressed and live in luxury
 are found in palaces.
7:26 But what did you go out to see? A Prophet? Aye, I tell you,
 and far more than a Prophet.
7:27 John is the man about whom it is written, <`See, I am
 sending My messenger before thy face, and he shall make ready
 thy way before thee.'>
7:28 "I tell you that among all of women born there is not one
 greater than John. Yet one who is of lower rank in the Kingdom
 of God is greater than he.
7:29 And all the people, including the tax-gatherers, when they
 listened to him upheld the righteousness of God, by being
 baptized with John's baptism.
7:30 But the Pharisees and expounders of the Law have frustrated
 /5 God's purpose as to their own lives, by refusing to be /6
 baptized.
7:31 "To what then shall I compare the men of the present
 generation, and what do they resemble?
7:32 They are like children sitting in the public square and
 calling out to one another, `We have played the flute to you,
 and you have not danced: we have sung dirges, and you have not
 shown sorrow.'

7:33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking
 no wine, and you say, `He has a demon!'
7:34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say,
 `Look, there is a man who is overfond of eating and
 drinking--he is a friend of tax-gatherers and notorious
 sinners!'
7:35 But wisdom /1 is justified by all /2 who are truly wise."
7:36 /3 Now one of the Pharisees /4 repeatedly invited Him to a
 meal at his house; so He entered the house and reclined at the
 table.
7:37 And there was a woman in the town who was a notorious
 sinner. Having learnt that Jesus /5 was at table in the
 Pharisee's house she brought a flask of perfume,
7:38 and, standing /6 behind close to His feet, weeping, began
 to wet His feet with her tears; and with her hair she wiped the
 tears away again, while she lovingly kissed His feet and poured
 the perfume over them.
7:39 Noticing this, the Pharisee, His host, said to himself, /7
 "This man, if he were really a Prophet, would know who and what
 sort of person this woman is who is touching him--and would
 know that she is an immoral woman."
7:40 In answer to /8 his thoughts Jesus said to him, "Simon, I
 have a word to say to you." /9 "Rabbi, say on," he replied.
7:41 "There were once two men in debt to one money-lender," said
 Jesus; "one owed him five hundred shillings and the other
 fifty.
7:42 But neither of them could pay anything; so he freely
 forgave them both. Tell me, then, which of them will love him
 most?"
7:43 "I suppose," replied Simon, "the one to whom he forgave
 most." "You have judged rightly," Jesus rejoined.

7:44 Then turning towards the woman He said to Simon, "Do you
 see this woman? I came into your house: you gave me no water
 for my feet; but she has made my feet wet with her tears, and
 then wiped the tears away with her hair.
7:45 No kiss did you give me; but she from the moment I came in
 has not left off tenderly kissing my feet.
7:46 No oil did you pour even on my head; but she has poured
 perfume upon my feet.
7:47 This is the reason why I tell you that her sins, her many
 sins, /1 are forgiven--because she has loved much; but he who
 is forgiven little, loves little."
7:48 And He said to her, "Your sins /1 are forgiven."
7:49 Then the other guests began to say to themselves, "Who can
 this man be who even forgives sins?"
7:50 But He said to the woman, "Your faith has /2 cured you: /3
 go, and be at peace."
8:1 Shortly after this He visited town after town, and village
 after village, proclaiming His Message and telling /4 the Good
 News of the Kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him,
8:2 and certain women whom He had /5 delivered from evil spirits
 and various diseases--Mary of Magdala, out of whom seven demons
 had come,
8:3 and /6 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and
 Susanna, and many other women, all of whom contributed to /7
 the support of Jesus and His Apostles.
8:4 /8 And when a great crowd was assembling, and was receiving
 additions from one town after another, He spoke a parable to
 them.
8:5 "The sower," He said, /9 "goes out to sow his seed; and as
 he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and is trodden
 upon, or the birds of the air come and peck it up.
8:6 Another part drops upon the rock, and after growing up it
 withers away for want of moisture.

8:7 Another part falls among the thorns, and the thorns grow up
 with it and stifle it.
8:8 But some of the seed falls into good ground, and grows up
 and yields a return of a hundred for one." While thus speaking,
 He cried aloud and said, "Listen, every one who has ears to
 listen with!"
8:9 The disciples /1 proceeded to ask Him what this parable
 meant.
8:10 "To you," He replied, "it is granted to know the secrets of
 the Kingdom of God; but all others are taught by parables, in
 order that they may see and yet not see, and may hear and yet
 not understand.
8:11 The meaning of the parable is as follows. The seed is God's
 Message.
8:12 Those by the way-side are those who have heard, and then
 the Devil comes and carries away the Message from their hearts,
 lest they should believe and be saved.
8:13 Those on the rock are the people who on hearing the Message
 receive it joyfully; but they have no root: for a time they
 believe, but when trial comes they fall away.
8:14 That which fell among the thorns means those who have
 heard, but as they go on their way, the Message is stifled by
 the anxieties, wealth and gaieties of time, and they yield
 nothing in perfection.
8:15 But as for that in the good ground, it means those who,
 having listened to the Message with open /2 minds and in a
 right spirit, hold it fast, and patiently yield a return.
8:16 "When any one lights a lamp, he does not cover it with a
 vessel or hide it under /3 a couch; he puts it on /4 a
 lampstand, that people who enter the room may see the light.
8:17 There is nothing hidden, which shall not be openly seen;
 nor anything secret, which shall not be known and come into the
 light of day.
8:18 Be careful, therefore, how you hear; for whoever has
 anything, to him more shall be given, and whoever has nothing,
 even that which he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."

8:19 /1 Then came to Him His mother and His brothers, but could
 not get near Him for the crowd.
8:20 But He was told, "Your mother and brothers are standing on
 the edge of the crowd, and want to see you."
8:21 "My mother and my brothers," He replied, "are /2 these who
 hear God's Message and obey it."
8:22 /3 One day He went on board a boat--both He and his
 disciples; and He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other
 side of the Lake." So they set sail.
2:23 During the passage He fell asleep, and there came down a
 squall of wind on the Lake, so that /4 the boat began to fill
 and they were in deadly peril.
8:24 So they came and woke Him, crying, /5 "Rabbi, Rabbi, we are
 drowning." Then He roused Himself and rebuked the wind and the
 surging of the water, and they ceased and there was a calm.
8:25 "Where is your faith?" He asked them. But they were filled
 with terror and amazement, and said to one another, "Who then
 is this? for He gives orders both to wind and waves, and they
 obey Him."
8:26 /6 Then they put in to shore in the country of the /7
 Gerasenes, which lies opposite to Galilee.
8:27 Here, on landing, He was met by one of the townsmen who was
 possessed by demons--for a long time he had not put on any
 garment, nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs.
8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him,
 and said in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus,
 Son of God Most High? Do not torture me, I beseech you."
8:29 For already He /8 had been commanding the foul spirit to
 come out of the man. For /9 many a time it had seized and held
 him, and they had repeatedly put him in chains and fetters and
 kept guard over him, but he used to break the chains to pieces,
 and, impelled by the demon, to escape into the Desert.

8:30 "What is your name?" Jesus asked him. "Legion," he
 replied--because a great number of demons had entered into him;
8:31 and they besought Him not to command them to be gone into
 the /1 Bottomless Pit.
8:32 Now there was /2 a great herd of swine there feeding on the
 hill-side; and the demons begged Him to give them leave to go
 into them, and He gave them leave.
8:33 The demons /3 came out of the man and left him, and entered
 into the swine; and the herd rushed violently over the cliff
 into the Lake and were drowned.
8:34 The swineherds, seeing what had happened, fled and reported
 it both in town and country;
8:35 whereupon the people came out to see what had happened.
 They came to Jesus, and 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 terrified.
8:36 /4 And those who had seen it told them how the demoniac was
 cured.
8:37 Then the whole population of the Gerasenes and of the
 adjacent districts begged Him to depart from them; for /5 their
 terror was great. So He went on board and returned.
8:38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out earnestly
 asked permission to go with Him; but He sent him away.
8:39 "Return home," He said, "and tell there all that God has
 done for you." So he went and published through the whole town
 all that Jesus had done for him.
8:40 /6 Now when Jesus /7 was returning, the people gave Him a
 warm welcome; for they had all been looking out for Him.
8:41 Just then there came a man named Jair, a Warden of the
 Synagogue, who threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and
 entreated Him to come to his house;

8:42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and
 she was dying. And as He went, the dense throng crowded on Him.
8:43 And a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with
 haemorrhage--and had spent on doctors all she had, but /1 none
 of them had been able to cure her--
8:44 came close behind Him and touched the tassel of His robe;
 and instantly her flow of blood stopped.
8:45 "Who is it touched me?" Jesus asked. And when all denied
 having done so, Peter and the rest said, "Rabbi, the crowds are
 hemming you in and pressing on you."
8:46 "Some one has touched me," Jesus replied, "for /2 I feel
 that power has gone out from me."
8:47 Then the woman, perceiving that she had not escaped notice,
 came trembling, and throwing herself down at His feet she
 stated before all the people the reason why she had touched Him
 and how she was instantly cured.
8:48 "Daughter," said He, "your faith has cured you; go, and be
 at peace." /3
8:49 While He was still speaking, some one came to the Warden of
 the Synagogue from his house and said, "Your daughter is dead;
 trouble the /4 Rabbi no further."
8:50 Jesus heard the words and said to him, "Have no fear. Only
 believe, and she shall be restored to life."
8:51 So He came to the house, but allowed no one to go in with
 Him but Peter and John and James and the girl's father and
 mother.
8:52 The people were all weeping aloud and beating their breasts
 for her; but He said, "Leave off wailing; for she is not dead,
 but asleep."
8:53 And they jeered at Him, knowing that she was dead.
8:54 He, however, took her by the hand and called aloud, "Child,
 awake!"

8:55 And her spirit returned, and instantly she stood up; and He
 directed them to give her some food.
8:56 Her parents were /1 astounded; but He forbad them to
 mention the matter to any one.
9:1 /2 Then calling the Twelve together He conferred on them
 power and authority over all the demons and to cure diseases;
9:2 and sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to cure
 /3 the sick.
9:3 And He commanded them, "Take nothing for your journey;
 neither stick nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have an
 extra under garment.
9:4 Whatever house you enter, make that your home, and from it
 start afresh.
9:5 Wherever they refuse to receive you, as you leave that town
 shake off the very dust from your feet as a protest against
 them."
9:6 So they departed and visited village after village,
 spreading the Good News and performing cures everywhere.
9:7 /4 Now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was going on;
 and he was bewildered because of its being said by some that
 John had come back to life,
9:8 by others that Elijah had appeared, and by others that some
 one of the ancient Prophets had come back to life.
9:9 And Herod said, "John I have beheaded; but who is this, of
 whom I hear such reports?" And he sought for an opportunity of
 seeing Jesus.
9:10 /5 The Apostles, on their return, related to Jesus all they
 had done. Then He took them and withdrew to a quiet retreat, /6
 to a town called Bethsaida.
9:11 But the immense crowd, aware of this, followed Him; and
 receiving them kindly He proceeded to speak to them of the
 Kingdom of God, and those who needed to be restored to health,
 He cured.
9:12 Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve came to Him
 and said, "Send the people away, that they may go to the
 villages and farms round about and find lodging and a supply of
 food; because here we are in an uninhabited district."
9:13 "You yourselves," He said, "must give them food." "We have
 nothing," they replied, "but five loaves and a couple of fish,
 unless indeed we were to go and buy provisions for all this
 host of people."

9:14 (For there were about 5,000 adult men.) But He said to His
 disciples, "Make them sit down in parties of about fifty each."
9:15 They did so, making them all, without exception, sit down.
9:16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking
 up to Heaven He blessed them and broke them into portions which
 He gave to the disciples /1 to distribute to the people.
9:17 So they ate and were fully satisfied, all of them; and what
 they had remaining over was gathered up, twelve baskets of
 fragments.
9:18 /2 One day when He was praying by Himself the disciples
 were present; and He asked them, "Who do the people say that I
 am?"
9:19 "John the Baptist," they replied; "but others say Elijah;
 and others that some one of the ancient Prophets has come back
 to life."
9:20 "But you," He asked, "who do you say that I am?" "God's /3
 Anointed One," replied Peter.
9:21 And Jesus strictly forbad them to tell this to any one;
9:22 and He said, "The Son of Man must suffer much cruelty, be
 rejected by the Elders and High Priests and Scribes, and be put
 to death, and on the third day /4 be raised to life again."
9:23 And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following
 me, let him /5 ignore self and take up his cross day by day,
 and so be my follower.
9:24 For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and
 whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it.
9:25 Why, what benefit is it to a man to have gained the whole
 world, but to have lost or /6 forfeited his own self.
9:26 For whoever shall have been ashamed of me and my teachings,
 of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own
 and the Father's glory and in that of the holy angels.

9:27 I tell you truly that there are some of those who stand
 here who will certainly not taste death /1 till they have seen
 the Kingdom of God."
9:28 /2 It was about eight days after this that Jesus, taking
 with Him Peter, John, and James, went /3 up the mountain to
 pray.
9:29 And while He was praying the appearance of His face
 underwent a change, and His clothing became white and /4
 radiant.
9:30 And suddenly there were two men conversing with Him, who
 were Moses and Elijah.
9:31 They /5 came in glory, and kept speaking about His death,
 which He was so soon to undergo in Jerusalem.
9:32 Now Peter and the others were weighed down with sleep; but,
 keeping themselves awake all through, they saw His glory, and
 the two men standing with Him.
9:33 And when they were preparing to depart from Him, Peter said
 to Jesus, /6 "Rabbi, we are thankful to you that we are here.
 Let us put up three tents--one for you, one for Moses, and one
 for Elijah." He did not know what he was saying.
9:34 But while he was thus speaking, there came a cloud which /7
 spread over them; and they were awe-struck when /8 they had
 entered into the cloud.
9:35 Then there came a voice from within the cloud: "This is My
 Son, My Chosen One: listen to Him."
9:36 After this voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They
 kept it to themselves, and said not a word to any one at that
 time about what they had seen.
9:37 /9 On the following day, when they were come down from the
 mountain, a great crowd came to meet Him;

9:38 and a man from the crowd called out, /1 "Rabbi, /2 I beg
 you to pity my son, for he is my only child.
9:39 At times a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. It
 convulses him, and makes him foam at the mouth, and /3 does not
 leave him till it has well-nigh covered him with bruises.
9:40 I entreated your disciples to expel the spirit, but they
 could not."
9:41 "O unbelieving and perverse generation!" replied Jesus;
 "how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son
 here to me."
9:42 Now while the youth was coming, the spirit /4 dashed him to
 the ground and cruelly convulsed him. But Jesus /5 rebuked the
 foul spirit, and cured the youth and gave him back to his
 father.
9:43 /6 And all were awe-struck at the /7 mighty power of God.
 And while every one was expressing wonder at all that He was
 doing, He said to his disciples,
9:44 "As for you, store these my sayings in your /8 memory; for,
 before long, the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of
 men."
9:45 But they did not understand His meaning: it was /9 veiled
 from them that they might not perceive it, and they were afraid
 to ask Him about it.
9:46 /10 Now there arose a dispute among them, which of them was
 to be the greatest.
9:47 And Jesus, /11 knowing the reasoning that was in their
 hearts, took a young child and made him stand by His side
9:48 and said to them, /12 "Whoever /13 for my sake receives
 this little child, receives me; and whoever receives me,
 receives Him who sent me. For the lowliest among you all--he is
 the /14 greatest."

9:49 "Rabbi," replied John, "we have seen a man making use of
 your name to expel demons; and we forbad him, because he does
 not come with us."
9:50 "Do not forbid him," said Jesus, "for he who is not against
 you is on your side."
9:51 Now when the time drew near for Him to be received up again
 into Heaven, He proceeded with fixed purpose towards Jerusalem,
 and sent messengers before Him.
9:52 They went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make
 ready for Him.
9:53 But the people there would not receive Him, because He was
 evidently going to Jerusalem.
9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said,
 "Master, do you wish us to order fire to come down from Heaven
 and /1 consume them?"
9:55 But He turned and rebuked them. /2
9:56 And they went to another village.
9:57 /3 And, as they proceeded on their way, a man came to Him
 and said, "I will follow you wherever you go."
9:58 "The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the
 air have /4 nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His
 head."
9:59 "Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied,
 "allow me first to go and bury my /5 father."
9:60 "Leave the dead," Jesus rejoined, "to bury their own dead;
 but you must go and announce far and wide /6 the coming of the
 Kingdom of God."
9:61 "Master," said yet another, "I will follow you; but allow
 me first to go and say good-bye to my friends at home."

9:62 Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the
 plough, and then looks behind him, is /1 fit for the Kingdom of
 God.
10:1 /2 After this the Lord appointed /3 seventy /4 others, and
 sent them before Him, by twos, to go to every town or place
 which He Himself intended to visit.
10:2 And He addressed them thus: /5 "The harvest is abundant,
 but the reapers are few: therefore entreat the Owner of the
 harvest to send out more reapers into His /6 fields. And now
 go.
10:3 Remember that I am sending you out as lambs into the midst
 of wolves.
10:4 Carry no purse, bag, nor change of shoes; and /7 salute no
 one on your way."
10:5 "Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace be to this
 house!'
10:6 And if there is a /8 lover of peace there, your peace shall
 rest /9 upon it; otherwise come back upon you.
10:7 And /10 in that same house stay, eating and drinking at
 their table; for the labourer deserves his wages. Do not move
 from one house to another.
10:8 "And whatever town you come to and they receive you, eat
 what they put before you.
10:9 Cure the sick in that town, and tell them, "`The Kingdom of
 God is now at your door.'
10:10 "But whatever town you come to and they will not receive
 you, go out into the broader streets and say,
10:11 "`The very dust of your town that hangs about us we wipe
 off as a protest. Only be sure of this, that the Kingdom of God
 is close at hand.'
10:12 "I tell you that it will be more endurable for Sodom on
 the great day than for that town.
10:13 /11 "Alas for thee, Chorazin! Alas for thee, Bethsaida!
 For had the miracles been performed in Tyre and Sidon which
 have been performed in you, long ere now they would have
 repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

10:14 However, for Tyre and Sidon it will be more endurable at
 the Judgement than for you.
10:15 And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be lifted high as Heaven?
 Thou shalt be driven down as low as Hades.
10:16 "He who listens to you listens to me; and he who /1
 disregards you disregards me, and he who disregards me
 disregards Him who sent me."
10:17 /2 When the Seventy returned, they exclaimed joyfully,
 "Master, even the demons submit to us /3 when we utter your
 name."
10:18 "I saw Satan /4 fall like a lightning-flash out of
 Heaven," He replied.
10:19 "I have given you /5 power to tread serpents and scorpions
 underfoot, and to trample on all the power of the Enemy; and in
 no case shall anything do you harm.
10:20 Nevertheless rejoice not at this, that the spirits submit
 to you; but rejoice that your names are registered in Heaven."
10:21 On that /6 same occasion Jesus was filled by the Holy
 Spirit with /7 rapturous joy. "I give Thee fervent thanks," He
 exclaimed, "O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast
 hidden these things from sages and men of understanding, and
 hast revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for such has been Thy
 gracious will.
10:22 All things are delivered to me by my Father; and no one
 knows who the Son is but the Father, nor who the Father is but
 the Son, and he to whom the Son may choose to reveal /8 Him."
10:23 And He turned towards His disciples and said to them
 apart, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!
10:24 For I tell you that many Prophets and kings have desired
 to see the things you see, and have not seen them, and to hear
 the things you hear, and have not heard them."

10:25 Then an expounder of the Law stood up to test Him with a
 question. /1 "Rabbi," he asked, "what shall I do to inherit the
 Life of the Ages?"
10:26 "Go to the Law," said Jesus; "what is written there? how
 does it read?"
10:27 <"`Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,'"> he replied, /2
 <"`with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole strength,
 and thy whole mind; and thy fellow man as much as thyself.'">
10:28 "A right answer," said Jesus; "do that, and you shall
 live."
10:29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said, "But what is
 meant by my `fellow man'?"
10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was once on his way down from
 Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among robbers, who after both
 stripping and beating him went away, leaving him half dead.
10:31 Now a priest happened to be going down that way, and on
 seeing him passed by on the other side.
10:32 In like manner a Levite also came to the place, and seeing
 him passed by on the other side.
10:33 But a certain Samaritan, being on a journey, came where he
 lay, and seeing him was moved with pity.
10:34 He went to him, and dressed his wounds with oil and wine
 and bound them up. Then placing him on his own /3 mule he
 brought him to an /4 inn, where he bestowed every care on him.
10:35 The next day he took out two shillings and gave them to
 the innkeeper. "`Take care of him,' he said, `and whatever
 further expense you are put to, I will repay it you at my next
 visit.'
10:36 "Which of those three seems to you to have acted /5 like a
 fellow man to him who fell among the robbers?"
10:37 /6 "The one who showed him pity," he replied. "Go," said
 Jesus, "and act in the same way."

10:38 As they pursued their journey He came to a certain
 village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house.
10:39 She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself /1 at the
 Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.
10:40 Martha meanwhile was /2 busy and distracted in waiting at
 table, and she /3 came and said, "Master, do you not care that
 my sister /4 is leaving me to do all the waiting? Tell her to
 assist me."
10:41 "Martha, Martha," replied Jesus, "you are anxious and
 worried about a multitude of things;
10:42 and yet /5 only one thing is really necessary. Mary has
 chosen the good portion and she shall not be deprived of it."
11:1 /6 At one place where He was praying, when He /7 rose from
 His knees one of His disciples said to Him, "Master, teach us
 to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
11:2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say, `Father may Thy
 name be kept holy; let Thy Kingdom come;
11:3 /8 give us day after day our bread for the day;
11:4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive
 every one who /9 fails in his duty to us; and bring us not into
 temptation.'"

11:5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend and
 shall go to him in the middle of the night and say, "`Friend,
 lend me three loaves of bread;
11:6 for a friend of mine has just come to my house from a
 distance, and I have nothing for him to eat'?
11:7 "And /1 he from indoors shall answer, "`Do not pester me.
 The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children.
 I cannot get up and give you bread.'
11:8 "I tell you that even if he will not rise and give him the
 loaves because he is his friend, at any rate because of his /2
 persistency he will rouse himself and give him as many as he
 requires.
11:9 "So I say to you, `Ask, and what you ask for shall be given
 to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be
 opened to you.'
11:10 For every one who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds;
 and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.
11:11 And what father is there among you, who, if his son asks
 for /3 a slice of bread, will offer him a stone? or if he asks
 for a fish, will instead of a fish offer him a snake?
11:12 or if he asks for an egg, will offer him a scorpion?
11:13 If you then, /4 with all your human frailty, know how to
 give your children gifts that are good for them, how much more
 certainly will your Father /5 who is in Heaven give the Holy
 Spirit to those who ask Him!"
11:14 /6 On once occasion He was expelling a dumb demon; and
 when the demon was gone out the dumb man could speak, and the
 /7 people were astonished.
11:15 But some among them said, "It is /8 by the power of
 Baal-zebul, the Prince of the demons, that he expels the
 demons."

11:16 Others, to put Him to the test, asked Him for a /1 sign in
 the sky.
11:17 /2 And, knowing their thoughts, He said to them, "Every
 kingdom /3 in which civil war rages goes to ruin: /4 family
 attacks family and is overthrown.
11:18 And if Satan /5 really has engaged in fierce conflict with
 himself, how shall his kingdom stand?--because you say that I
 expel demons by the power of Baal-zebul.
11:19 And if it is by the power of Baal-zebul that I expel the
 demons, by whom do /6 your disciples expel them? They therefore
 shall be your judges.
11:20 But if it is by the /7 power of God that I drive out the
 demons, it is evident that /8 the Kingdom of God /9 has come
 upon you.
11:21 "Whenever a strong man, fully armed and equipped, is
 guarding his own castle, he enjoys peaceful possession of his
 property;
11:22 but as soon as another stronger than he attacks him and
 overcomes him, he takes away that complete armour of his in
 which he trusted, and distributes the plunder he has collected.
11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever is not
 gathering with me is scattering abroad.
11:24 "When a foul spirit has left a man, it roams about in the
 Desert, seeking a resting-place; but, unable to find any, it
 says, `I will return to the house I have left;"
11:25 and when it comes, it finds the house swept clean and /10
 in good order.
11:26 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more
 malignant than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and in
 the end that man's condition becomes worse than it was at
 first.

11:27 As He thus spoke a woman in the crowd called out in a loud
 voice, "Blessed is the mother who carried you, and the breasts
 that you have sucked."
11:28 /1 "Nay rather," He replied, "they are blessed who hear
 God's Message and /2 carefully keep it."
11:29 /3 Now when the crowds came thronging upon Him, He
 proceeded to say, "The present generation is a wicked
 generation: it requires some sign, but no sign shall be given
 to it except that of Jonah.
11:30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so
 the Son of Man will be a token to the present generation.
11:31 The Queen of the South will awake at the Judgement
 together with the men of the present generation, and will
 condemn them; because she came from the extremity of the earth
 to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but mark! /4 One greater than
 Solomon is here.
11:32 There will stand up men of Nineveh at the Judgement
 together with the present generation, and will condemn it;
 because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and mark! /4
 One greater than Jonah is here.
11:33 "When any one lights a lamp, he never puts it /5 in the
 cellar or under the bushel, but on the lampstand, that people
 who come in may see the light.
11:34 The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eyesight is
 good, your whole body also is lighted up; but when it is
 defective, your body is darkened.
11:35 Consider therefore whether the light that is in you is
 anything but mere darkness.
11:36 If, however, your whole body is penetrated with light, and
 has no part dark, it will be so lighted, all of it, as when the
 lamp with its bright shining gives you light."
11:37 When He had thus spoken, a Pharisee invited Him to
 breakfast at his house; so He entered and took His place at
 table.
11:38 Now the Pharisee saw to his surprise that He did not wash
 His hands before breakfasting.

11:39 The Master however said to him, "Here we see how you
 Pharisees clean the outside of the cup or plate, while your
 secret hearts are full of greed and /1 selfishness.
11:40 Foolish men! Did not He who made the outside make the
 inside also?
11:41 But as to what is within, /2 give alms, and /3 instantly
 all is clean /4 in you.
11:42 "But /5 alas for you Pharisees! for you pay tithes on your
 mint and rue and every kind of garden vegetable, and are
 indifferent to justice and the love of God. These are the
 things you ought to have /6 attended to, while not neglecting
 the others.
11:43 Alas for you Pharisees! for you love the best seats in the
 synagogues, and you like to be bowed to in places of public
 resort.
11:44 Alas for you! for you are like the tombs which lie hidden,
 and the people who walk over them are not aware of their
 existence."
11:45 Hereupon one of the expounders of the Law exclaimed, /7
 "Rabbi, in saying such things you reproach us also."
11:46 "Alas too for you expounders of the Law!" replied Jesus,
 "for you load men with cumbrous burdens which you yourselves
 will not touch with one of your fingers.
11:47 Alas for you! for you repair the tombs of the Prophets,
 whom your forefathers killed.
11:48 /8 It follows that you /9 bear testimony to the actions of
 your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof. They slew,
 you build.
11:49 "For this reason also the Wisdom of God has said, `I will
 send Prophets and Apostles to them, of whom they will kill some
 and persecute others,'
11:50 so that the blood of all the Prophets, /10 that is being
 shed from the creation of the world onwards, may be /11
 required from the present generation.
11:51 Yes, I tell you that, /12 from the blood of Abel down to
 the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the
 House, it shall all be required from the present generation.

11:52 "Alas for you expounders of the Law! for you have taken
 away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered, and
 those who wanted to enter you have hindered."
11:53 After He had left the house, the Scribes and Pharisees
 commenced a vehement attempt to entangle Him and make Him give
 off-hand answers on numerous points,
11:54 lying in wait to catch some unguarded expression from His
 lips.
12:1 Meanwhile the people had come streaming towards Him by tens
 of thousands, so that they were trampling one another under
 foot. And now He proceeded to say /1 to His disciples first,
 "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is to say, beware
 of hypocrisy.
12:2 There is nothing that is covered up which will not be
 uncovered, nor hidden which will not become known.
12:3 Whatever therefore you have said in the dark, will be heard
 in the light; and what you have whispered within closed doors
 will be proclaimed from the house-tops.
12:4 "But to you who are my friends I say, "`Be not afraid of
 those who kill the body and after that can do nothing further.
12:5 I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who after killing
 has power to throw into Gehenna: yes, I say to you, fear him.
12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for /2 a penny? and yet not one
 of them is a thing forgotten in God's sight.
12:7 But the very hairs on your heads are all counted. Away with
 fear: you are more precious than a multitude of sparrows.'
12:8 "And I tell you that /3 every man who shall have /4
 acknowledged me before men, the Son of Man will also
 acknowledge before the angels of God.
12:9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before
 the angels of God.
12:10 "Moreover every one who /5 shall speak against the Son of
 Man, /6 may obtain forgiveness; but he who /7 blasphemes the
 Holy Spirit will never obtain forgiveness.
12:11 And when they are bringing you before synagogues and
 magistrates and governors, do not anxiously ponder the manner
 or matter of your defence, nor what you are to say;

12:12 for the Holy Spirit shall teach you at that very moment
 what you must say."
12:13 Just then a man in the crowd appealed to Him. /1 "Rabbi,"
 he said, "tell my brother to give me a share of the
 inheritance."
12:14 "Man," He replied, "who has constituted me a judge or
 arbitrator over you?"
12:15 And to the people He said, "Take care, be on your guard
 against all covetousness, for no one's life consists in the
 superabundance of his possessions."
12:16 And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's
 lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops,
12:17 and he debated within himself, saying, "`What am I to do?
 for I have no place in which to store my crops.'
12:18 "And he said to himself, "`This is what I will do: I will
 pull down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will
 store up all my harvest and my wealth;
12:19 and I will say to my /2 life, "`Life, you have ample
 possessions laid up for many years to come: take your ease,
 eat, drink, enjoy yourself.'
12:20 "But God said to him, "`Foolish man, this night your life
 is demanded from you; and these preparations--for whom shall
 they be?'
12:21 "So is it with him who amasses treasure for himself, but
 has no riches /3 in God."
12:22 Then turning to His disciples He said, /4 "For this reason
 I say to you, `Dismiss all anxious care for your /5 lives,
 inquiring what you are to eat, and for your /6 bodies, what you
 are to put on.'
12:23 For life is a greater gift than /7 food, and the body is a
 greater gift than clothing.

12:24 /1 Observe the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, and have
 neither store-chamber nor barn. And yet God feeds them. How far
 more precious are you than the birds!
12:25 And which of you is able by anxious thought to add /2 a /3
 moment to his life?
12:26 If then you are unable to do even a very little thing, why
 be over-anxious about other matters?
12:27 Observe the lilies, how they grow. They neither labour nor
 spin. And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
 splendour was /4 as beautifully dressed as one of these.
12:28 But if God so clothes the vegetation in the fields, that
 /5 blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven,
 how much more certainly will He clothe you, you men of feeble
 faith!
12:29 "Therefore, do not be asking what you are to eat nor what
 you are to drink; and do not waver between hope and fear.
12:30 For though the nations of the world pursue these things,
 as for you, your Father knows that you need them.
12:31 But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit, and these
 things shall be given you in addition.
12:32 "Dismiss your fears, little flock: your Father finds a
 pleasure in giving you the Kingdom.
12:33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves
 with purses that will never wear out, a treasure inexhaustible
 in Heaven, where no thief can come nor moth consume.
12:34 For where your wealth is stored, there also will your
 heart be.
12:35 "Have your girdles on, and let your lamps be alight;
12:36 and be yourselves like men waiting for their master--on
 the look-out till he shall /6 return from the wedding
 feast--that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door
 instantly.
12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom their Master when He
 comes shall find on the watch. I tell you in solemn truth, that
 He will tie an apron round Him, and will bid them recline at
 table while He comes and waits on them.
12:38 And whether it be in the second watch or in the third that
 He comes and finds them so, blessed are they.
12:39 Of this be sure, that if the master of the house had known
 what time the robber was coming, he would have kept awake and
 not have allowed his house to be broken into.

12:40 Be you also ready, for at an hour when you are not
 expecting Him the Son of Man will come."
12:41 "Master," said Peter, "are you addressing this parable to
 us, or to all alike?"
12:42 "Who, then," replied the Lord, "is the faithful and
 intelligent steward whom his Master will put in charge of His
 household to serve out their rations at the proper times?
12:43 Blessed is that servant whom his Master when He comes
 shall find so doing.
12:44 I tell you truly that He will put him in authority over
 all His possessions.
12:45 But if that servant /1 should say in his heart, `My Master
 is a long time in coming,' and should begin to beat the /2
 menservants and the maids, and to eat and drink, drinking even
 to excess;
12:46 that servant's Master will come on a day when he is not
 expecting Him and at an hour that he knows not of, and will /3
 punish him severely, and make him share the lot of the
 unfaithful.
12:47 And that servant who has been told his Master's will and
 yet made no preparation and did not obey His will, will receive
 many lashes.
12:48 But he who had not been told it and yet did what deserved
 the scourge, will receive but few lashes. To whomsoever much
 has been given, from him much will be required; and to whom
 much has been /4 entrusted, of him a larger amount will be
 demanded.
12:49 /5 "I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my
 desire? Oh that it were even now kindled!
12:50 /6 But I have a baptism to undergo; and how am I pent up
 till it is accomplished!
12:51 /7 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? No,
 I tell you that I came to bring dissension.
12:52 For from this time there will be in one house five persons
 split into parties. Three will form a party against two and two
 will form a party against three;

12:53 father against son and son against father; mother
 attacking daughter and daughter her mother, mother-in-law her
 daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law her mother-in-law."
12:54 Then He said to the /1 people also, "When you see a cloud
 /2 rising in the west, you immediately say, `There is to be /3
 a shower;' and it comes to pass.
12:55 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, `It will
 be burning hot;' and it comes to pass.
12:56 Vain pretenders! You know how to read the aspect of earth
 and sky. How is it you cannot read this present time?
12:57 "Why, too, do you not of yourselves arrive at just
 conclusions?
12:58 /4 For when, with /5 your opponent, /5 you are /6 going
 before the magistrate, on the way take pains to get out of his
 power; for fear that, if he /7 should drag you before the
 judge, the judge /7 may hand you over to the officer of the
 court, and the officer lodge you in prison.
12:59 Never, I tell you, will you get free till you have paid
 the last farthing."
13:1 Just at that time people came to tell Him about the
 Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
 sacrifices.
13:2 "Do you suppose," He asked in reply, "that /8 those
 Galilaeans were worse sinners than the mass of the Galilaeans,
 because this happened to them?
13:3 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you /9 are
 not penitent you will all perish /10 as they did.

13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, do you
 suppose they had /1 failed in their duty more than all the rest
 of the people who live in Jerusalem?
13:5 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you /2 do
 not repent you will all perish /3 just as they did."
13:6 And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said,
 "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for
 fruit on it and could find none.
13:7 So he said to the gardener, "`See, this is the third year I
 have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find
 any. Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually
 wasted?'
13:8 "But the gardener pleaded, "`Leave it, Sir, this year also,
 till I have dug round it and manured it.
13:9 If after that it bears fruit, /4 well and good; if it does
 not, then you shall cut it down.'"
13:10 Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the
 synagogues
13:11 where a woman was present who for eighteen years /5 had
 been a confirmed invalid: she was bent double, and was unable
 to lift herself to her full height.
13:12 But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her,
 "Woman, /6 you are free from your weakness."
13:13 And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood
 upright and began to give glory to God.
13:14 Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus had
 cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days
 in the week on which people ought to work. On those days
 therefore come and get yourselves cured, and not on the Sabbath
 day."
13:15 But the Lord's reply to him was, "Hypocrites, does not
 each of you on the Sabbath untie his bullock or his ass from
 the stall and lead him to water?
13:16 And this woman, daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan
 had bound for no less than eighteen years, was she not to be
 loosed from this chain because it is the Sabbath day?"

13:17 When He had said this, all His opponents were ashamed,
 while the whole multitude was delighted at the many glorious
 things continually done by Him.
13:18 /1 This prompted Him to say, "What is the Kingdom of God
 like? and to what shall I compare it?
13:19 It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil
 in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose
 branches the birds roost."
13:20 And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of
 God?
13:21 It is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a
 bushel of flour, to work there till the whole is leavened."
13:22 He was passing through town after town and village after
 village, steadily proceeding towards Jerusalem,
13:23 when some one asked Him, "Sir, are there but few who are
 to be saved?"
13:24 /2 "Strain every nerve to force your way in through the
 narrow gate," He answered; "for multitudes, I tell you, will /3
 endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed.
13:25 /4 As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and
 shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at
 the door and say, "`Sir, open the door for us' --"`I do not
 know you,' He answers; /5 `you are no friends of mine.'
13:26 "Then you will plead, "`We have eaten and drunk in your
 company and you have taught in our streets.'
13:27 "But He will reply, "`I tell you that you are no friends
 of mine. Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'
13:28 "There will be /6 the weeping and gnashing of teeth, when
 you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the
 Kingdom of God, and yourselves being

/1 driven far away.
13:29 They will come from east and west, from north and south,
 and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of God.
13:30 And /2 I tell you that some now last /3 will then be
 first, and some now first will then be last."
13:31 Just at that time there came some Pharisees who warned
 Him, saying, "Leave this place and continue your journey; Herod
 means to kill you."
13:32 "Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox:
 "`See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and
 effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'
13:33 /4 "Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow
 and the day following; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet
 should perish outside of Jerusalem.
13:34 /5 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets
 and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I
 desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood
 under her wings, and you would not come!
13:35 See, your house /6 is left to you. But I tell you that you
 will never see me again /7 until you say, <`Blessed is He who
 comes in the name of the Lord!'">
14:1 One day--it was a Sabbath--He was /8 taking a meal at the
 house of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party, while they
 were closely watching Him.
14:2 In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
14:3 This led Jesus to ask the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it
 allowable to cure people on the Sabbath?"
14:4 They gave Him no answer; so He took hold of the man, cured
 him, and sent him away.
14:5 Then He turned to them and said, "Which of you shall have a
 /9 child or an ox fall into a well on the Sabbath day, and will
 not immediately lift him out?"

14:6 To this they could make no reply.
14:7 Then, when He noticed that the invited guests chose the
 best /1 seats, He used this as an illustration and said to
 them,
14:8 "When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take
 the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you
 may have been asked,
14:9 and the man who invited you both will come and will say to
 you, `Make room for this guest,' and then you, ashamed, will
 move to the lowest place.
14:10 On the contrary, when you are invited go and take the
 lowest place, that when your host comes round he may say to
 you, `My friend, come up higher.' This will be /2 doing you
 honour in the presence of all the other guests.
14:11 For whoever uplifts himself will be humbled, and he who
 humbles himself will be uplifted.
14:12 Also to His host, who had invited Him, He said, "When you
 give a breakfast or a dinner, do not invite your friends or
 brothers or relatives or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they
 should invite you in return and a requital be made you.
14:13 /3 But when you entertain, invite the poor, the crippled,
 the lame, and the blind;
14:14 and you will be blessed, because they have no means of
 requiting you, but there will be requital for you at the /4
 Resurrection of the righteous."
14:15 After listening to this teaching, one of His fellow guests
 said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall feast in God's Kingdom."
14:16 "A man once gave /5 a great dinner," replied Jesus, "to
 which he invited a large number of guests.
14:17 At dinner-time he sent his /6 servant to announce to those
 who had been invited, "`Come, for things are now ready.'
14:18 "But they all without exception began to excuse
 themselves. The first told him, "`I have purchased a piece of
 land, and must of necessity go and look at it. Pray hold me
 excused.'

14:19 "A second pleaded, "`I have bought five yoke of oxen, and
 am /1 on my way to try them. Pray hold me excused.'
14:20 "Another said, "`I am just married. It is impossible for
 me to come.'
14:21 "So the servant came and brought these answers to his
 master, and they stirred his anger. "`Go out quickly,' he said,
 `into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow.
 You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them
 all in here.'
14:22 "Soon the servant reported the result, saying, "`Sir, what
 you ordered is done, and there is room still.'
14:23 "`Go out,' replied the master, `to the high roads and
 hedge-rows, and compel the people to come in, so that my house
 may be filled.
14:24 For I tell you that not one of those who were invited
 shall taste my dinner.'"
14:25 On His journey vast crowds attended Him, towards whom He
 turned and said,
14:26 /2 "If any one is coming to me who does not hate his
 father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes
 and his own /3 life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.
14:27 No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me
 can be a disciple of mine.
14:28 "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit
 down first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means
 to finish it? --
14:29 lest perhaps, when he has laid the foundation and is
 unable to finish, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him,
14:30 saying, `This man began to build, but could not finish.'
14:31 Or what king, /4 marching to encounter another king in
 war, does not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able
 with ten thousand men to meet the one who is advancing against
 him with twenty thousand?
14:32 If not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends
 /5 messengers and /6 sues for peace.
14:33 /7 Just as no one of you who does not /8 detach himself
 from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.

14:34 /1 "Salt is good: but if even the salt has become
 tasteless, what will you use to season it?
14:35 Neither for land nor dunghill is it of any use; they throw
 it away. Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"
15:1 Now the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners were
 everywhere in the habit of coming close to Him to listen to
 Him;
15:2 and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to
 complain, saying, "He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and
 joins them at their meals!"
15:3 /2 So in figurative language He asked them,
15:4 "Which of you men, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost
 one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in their pasture
 and go in search of the lost one till he finds it?
15:5 And when he has found it, he lifts it on his shoulder, glad
 at heart.
15:6 Then coming home he calls his friends and neighbours
 together, and says, /3 `Congratulate me, for I have found my
 sheep--the one I had lost.'
15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be rejoicing in
 Heaven over one repentant sinner--more rejoicing than over
 ninety-nine blameless persons who have no need of repentance.
15:8 "Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one
 of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search
 carefully till she finds it?
15:9 And when she has found it, she calls together her /4
 friends and neighbours, and says, "`Congratulate me, for I have
 found the coin which I had lost.'
15:10 "I tell you that in the same way there is rejoicing in the
 presence of the angels of God over one repentant sinner."
15:11 He went on to say, "There was a man who had two sons.
15:12 The younger of them said to his father, "`Father, give me
 the share of the property that comes to me.' "So he divided his
 wealth between them.
15:13 No long time afterwards the younger son got all together
 and travelled to a distant country, where he wasted his money
 in debauchery and excess.

15:14 At last, when he had spent everything, there came a
 terrible famine throughout that country, and /1 he began /2 to
 feel the pinch of want.
15:15 So he went and /3 hired himself to one of the inhabitants
 of that country, who sent him on to his farm to tend swine;
15:16 and he longed to make a hearty meal of the pods the swine
 were eating, but no one gave him any.
15:17 "But on coming to himself he said, "`How many of my
 father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here
 am dying of hunger!
15:18 I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him,
 Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you:
15:19 I no longer deserve to be called a son of yours: treat me
 as one of your hired men.'
15:20 "So he rose and came to his father. But while he was still
 a long way off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and
 threw his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.
15:21 "`Father,' cried the son, `I have sinned against Heaven
 and before you: no longer do I deserve to be called a son of
 yours.'
15:22 /4 "But the father said to his servants, "`Fetch a good
 coat quickly--the best one--and put it on him; and bring a ring
 for his finger and shoes for his feet.
15:23 Fetch the fat calf and kill it, and let us feast and enjoy
 ourselves;
15:24 for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he
 was lost and has been found.' "And they began to be merry.
15:25 "Now his elder son was out on the farm; and when he
 returned and came near home, he heard music and /5 dancing.
15:26 Then he called one of the lads to him and asked what all
 this meant.
15:27 "`Your brother has come,' he replied; `and your father has
 had the fat calf killed, because he has got him home safe and
 sound.'
15:28 "Then he was angry and would not go in. But his father
 came out and entreated him.

15:29 "`All these years,' replied the son, `I have been slaving
 for you, and I have never at any time /1 disobeyed any of your
 orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, for
 me to enjoy myself with my friends;
15:30 but now that this son of yours is come who has eaten up
 your property among his bad women, you have killed the fat calf
 for him.'
15:31 "`You /2 my dear son,' said the father, `are always with
 me, and all that is mine is also yours.
15:32 We are bound to make merry and rejoice, for this brother
 of yours was dead and has come back to life, he was lost and
 has been found.'"
16:1 He said also to His disciples: "There was a rich man who
 had a steward, about whom a report was brought to him, that he
 was wasting his property.
16:2 He called him and said, "`What is this I hear about you?
 Render an account of your stewardship, for I cannot let you
 hold it any longer.'
16:3 "Then the steward said within himself, "`What am I to do?
 For my master is taking away the stewardship from me. I am not
 strong enough for field labour: to beg, I should be ashamed.
16:4 I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from
 the stewardship they may give me a home in their own houses.'
16:5 "So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and
 asked the first, `How much are you in debt to my master?'
16:6 "`A hundred /3 firkins of oil,' he replied. "`Here is your
 account,' said the steward: `sit down quickly and /4 change it
 into fifty firkins.'
16:7 "To a second he said, "`And how much do you owe?' "`A
 hundred /3 quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "`Here is your
 account,' said he: /4 `change it into eighty quarters.'

16:8 "And the master praised the dishonest steward for his
 shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the
 men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.
16:9 "But I charge you, so to use /1 the wealth which is ever
 tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails,
 shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.
16:10 The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in
 a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small
 matter is dishonest in a great one also.
16:11 If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in
 dealing with the /2 wealth that is /3 tainted with fraud, who
 will entrust to you the true good?
16:12 And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that
 which is not your own, who will give you that which is your
 own?
16:13 "No /4 servant can be in bondage to two masters. For
 either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will
 cling fast to one and scorn the other. You cannot be
 bondservants both of God and of /2 gold."
16:14 To all this the Pharisees listened, /5 bitterly jeering at
 Him; for they were lovers of money.
16:15 "You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own
 goodness before men, but God sees your hearts; for that which
 holds a proud position among men is detestable in God's sight.
16:16 The Law and the Prophets continued until John came: from
 that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God /6 has been
 spreading, and all classes /6 have been forcing their way into
 it.
16:17 /7 But it is easier for earth and sky to pass away than
 for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.
16:18 Every man who divorces his wife and marries another
 commits adultery; and he who marries /8 her when so divorced
 from her husband commits adultery.

16:19 "There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself
 in purple and /1 fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet
 every day,
16:20 while at his outer door there /2 lay a beggar, Lazarus by
 name,
16:21 covered with sores and longing to make a full meal off the
 /3 scraps flung on the floor from the rich man's table. Nay,
 the dogs, too, used to come and lick his sores.
16:22 "But in course of time the beggar died; and he was carried
 by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and
 /4 had a funeral.
16:23 And in Hades, being in torment, he looked and saw Abraham
 in the far distance, and Lazarus resting in his /5 arms.
16:24 So he cried aloud, and said, "`Father Abraham, take pity
 on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water
 and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'
16:25 "`Remember, my child,' said Abraham, `that you had all
 your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like
 manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving
 consolation and you are in agony.
16:26 And, besides all this, a vast chasm is immovably fixed
 between us and you, put there in order that those who desire to
 cross from this side to you may not be able, nor any be able to
 cross over from your side to us.'
16:27 "`I entreat you then, father,' said he, `to send him to my
 father's house.
16:28 For I have five brothers. Let him earnestly warn them,
 lest they also come to this place of torment.'
16:29 "`They have Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; `let
 them hear them.'
16:30 "`No, father Abraham,' he pleaded; `but if some one /6
 goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
16:31 "`If they are deaf to Moses and the Prophets,' replied
 Abraham, `they would not be led to believe even if some one
 should rise from the dead.'"

17:1 /1 Jesus said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that
 causes of stumbling should come; but alas for him through whom
 they come!
17:2 It would be well for him if, with a /2 millstone round his
 neck, he were lying at the bottom of the sea, rather than that
 he should cause even one of these little ones to fall.
17:3 /3 Be on your guard. "If your brother acts wrongly, reprove
 him; and if he is sorry, forgive him;
17:4 and if seven times in a day he acts wrongly towards you,
 and seven times turns again to you and says, `I am sorry,' you
 must forgive him."
17:5 And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith."
17:6 "If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed,
 you might command this black-mulberry-tree, `Tear up your roots
 and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey
 you.
17:7 But which of you who has a /4 servant ploughing, or tending
 sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the farm, `Come at
 once and take your place at table,'
17:8 and will not rather say to him, `Get my dinner ready, make
 yourself tidy, and wait upon me till I have finished my dinner,
 and then you shall have yours'?
17:9 Does he thank the /4 servant for obeying his orders?
17:10 So you also, when you have obeyed all the orders given
 you, must say, "`There is no merit in our service: what we have
 done is /5 only what we were in duty bound to do.'"
17:11 As /6 they pursued their journey to Jerusalem, He passed
 through Samaria and Galilee.
17:12 And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him who
 were lepers and stood at a distance.
17:13 In loud voices they cried out, "Jesus, Rabbi, take pity on
 us."
17:14 Perceiving this, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves
 to the Priests." And while on their way to do this they were
 made clean.

17:15 One of them, seeing that he was cured, came back, adoring
 and praising God in a loud voice,
17:16 and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, thanking Him.
 He was a Samaritan.
17:17 "Were not all ten made clean?" Jesus asked; "but where are
 the nine?
17:18 Have none been found to come back and give glory to God
 except this foreigner?"
17:19 And He said to him, "Rise and go: your faith has cured
 you."
17:20 /1 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God
 was coming, He answered, "The Kingdom of God does not so come
 that you can /2 stealthily watch for it.
17:21 Nor will they say, `See here!' or `See there!' --for the
 Kingdom of God is /3 within you."
17:22 Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come
 a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the
 days of the Son of Man, but will not see one.
17:23 /4 And they will say to you, `See there!' `See here!' Do
 not start off and go in pursuit.
17:24 For just as the lightning, when it flashes, shines from
 one part of the horizon to the opposite part, so will the Son
 of Man be on His day.
17:25 But /5 first He must endure much suffering, and be
 rejected by the present generation.
17:26 "And as it was in the time of Noah, so will it also be in
 the time of the Son of Man.
17:27 Men were eating and drinking, taking wives and giving
 wives, up to the very day on which Noah entered the Ark, and
 the Deluge came and destroyed them all.
17:28 The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and
 drinking, buying and selling, planting and building;
17:29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and
 brimstone from the sky and destroyed them all.

17:30 Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted
 from the Son of Man.
17:31 "On that day, if a man is on the roof and his /1 property
 indoors, let him not go down to fetch it; and, in the same way,
 he who is in the field, let him not turn back.
17:32 Remember Lot's wife.
17:33 Any man who makes it his object to keep his own /2 life
 safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his /2 life will /3
 preserve it.
17:34 /4 On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in one
 bed: one will be /5 taken away and the other left behind.
17:35 There will be two women turning the mill together: one
 will be /5 taken away and the other left behind."
17:36 /6 []
17:37 "Where, Master?" they inquired. "Where the dead body is,"
 He replied, "there also will the vultures flock together."
18:1 /7 He also taught them by a parable that they must always
 pray and never lose heart.
18:2 "In a certain town," He said, "there was a judge who had no
 fear of God and no respect for man.
18:3 And in the same town was a widow who repeatedly came and
 entreated him, saying, "`Give me justice and stop my
 oppressor.'
18:4 "For a time he would not, but afterwards he said to
 himself, "`Though I have neither reverence for God nor respect
 for man,
18:5 yet because she annoys me I will give her justice, to
 prevent her from /8 constantly coming to pester me.'"
18:6 And the Lord said, "Hear those words of the unjust judge.
18:7 /9 And will not God avenge the wrongs of His own People who
 cry aloud to Him day and night,

/1 although He seems slow in taking action on their behalf?
18:8 Yes, He will soon avenge their wrongs. Yet, when the Son of
 Man /2 comes, will He find /3 faith on earth?"
18:9 And to some who relied on themselves as being righteous
 men, and looked down upon all others, He addressed this
 parable.
18:10 "Two men went up to the Temple to pray," He said; "one
 being a Pharisee and the other a tax-gatherer.
18:11 The Pharisee, standing erect, prayed as follows /4 by
 himself: "`O God, I thank Thee that I am not like other
 people--I am not a thief nor a cheat nor an adulterer, nor do I
 even resemble this tax-gatherer.
18:12 I fast twice a week. I pay the tithe on all my gains.'
18:13 "But the tax-gatherer, standing far back, would not so
 much as lift his eyes to Heaven, but kept beating his breast
 and saying, "`O God, /5 be reconciled to me, sinner that I am.'
18:14 "I tell you that this man went home more thoroughly
 absolved from guilt than the other; for every one who uplifts
 himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be
 uplifted."
18:15 /6 On one occasion /7 people also brought with them their
 infants, for Him to touch them; but the disciples, noticing
 this, proceeded to find fault with them.
18:16 Jesus however called the infants to Him. "Let the little
 children come to me," He said; "do not hinder them; for it is
 to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of God belongs.
18:17 I tell you in solemn truth that, whoever does not receive
 the Kingdom of God like a little child will certainly not enter
 it."
18:18 /8 The question was put to Him by a Ruler: "Good Rabbi,
 what shall I do to inherit the Life of the Ages?"

18:19 "Why do you call me good?" replied Jesus; "there is no one
 good but One, namely God.
18:20 You know the Commandments: <`Do not commit adultery;' `Do
 not murder;' `Do not steal;' `Do not lie in giving evidence;'
 `Honour thy father and thy mother.'">
18:21 "All of those," he replied, "I have kept from my youth."
18:22 On receiving this answer Jesus said to him, "There is
 still one thing wanting in you. Sell everything you possess and
 give the money to the poor, and you shall have wealth in
 Heaven; and then come, follow me."
18:23 But on hearing these words he was deeply sorrowful, for he
 was exceedingly rich.
18:24 Jesus saw his sorrow, and said, "With how hard a struggle
 do the possessors of riches ever enter the Kingdom of God!
18:25 Why, it is easier for a camel to go through a /1 needle's
 eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
18:26 "Who then can be saved?" exclaimed the hearers.
18:27 "Things impossible with man," He replied, "are possible
 with God."
18:28 Then Peter said, "See, we have given up our /2 homes and
 have followed you."
18:29 "I solemnly tell you," replied Jesus, "that there is no
 one who has left house or wife, or brothers or parents or
 children, for the sake of God's Kingdom,
18:30 who shall not certainly receive many times as much /3 in
 this life, and in the age that is coming the Life of the Ages."
18:31 /4 Then He drew the Twelve to Him and said, "See, we are
 going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the Prophets
 which refers to the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
18:32 For He will be given up to the Gentiles, and be mocked,
 outraged and spit upon.
18:33 They will scourge Him and put Him to death, and on the
 third day He will rise to life again."
18:34 Nothing of this did they understand. The words were a
 mystery to them, nor could they see what He meant.

18:35 /1 As Jesus came near to Jericho, there was a blind man
 sitting by the way-side begging.
18:36 He heard a crowd of people going past, and inquired what
 it all meant.
18:37 "Jesus the Nazarene is passing by," they told him.
18:38 Then, at the top of his voice, he cried out, "Jesus, son
 of David, take pity on me."
18:39 Those in front reproved him and tried to silence him; but
 he continued shouting, louder than ever, "Son of David, take
 pity on me."
18:40 At length Jesus stopped and desired them to bring the man
 to Him; and when he had come close to Him He asked him,
18:41 "What shall I do for you?" "Sir," he replied, "let me
 recover my sight."
18:42 "Recover your sight," said Jesus: "your faith has cured
 you."
18:43 No sooner were the words spoken than the man regained his
 sight and followed Jesus, giving glory to God; and all the
 people, seeing it, gave praise to God.
19:1 So He entered Jericho and was passing through the town.
19:2 There was a man there called Zacchaeus, who was the local
 surveyor of taxes, and was wealthy.
19:3 He was anxious to see what sort of man Jesus was; but he
 could not because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
19:4 So he ran on in front and climbed up a mulberry tree to see
 Him; for He was about to pass that way.
19:5 As soon as Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said
 to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your
 house to-day."
19:6 So he came down in haste, and welcomed Him joyfully.
19:7 When they all saw this, they began to complain with
 indignation. "He has gone in to be the guest of a notorious
 sinner!" they said.
19:8 Zacchaeus however stood up, and addressing the Lord said,
 /2 "Here and now, Master, I give half my /3 property to the
 poor, and if I have unjustly exacted money from any man,

/1 I pledge myself to repay to him four times the amount."
19:9 Turning towards him, Jesus replied, "To-day salvation has
 come to this house, seeing that he too is a son of Abraham.
19:10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
 was lost."
19:11 /2 As they were listening to His words, He went on to
 teach them by a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem and
 they supposed that the Kingdom of God was going to appear
 immediately.
19:12 So He said to them, "A man of noble family travelled to a
 distant country to obtain the rank of king, and to return.
19:13 And he called ten of his /3 servants and gave each of them
 /4 a pound, instructing them to trade with the money /5 during
 his absence.
19:14 "Now his countrymen hated him, and sent a deputation after
 him to say, `We are not willing that he should become our
 king.'
19:15 And upon his return, after he had obtained the
 sovereignty, he ordered those servants to whom he had given the
 money to be summoned before him, that he might learn their
 success in trading.
19:16 "So the first came and said, "`Sir, your pound has
 produced ten pounds more.'
19:17 "`Well done, good servant,' he replied; `because you have
 been faithful in a very small matter, be in authority over ten
 towns.'
19:18 "The second came, and said, "`Your pound, Sir, has
 produced five pounds.'
19:19 "So he said to this one also, "`And you, be the governor
 of five towns.'
19:20 "The next came. "`Sir,' he said, `here is your pound,
 which I have kept wrapt up in a cloth.
19:21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man: you
 take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did
 not sow.'
19:22 "`By your own words,' he replied, `I will judge you, you
 bad servant. You knew me to be a severe man, taking up what I
 did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow:

19:23 why then did you not put my money into a bank, that when I
 came I might have received it back with interest?
19:24 "And he said to those who stood by, "`Take the pound from
 him and give it to him who has the ten pounds.'
19:25 ("They said to him, "`Sir, he already has ten pounds.')
19:26 "`I tell you that to every one who has anything, more
 shall be given; and from him who has not anything, even what he
 has shall be taken away.
19:27 But as for those enemies of mine who were unwilling that I
 should become their king, bring them here, and cut them to
 pieces in my presence.'"
19:28 After thus speaking, He journeyed onward, proceeding up to
 Jerusalem.
19:29 /1 And when he was come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the
 Mount called /2 the Oliveyard, He sent two of the disciples on
 in front,
19:30 saying to them, "Go into the village facing you. On
 entering it you will find an ass's foal tied up which no one
 has ever yet ridden: untie it, and bring it here.
19:31 And if any one asks you, `Why are you untying the colt?'
 simply say, /3 `The Master needs it.'"
19:32 So those who were sent went and found things as He had
 told them.
19:33 And while they were untying the colt the owners called
 out, "Why are you untying the colt?"
19:34 and they replied, /3 "The Master needs it."
19:35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their
 outer garments on the colt they placed Jesus on it.
19:36 So He rode on, while they carpeted the road with their
 garments.
19:37 And when He was now getting near Jerusalem, and descending
 the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began
 in their joy to praise God in loud voices for all the mighty
 deeds they had witnessed.

19:38 <"Blessed is> the King," they cried, <"who comes in the
 name of the Lord:> in Heaven peace, and glory in the highest
 realms."
19:39 Thereupon some of the Pharisees in the crowd appealed to
 Him, saying, /1 "Rabbi, reprove your disciples."
19:40 "I tell you," He replied, "that if *they* became silent,
 the very stones would cry out."
19:41 When He came into full view of the city, He wept aloud
 over it, and exclaimed,
19:42 "O that at this time thou hadst known--yes even thou--what
 makes peace possible! But now it is hid from thine eyes.
19:43 For the time is coming upon thee when thy foes will throw
 up around thee /2 earthworks and a wall, investing thee and
 hemming thee in on every side.
19:44 And they will dash thee to the ground and thy children
 within thee, and will not leave one stone upon another within
 thee; because thou hast not recognized the time of thy
 visitation."
19:45 /3 Then Jesus entered the Temple and proceeded to drive
 out the dealers.
19:46 "It is written," He said, <"`And My house shall be the
 House of Prayer,'> but you have made it <a robbers' cave.">
19:47 And day after day He taught in the Temple, while the High
 Priests and the Scribes were devising some means of destroying
 Him, as were also the leading men of the people.
19:48 But they could not find any way of doing it, for the
 people all hung upon His lips.
20:1 /4 On one of those days while He was teaching the people in
 the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the High Priests came
 upon Him, and the Scribes,
20:2 together with the Elders, and they asked Him, "Tell us, By
 what authority are you doing these things? And who is it that
 gave you this authority?"
20:3 "I also will put a question to you, "He said;
20:4 "was John's baptism of Heavenly or of human origin?"
20:5 So they debated the matter with one another. "If we say
 `Heavenly,'" they argued, "he will say, `Why did you not
 believe him?'

20:6 And if we say, `human,' the people will all stone us; for
 they are thoroughly convinced that John was a Prophet."
20:7 And they answered that they did not know the origin of it.
20:8 "Nor will I tell you," said Jesus, "by what authority I do
 these things."
20:9 /1 Then He proceeded to speak a parable to the people.
 "There was a man," He said, "who planted a vineyard, let it out
 to vine-dressers, and went abroad for a considerable time.
20:10 At vintage-time he sent a /2 servant to the vine-dressers,
 for them to give him a share of the crop; but the vine-dressers
 beat him cruelly and sent him away empty-handed.
20:11 Then he sent a second /2 servant; and him too they beat
 and ill treated and sent away empty-handed.
20:12 Then again he sent a third; and this one also they wounded
 and drove away.
20:13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, "`What am I to do? I
 will send my son--my dearly-loved son: they will probably
 respect him.'
20:14 "But when the vine-dressers saw him, they discussed the
 matter with one another, and said, "`This is the heir: let us
 kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'
20:15 "So they turned him out of the vineyard and murdered him.
 What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
20:16 He will come and put these vine-dressers to death, and
 give the vineyard to others." /3 "God forbid!" exclaimed the
 hearers.
20:17 He looked at them and said, "What then does that mean
 which is written, <"`The Stone which the builders rejected has
 been made the cornerstone'?>
20:18 Every one who falls on that stone will be severely hurt,
 but on whomsoever it falls, he will be utterly crushed."
20:19 At this the Scribes and the High Priests wanted to lay
 hands on Him, /4 then and there; only they were afraid of the
 people. For they saw that in this parable He had referred to
 them.

20:20 /1 So, after impatiently watching their opportunity, they
 sent spies who were to act the part of good and honest men,
 that they might fasten on some expression of His, so as to hand
 Him over to the ruling power and the Governor's authority.
20:21 So they put a question to Him. /2 "Rabbi," they said, "we
 know that you say and teach what is right and that /3 you make
 no distinctions between one man and another, but teach God's
 way truly.
20:22 Is it allowable to pay a tax to Caesar, or not?"
20:23 But He saw through their knavery and replied,
20:24 "Show me a shilling; whose likeness and inscription does
 it bear?" "Caesar's," they said.
20:25 "Pay therefore," He replied, "what is Caesar's to
 Caesar--and what is God's to God."
20:26 There was nothing here that they could lay hold of before
 the people, and marvelling at His answer they said no more.
20:27 /4 Next some of the Sadducees came forward (who deny that
 there is a Resurrection), and they asked Him,
20:28 /2 "Rabbi, Moses made it a law for us that if a man's
 brother should die, leaving a wife but no children, the man
 shall marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.
20:29 Now there were seven brothers. The first of them took a
 wife and died childless.
20:30 The second and the third also took her;
20:31 and all seven, having done the same, left no children when
 they died.
20:32 Finally the woman also died.
20:33 The woman, then--at the Resurrection--whose wife shall she
 be? for they all seven married her."

20:34 "The /1 men of this age," replied Jesus, "marry, and the
 women are given in marriage.
20:35 But as for those who /2 shall have been deemed worthy to
 find a place in that other age and in the Resurrection from
 among the dead, the men do not marry and the women are not
 given in marriage.
20:36 For indeed they cannot die again; they are like angels,
 and are sons of God through being sons of the Resurrection.
20:37 But that the dead /3 rise to life even Moses clearly /4
 implies in the passage about the Bush, where he calls the Lord
 <`The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'>
20:38 He is not a God of dead, but of living men, for to Him are
 all living."
20:39 Then some of the Scribes replied, "Rabbi, you have spoken
 well."
20:40 From that time, /5 however, no one ventured to challenge
 Him with a single question.
20:41 /6 But He asked them, "How is it they say that the Christ
 is a son of David?
20:42 Why, David himself says in the Book of Psalms, <"`The Lord
 said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand
20:43 Until I have made thy foes a footstool under they feet.'>
20:44 "David himself therefore calls Him Lord, and how can He be
 his son?"
20:45 /7 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to the
 disciples,
20:46 "Beware of the Scribes, who like to walk about in long
 robes, and love to be bowed to in places of public resort and
 to occupy the best seats in the synagogues or at a dinner
 party;
20:47 who swallow up the property of widows and mask their
 wickedness by making long prayers. They will be punished far
 more severely than others."
21:1 /8 Looking up He saw the people throwing their gifts into
 the Treasury--the rich people.
21:2 He also saw a poor widow dropping in two farthings,
21:3 and He said, "In truth I tell you that this widow, so poor,
 has thrown in more than any of them.

21:4 For from what they could well spare they have all of them
 contributed to the offerings, but she in her need has thrown in
 all she had to live on."
21:5 /1 When some were remarking about the Temple, how it was
 embellished with beautiful stones and dedicated gifts, He said,
21:6 "As to these things which you now admire, the time is
 coming when there will not be one stone left here upon another
 which will not be pulled down."
21:7 /2 "Rabbi, when will this be?" they asked Him, "and what
 will be the token given when these things are about to take
 place?"
21:8 "See to it," He replied, "that you are not misled; for many
 will come /3 assuming my name and professing, `I am He,' or
 saying, `The time is close at hand.' Do not go and follow them.
21:9 But when you hear of wars and turmoils, be not afraid; for
 these things must happen first, but the end does not come
 immediately."
21:10 Then He said to them, <"Nation will rise in arms against
 nation, and kingdom against kingdom.>
21:11 And there will be great earthquakes, and in places famines
 and pestilence; and there will be terrible sights and wonderful
 tokens from Heaven.
21:12 "But before all these things happen they will lay hands on
 you and persecute you. They will deliver you up to synagogues
 and to prison, and you will be brought before kings and
 governors for my sake.
21:13 In the end all this will be evidence of your fidelity.
21:14 "Make up your minds, however, not to prepare a defence
 beforehand,
21:15 for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of
 your opponents will be able to withstand or reply to.
21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives,
 friends; and some of you they will put to death.
21:17 You will be the objects of universal hatred because you
 are called by my name;
21:18 and yet not a hair of your heads shall perish.
21:19 By your patient endurance you will purchase your /4 lives.

21:20 /1 "But when you see Jerusalem with armies encamping round
 her on every side, then be certain that her /2 overthrow is
 close at hand.
21:21 Then let those who shall be in Judaea escape to the hills;
 let those who are in the city leave it, and those who are in
 the country not enter in.
21:22 For those are the <days of vengeance> and /3 of fulfilling
 all that is written.
21:23 "Alas for the women who at that time are with child or who
 have infants; for there will be great distress /4 in the land,
 and anger towards this People.
21:24 They will fall /5 by the sword, or be carried off into
 slavery among all the Gentiles. /6 And Jerusalem will be
 trampled under foot by the /7 Gentiles, till the appointed
 times of the /7 Gentiles have expired.
21:25 "There will be /8 signs in sun, moon, and stars; and on
 earth anguish among the nations in their bewilderment at the
 roaring of the sea and its billows;
21:26 while men's hearts are fainting for fear, and for anxious
 expectation of what is coming on the world. For <the /9 forces
 which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.>
21:27 And then will they /10 see the <Son of Man coming in a
 cloud> /11 with great power and glory.
21:28 But when all this is beginning to take place, grieve no
 longer. Lift up your heads, because your /12 deliverance is
 drawing near."
21:29 And He spoke a parable to them. "See," He said, "the
 fig-tree and all the trees.

21:30 As soon as they have shot out their leaves, you know at a
 glance that summer is now near.
21:31 So also, when you see these things happening, you may be
 sure that the Kingdom of God is near.
21:32 I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation
 will certainly not pass away without all these things having
 first taken place.
21:33 Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my
 words will not pass away.
21:34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your /1 souls be
 weighed down with /2 self-indulgence and drunkenness or the
 anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly,
 like a falling trap;
21:35 for it will come on all dwellers on the face of the whole
 /3 earth.
21:36 But beware of slumbering; and every moment pray that you
 may be fully strengthened to escape from all these coming
 evils, and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of
 Man."
21:37 /4 His habit at this time was to teach in the Temple by
 day, but to go out and spend the night on the Mount called /5
 the Oliveyard.
21:38 And all the people came to Him in the Temple, early in the
 morning, to listen to Him.
22:1 /6 Meanwhile the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, called
 the Passover, was approaching,
22:2 and the High Priests and the Scribes were contriving how to
 destroy Him. /7 But they feared the people.
22:3 /8 Satan, however, entered into Judas (the man called
 Iscariot) who was one of the Twelve.
22:4 He went and conferred with the High Priests and /9
 Commanders as to how he should deliver Him up to them.
22:5 This gave them great pleasure, and they agreed to pay him.
22:6 He accepted their offer, and then looked out for an
 opportunity to betray Him when the people were not there.
22:7 /10 When the day of the Unleavened Bread came--the day for
 the Passover lamb to be sacrificed--
22:8 Jesus sent Peter and John with instructions. "Go," He said,
 "and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it."

22:9 "Where shall we prepare it?" they asked.
22:10 "You will no sooner have entered the city," He replied,
 "than you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow
 him into the house to which he goes,
22:11 and say to the master of the house, "`The /1 Rabbi asks
 you, Where is the room where I can eat the Passover with my
 disciples?'
22:12 "And he will show you a large furnished room upstairs.
 There make your preparations."
22:13 So they went and found all as He had told them; and they
 got the Passover ready.
22:14 /2 When the time was come, and He had taken His place at
 table, and the Apostles with Him,
22:15 He said to them, "Earnestly have I longed to eat this
 Passover with you before I suffer;
22:16 /3 for I tell you that I certainly shall not eat one again
 till its full meaning has been brought out in the Kingdom of
 God."
22:17 Then, having /4 received the cup and given thanks, He
 said, "Take this and share it among yourselves;
22:18 for I tell you that from this time I will never drink the
 /5 produce of the vine till the Kingdom of God has come."
22:19 /6 Then, taking a Passover biscuit, He gave thanks and
 broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which
 /7 is being given on your behalf: this do in remembrance of
 me."
22:20 He gave them the cup in like manner, when /8 the meal was
 over. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant ratified /9 by
 my blood

/1 which /2 is to be poured out on your behalf.
22:21 /3 Yet the hand of him who is betraying me is at the table
 with me.
22:22 For indeed the Son of Man goes on His way--His
 pre-destined way; yet alas for that man who is betraying Him!"
22:23 Thereupon they began to discuss with one another which of
 them it could possibly be who was about to do this.
22:24 /4 There arose also a dispute among them which of them
 should be /5 regarded as greatest.
22:25 But He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles are their
 masters, and those who exercise authority over them are called
 Benefactors.
22:26 With you it is not so; but let the greatest among you be
 as the younger, and the leader be like him who serves.
22:27 For which is the greater--he who sits at table, or he who
 waits on him? Is it not he who sits at table? But my position
 among you is that of one who waits on others.
22:28 You however have remained with me amid my trials;
22:29 and I covenant to give you, as my Father has covenanted to
 give me, a Kingdom--
22:30 so that you shall eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom,
 and sit on thrones as judges over the twelve tribes of Israel.
22:31 /6 "Simon, Simon, I tell you that Satan has /7 obtained
 permission to have all of you to sift as wheat is sifted.
22:32 But *I* have prayed /8 for *you* that your faith may not
 fail, and /8 you, when at last you have come back to your true
 self, must strengthen your brethren."
22:33 "Master," replied Peter, "with you I am ready to go both
 to prison and to death."
22:34 "I tell you, Peter," said Jesus, "that the cock will not
 crow to-day till you have three times denied that you know me."

22:35 Then He asked them, "When I sent you out without purse or
 bag or shoes, was there anything you needed?" "No, nothing,"
 they replied.
22:36 "But now," said He, "let the one who has a purse take it,
 and he who has a bag must do the same. And let him who has no
 sword sell his outer garment and /1 buy one.
22:37 For I tell you that those words of Scripture must yet find
 their fulfilment in me: <`And He was reckoned among the
 lawless';> for indeed that saying about me has its
 accomplishment."
22:38 "Master, here are two swords," they exclaimed. "That is
 enough," He replied.
22:39 /2 On going out, He proceeded as usual to the Mount of
 Olives, and His disciples followed Him.
22:40 /3 But when He arrived at the place, He said to them, /4
 "Pray that you may not come into temptation."
22:41 But He Himself withdrew from them about a stone's throw,
 and knelt down and prayed repeatedly, saying,
22:42 "Father, if it be Thy will, /5 take this /6 cup away from
 me; yet not my will but Thine be done!"
22:43 And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven,
 strengthening Him;
22:44 while He--an agony of distress having come upon
 Him--prayed all the more with intense earnestness, and His
 sweat became like clots of blood dropping on the ground.
22:45 When He rose from his prayer and came to His disciples, He
 found them sleeping for sorrow.
22:46 "Why are you sleeping?" He said; /7 "stand up; and pray
 that you may not come into temptation."
22:47 /8 While He was still speaking there came a crowd with
 Judas, already mentioned as one of the Twelve, at their head.
 He went up to Jesus to kiss Him.

22:48 "Judas," said Jesus, "are you betraying the Son of Man
 with a kiss?"
22:49 Those who were about Him, seeing what was likely to
 happen, asked Him, "Master, shall we strike with the sword?"
22:50 And one of them struck a blow at the High Priest's /1
 servant and cut off his right ear.
22:51 "Permit me thus far," said Jesus. And He touched the ear
 and healed it.
22:52 Then Jesus said to the High Priests and Commanders of the
 Temple and Elders, who had come to arrest Him, "Have you come
 out as if to fight with a robber, with swords and cudgels?
22:53 While day after day I was with you in the Temple, you did
 not lay hands upon me; but to you belongs this hour--and the
 power of darkness."
22:54 /2 And they arrested Him and led Him away, and brought Him
 to the High Priest's house, while Peter followed a good way
 behind.
22:55 And when they had lighted a fire in the middle of the
 court and had seated themselves in a group round it, Peter was
 sitting among them,
22:56 when a maidservant saw him sitting /3 by the fire, and,
 looking fixedly at him, she said, "This man also was with him."
22:57 But he denied it, and declared, "Woman, I do not know
 him."
22:58 Shortly afterwards a man saw him and said, "You, too, are
 one of them." "No, man, I am not," said Peter.
22:59 After an interval of about an hour some one else stoutly
 maintained: "Certainly this fellow also was with him, for in
 fact he is a Galilaean."
22:60 "Man, I don't know what you mean," replied Peter. No
 sooner had he spoken than a cock crowed.
22:61 The Master turned and looked on Peter; and Peter
 recollected the Master's words, how He had said to him, "This
 very day, before the cock crows, you will disown me three
 times."

22:62 And he went out and wept aloud bitterly.
22:63 /1 Meanwhile the men who held Jesus in custody repeatedly
 beat Him in cruel sport,
22:64 or blindfolded Him, and then challenged Him. "Prove to
 us," they said, "that you are a prophet, by telling us who it
 was that struck you."
22:65 And they said many other insulting things to Him.
22:66 As soon as it was day, the whole body of the Elders, both
 High Priests and Scribes, assembled. Then He was brought into
 their Sanhedrin, and they asked Him,
22:67 "Are you the Christ? Tell us." "If I tell you," He
 replied, "you will certainly not believe;
22:68 and if I ask you questions, you will certainly not answer.
 /2
22:69 But from this time forward the Son of Man will be seated
 at the right hand of God's omnipotence."
22:70 Thereupon they cried out with one voice, "You, then, are
 the Son of God?" "It is as you say," He answered; /3 "I am He."
22:71 "What need have we of further evidence?" they said; "for
 we ourselves have heard it from his own lips."
23:1 /4 Then the whole assembly rose and brought Him to Pilate,
 and began to accuse Him.
23:2 "We have found this man," they said, "an agitator among our
 nation, forbidding the payment of tribute to Caesar, and
 claiming to be himself /5 an anointed king."
23:3 /6 Then Pilate asked Him, "You, then, are the King of the
 Jews?" "It is as you say," He replied.
23:4 Pilate said to the High Priests and to the crowd, "I can
 find no crime in this man."
23:5 But they violently insisted. "He stirs up the people," they
 said, "throughout all Judaea with His teaching--even from
 Galilee (where He first started) to this city."

23:6 On hearing this, Pilate inquired, "Is this man a
 Galilaean?"
23:7 And learning that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction he /1
 sent Him to Herod, for he too was in Jerusalem at that time.
23:8 To Herod the sight of Jesus was a great gratification, for,
 for a long time, he had been wanting to see Him, because he had
 heard so much about Him. He hoped also to see some /2 miracle
 performed by Him.
23:9 So he put a number of questions to Him, but Jesus gave him
 no reply.
23:10 Meanwhile the High Priests and the Scribes were standing
 there and vehemently accusing Him.
23:11 Then, laughing to scorn the claims of Jesus, Herod (and
 his soldiers with him) made sport of Him, dressed Him in a
 gorgeous costume, and sent Him back to Pilate.
23:12 And on that very day Herod and Pilate became friends
 again, for they had been for some time at enmity.
23:13 Then calling together the High Priests and the Rulers and
 the people, Pilate said,
23:14 "You have brought this man to me on a charge of corrupting
 the loyalty of the people. But, you see, I have examined him in
 your presence and have discovered in the man no ground for the
 accusations which you bring against him.
23:15 No, nor does Herod; for /3 he has sent him back to us;
 and, you see, there is nothing he has done that deserves death.
23:16 I will therefore give him a light punishment and release
 him."
23:17 /4 []
23:18 /5 Then the whole multitude burst out into a shout. "Away
 with this man," they said, "and release Barabbas to us"
23:19 --Barabbas! who had been lodged in jail for some time in
 connexion with a riot which had occurred in the city, and for
 murder.
23:20 But Pilate once more addressed them, wishing to set Jesus
 free.
23:21 They, however, persistently shouted, "Crucify, crucify
 him!"

23:22 A third time he appealed to them: /1 "Why, what crime has
 the man committed? I have discovered in him nothing that
 deserves death. I will therefore give him a light punishment
 and release him."
23:23 But they urgently insisted, demanding with frantic
 outcries that He should be crucified; and their clamour
 prevailed.
23:24 /2 So Pilate gave judgement, yielding to their demand.
23:25 The man who was lying in prison charged with riot and
 murder and for whom they clamoured he set free, but Jesus he
 gave up to be dealt with as they desired.
23:26 /3 As soon as they led Him away, they laid hold on one
 Simon, a Cyrenaean, who was coming in from the country, and on
 his shoulders they put the cross, for him to carry it behind
 Jesus.
23:27 A vast crowd of the people also followed Him, and of women
 who were beating their breasts and wailing for Him.
23:28 But Jesus turned towards them and said, "Daughters of
 Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for
 your children.
23:29 For a time is coming when they will say, `Blessed are the
 women who never bore children, and the breasts which have never
 given nourishment.'
23:30 /4 Then will they begin to say to the mountains, `Fall on
 us;' and to the hills, `Cover us.'
23:31 For if they are doing these things in the case of the
 green tree, what will be done in that of the dry?"
23:32 They brought also two others, criminals, to put them to
 death with Him.
23:33 /5 When they reached the place called `The Skull,' there
 they nailed Him to the cross, and the criminals also, one at
 His right hand and one at His left.
23:34 Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
 what they are doing." And they divided His garments among them,
 drawing lots for them;
23:35 /6 and the people stood looking on. The Rulers, too,
 repeatedly uttered their bitter taunts. "This fellow," they
 said, "saved others: let him save himself, if he is God's
 Anointed, the Chosen One."

23:36 And the soldiers also made sport of Him, coming and
 offering Him /1 sour wine and saying,
23:37 "Are *you* the King of the Jews? Save yourself, then!"
23:38 There was moreover a writing over His head: THIS IS THE
 KING OF THE JEWS.
23:39 Now one of the criminals who had been crucified insulted
 Him, saying, "Are not you the Christ? Save yourself and us."
23:40 But the other, answering, reproved him. /2 "Do you also
 not fear God," he said, "when you are actually suffering the
 same punishment?
23:41 And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving
 due requital for what we have done. But He has done nothing
 amiss."
23:42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come /3 in your
 Kingdom."
23:43 "I tell you in solemn truth," replied Jesus, "that /4 this
 very day you shall be with me in Paradise."
23:44 /5 It was now about noon, and a darkness came over the
 whole country till three o'clock in the /6 afternoon.
23:45 /7 The sun was darkened, and the curtain of the Sanctuary
 was torn down the middle,
23:46 and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, and said, "Father, to
 Thy hands I entrust my spirit." And after uttering these words
 He yielded up His spirit.

23:47 The Captain, seeing what had happened, gave glory to God,
 saying, "Beyond question this man was innocent."
23:48 And all the crowds that had come together to this sight,
 after seeing all that had occurred, returned to the city
 beating their breasts.
23:49 But all His acquaintances, and the women who had been His
 followers after leaving Galilee, continued standing at a
 distance and looking on.
23:50 /1 There was a member of the Council of the name of
 Joseph, a kind-hearted and upright man,
23:51 who came from the Jewish town of Arimathaea and was
 awaiting the coming of the Kingdom of God. He had not concurred
 in the design or action of the Council,
23:52 and now he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
23:53 Then, taking it down, he wrapped it in a /2 linen sheet
 and laid it in a tomb in the rock, where no one else had yet
 been put.
23:54 It was the Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was near at
 hand.
23:55 The women--those who had come with Jesus from
 Galilee--followed close behind, and saw the tomb and how His
 body was placed.
23:56 Then they returned, and prepared spices and perfumes. On
 the Sabbath they rested in obedience to the Commandment.
24:1 /3 And, on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they
 came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared.
24:2 But they found the stone rolled back from the tomb,
24:3 and on entering they found that the body /4 of the Lord
 Jesus was not there.
24:4 /5 At this they were in great perplexity, when /6 suddenly
 there stood by them two men whose raiment /7 flashed like
 lightning.
24:5 The women were terrified; but, as they stood with their
 faces bowed to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you
 search among the dead for Him who is living?
24:6 He is not here. He has come back to life. Remember how He
 spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,

24:7 when He told you that the Son of Man must be betrayed into
 the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day
 rise again."
24:8 Then they remembered His words,
24:9 /1 and returning from the tomb they reported all this to
 the Eleven and to all the rest.
24:10 The women were Mary of /2 Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the
 mother of James; and they and the rest of the women related all
 this to the Apostles.
24:11 But the whole story seemed to them an idle tale; they
 could not believe the women.
24:12 /3 Peter, however, rose and ran to the tomb. Stooping and
 looking in, he saw nothing but the /4 linen cloths: so he went
 away to his own home, wondering at what had happened.
24:13 /5 On that same day two of the disciples were walking to
 Emmaus, a village seven or eight miles from Jerusalem,
24:14 and were conversing about all these recent events;
24:15 and, in the midst of their conversation and discussion,
 Jesus Himself came and joined them,
24:16 though they were prevented from recognizing Him.
24:17 "What is the subject," He asked them, "on which you are
 talking so earnestly, as you /6 walk?" And they stood still,
 looking full of sorrow.
24:18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered, /7 "Are you a
 stranger lodging alone in Jerusalem, that you have known
 nothing of the things that have lately happened in the city?"
24:19 "What things?" He asked. "The things about Jesus the
 Nazarene," they said, "who was a Prophet powerful in work and
 word before God and all the people;
24:20 and how our High Priests and Rulers delivered Him up to be
 sentenced to death, and crucified Him.

24:21 But we were hoping that it was He who was about to ransom
 Israel. Yes, and moreover it was /1 the day before yesterday
 that these things happened.
24:22 And, besides, some of the women of our company have amazed
 us. They went to the tomb at daybreak,
24:23 and, finding that His body was not there, they came and
 declared to us that they had also seen a vision of angels who
 said that He was alive.
24:24 Thereupon some of our party went to the tomb and found
 things just as the women had said; but Jesus Himself they did
 not see."
24:25 "O dull-witted men," He replied, "with /2 minds so slow to
 believe all that the Prophets have spoken!
24:26 Was there not a necessity for the Christ thus to suffer,
 and then enter into His glory?"
24:27 And, /3 beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He /4
 explained to them the passages in Scripture which refer to
 Himself.
24:28 When they had come near the village to which they were
 going, He appeared to be going further.
24:29 But they pressed Him to remain with them. "Because," said
 they, "it is getting towards evening, and the day is nearly
 over." So He went in to stay with them.
24:30 But as soon as He had sat down with them, and had taken
 the /5 bread and had blessed and broken it, and was handing it
 to them,
24:31 their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. But He
 vanished from them.
24:32 "Were not our hearts," they said to one another, "burning
 within us while He talked to us on the way and explained the
 Scriptures to us?"
24:33 So they rose and without an hour's delay returned to
 Jerusalem, and found the Eleven and the rest met together, who
 said /6 to them,
24:34 "Yes, it is true: the Master has come back to life. He has
 been seen by Simon."
24:35 Then they related what had happened on the way, and how He
 had been recognized by them in the breaking of the /5 bread.

24:36 /1 While they were thus talking, He Himself stood in their
 midst /2 and said, "Peace be to you!"
24:37 Startled, and in the utmost alarm, they thought they were
 looking at a spirit;
24:38 but He said to them, "Why such alarm? And why are there
 such questionings in your minds?
24:39 See my hands and my feet--it is my very self. Feel me and
 see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have."
24:40 /3 And then He showed them His hands and His feet.
24:41 But, while they still could not believe it for joy and
 were full of astonishment, He asked them, "Have you any food
 here?"
24:42 And they gave Him a piece of roasted /4 fish,
24:43 and He took it and ate it in their presence.
24:44 /5 And He said to them, "This is what I told you while I
 was still with you--that everything must be fulfilled that is
 written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms
 concerning me."
24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
24:46 and He said, "Thus it is written that the Christ would
 suffer and on the third day rise again from among the dead;
24:47 and that proclamation would be made, in His name, of
 repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations,
 beginning in Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses as to these things.
24:49 And remember that I am about to send out my Father's
 promised gift to rest upon you. But, as for you, /6 wait
 patiently in the city until you are clothed with power from on
 high."
24:50 And He brought them out /7 to within view of Bethany, and
 then lifted up His hands and blessed them.
24:51 And while He was blessing them, He parted from them and
 was carried up into Heaven.
24:52 They worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great
 joy.
24:53 Afterwards they were continually /8 in attendance at the
 Temple, /9 blessing God.