1 Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive them out, and so that they could cure any disease or ailment.
2 Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who was named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John,
3 Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector, James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus,
4 Simon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who afterward betrayed Him.
5 Jesus sent these twelve out, after giving them the following charge: "Do not go to the heathen, or to any Samaritan town,
6 but rather to the lost sheep of Israel's house.
7 And as you go continue to preach, 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'
8 Keep on curing the sick, raising the dead, healing lepers, and driving out demons. You received and gave no pay; you must give and take none.
9 Do not accept gold or silver or even copper money for your purse,
10 and do not take a bag for your journey, nor two shirts, nor any shoes, nor a staff, for the workman deserves his support.
11 Into whatever town or village you go, inquire for some deserving person, and stay at his house until you leave the place.
12 As you go into his house, wish it well,
13 and if the house should prove deserving, may your good wish for peace upon it come true, but if not, may your good wish bring peace to yourselves.
14 And whoever will not welcome you, or listen to your words, on leaving that place shake off from your feet its very dust.
15 I tell you, the punishment on the day of judgment will be lighter for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
16 "Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves.
17 Be on your guard against men, for they will turn you over to the courts and will flog you in their synagogues,
18 and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness to them and the heathen.
19 But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak.
20 For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.
21 One brother will turn another over to death, and a father his child, and children will take a stand against their parents, and will have them put to death.
22 And you will be hated by all men, because you bear my name, but whoever bears up to the end will be saved.
23 But whenever they persecute you in one town, flee to a different one. For I solemnly say to you, you will not cover all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man returns.
24 No pupil is better than his teacher, and no slave is better than his master.
25 The pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and the slave should be satisfied to become like his master. If men have called the Head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they heap upon the members of His family!
26 So you must never be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, nor a secret that will not be known.
27 What I speak to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ears, you must proclaim from housetops.
28 You must never be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather you must keep on fearing Him who can destroy both soul and body in the pit.
29 Do not sparrows sell for a cent apiece? And yet not one of them can fall to the ground without your Father's notice.
30 Even the very hairs on your head have all been counted by God.
31 So stop being afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
32 Therefore, everyone who will own me before men I will own before my Father in heaven,
33 but anyone who disowns me before men I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
36 and a man's enemies will be members of his own family.
37 Anybody who loves father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me,
38 and nobody is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and follow me.
39 Anybody who gains his lower life will lose the higher life, and anybody who loses his lower life for my sake will gain the higher life.
40 "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes Him who sent me.
41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive the same reward as a prophet, and whoever welcomes an upright man as such will receive the same reward as the upright man.
42 And I solemnly say to you, no one who gives a cup of cold water to one of the least of my disciples, because he is a disciple, will ever fail to get his reward."