But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?

I have not come to set them aside but to fill them up to the brim. For I solemnly say to you, heaven and earth would sooner pass away than the dotting of an 'i' or the crossing of a 't' from the law, until it all becomes in force.

So if your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out of your way; for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

And if your right hand causes you to do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way, for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

"You must never give the things that are sacred to dogs, and you must never throw your pearls before hogs, for fear they might trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

But the captain answered, "I am not fit for you to come under my roof, but simply speak the word, and my servant-boy will be cured.

And you, Capernaum, are you to be exalted to heaven? No, you belong to the regions of the dead! For if the wonder-works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued until today.

for John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have her as wife."

Then Jesus left there and slipped away to the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.

He answered them, "Because you have so little faith! For I solemnly say to you, if you have the faith that is living like a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, 'Move over from here to yonder,' and it will move over, and nothing will be impossible for you to do."

"And if your own hand or your own foot makes you do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way. It is better for you to get into life maimed or crippled than to have both hands or both feet to be thrown into everlasting torture.

And if your own eye makes you do wrong, pluck it out and put it out of your way. It is better for you to go into life with a single eye than to have both eyes to be thrown into the pit of torture.

Then they asked Him, "Why did Moses command us to give a written divorce charge, and in this way to divorce a wife?"

He answered them, "It was because of your moral perversity that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not so from the beginning.

Then Peter answered Him, "We have left everything we had and followed you. What then are we to get?"

Have I not the right to do what I please with my own money? Or, is your eye causing you to be covetous, because I am generous?

When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you to our homes, or needing clothes, and put them on you?

Then these will go away to everlasting punishment, but the upright to everlasting life."

On the first day of the Passover Feast the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to get the Passover supper ready for you to eat?"

And He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons along with Him and He began to give way to His grief and distress of heart.

The men who had laid hands on Jesus took Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, at whose home the scribes and elders had met.

And when they had finished making sport of Him, they took off the cloak, and put His own clothes back on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

For John kept saying to Herod, "It is not right for you to be living with your brother's wife."

And Zebedee's two sons, James and John, came up to Him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

Then the high priests and the scribes heard of this, and they kept looking for some way to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, for everybody was swept off his feet at what He said.

Now when they take you to court for trial, do not be worrying beforehand about what you should say, but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you that will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

Now the feast of the Passover and of Unleavened Bread was two days later. So the high priests and scribes kept looking for some way to arrest Him by stratagem and have Him put to death,

On the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, the usual time for killing the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Where do you want us to go and get the Passover supper ready for you to eat?"

They took Jesus away to the high priest, and all the high priests, elders, and scribes met there.

Then the soldiers led Him away to a place inside the court yard, that is, of the governor's palace, and they called the whole battalion together.

So he used to say to the crowds that continued to come out there to be baptized by him: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?

So the crowds were asking him this question, "What then ought we to do?"

Then even the tax-collectors came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what ought we to do?"

for the Scripture says, 'He will give His angels directions about you, to protect you,'

So the men went to Him and said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the One who was to come, or should we continue to look for someone else?'"

Then a man in the crowd at once shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, because he is my only child;

And you, Capernaum, are you to be exalted to heaven? No, you are to go down to the regions of the dead.

So he began to argue with himself, 'What am I to do, because I have nowhere to store my crops?'

For instance, when you are on the way to court with your opponent, take the utmost pains on the way to get entirely rid of him, so that he may not rush you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the sheriff, and the sheriff put you in prison.

Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them. Please excuse me.'

Not many days after that, the younger son got together all he had and went away to a distant country, and there he squandered all his property by living in dissipation.

So I tell you, make friends by the right use of your money, which so easily tends to wrongdoing, so that when it fails, your friends may welcome you to the eternal dwellings.

After saying these things, He went on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem.

and they will throw you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know when God visited you."

Yes, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and they will put some of you to death,

On that very day, strange to say, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,

Then they said to him, "Who are you? Tell us, so that we can have an answer to give to those who sent us. What have you to say for yourself?"

Jesus said to her, "Woman, what have you to do with me? My time to act has not yet come."

I have sent you to reap a harvest which you have not labored to make. Other men have labored, but you have reaped the results of their labors."

So the Jews began to say to the man who had been cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is against the law for you to carry your pallet."

Do not be thinking that I am going to accuse you to the Father. You have your accuser; it is Moses on whom you have set your hopes!

So the high priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and began to say, "What are we to do? For this man is certainly performing many wonder-works.

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places; if there were not, I would have told you, for I am going away to make ready a place for you.

And if I go and make it ready for you, I will come back and take you to be face to face with me, so that you may always be right where I am.

And you know the way to the place where I am going."

And I will ask I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, to remain with you to the end of the age;

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send to represent me, will teach you everything Himself, and cause you to remember everything that I have told you.

This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you.

You are my friends, if you keep on doing what I command you to do.

You have not chosen me; I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit may remain too, so that the Father may grant you, as bearers of my name, whatever you ask Him for.

"What I command you to do is, to keep on loving one another.

But now I am going away to Him who has sent me, and not one of you is asking me where I am going,

about uprightness, because I go away to the Father so that you can no longer see me;

So some of His disciples said to one another, "What does He mean by telling us, 'In just a little while you will not see me, and yet in just a little while after you will see me again,' and 'Because I am going away to the Father'?"

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil in it.

And Pilate went outside again and said to the Jews, "Listen! I am going to bring Him out to you, for you to see that I can find no ground for a charge against Him."

to take a share in this service as an apostle, from which Judas fell away to go to his own place."

It was to you first that He sent His Servant, after raising Him from the dead, to bless you by causing every one of you to turn from his wicked ways."

So, after further threatening them, they turned them loose, because they could not find any way to punish them, on account of the people, because they all continued to praise God for what had taken place,

Peter said to her, "How could both of you agree in such a way to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door; they will carry you out, too."

"Did we not positively forbid you to teach anymore on this authority, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and now want to bring on us the people's vengeance for this man's death!"

Now this was the passage of Scripture that he was reading: "Like a sheep He was led away to be slaughtered, and just as a lamb is dumb before its shearer, so He does not open His mouth.

Now while Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men who had been sent by Cornelius had asked for the way to Simon's house and had stopped at the gate;

They answered, "Cornelius, a colonel in the army, an upright man and one who reveres God, and a man of high reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to listen to a message you would bring."

So at once I sent for you, and you have been kind enough to come. So now we are all here in God's presence to listen to anything that the Lord has commanded you to say."

So if God had given them the same gift that He gave us when we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try -- and how could I if I tried -- to thwart God?"

Now the fugitives from the persecution that started over Stephen went all the way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message to none but Jews.

Now the news about them came to the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and so they sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch.

So, as they were sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from that port sailed away to Cyprus.

So we send Judas and Silas to you, to bring you the same message by word of mouth.

Once as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had the gift of magical fortune-telling, and continued to make great profits for her owners by fortune-telling.

She kept this up for a number of days. Because Paul was so much annoyed by her, he turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her." And that very moment it came out.

That night at once the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, and on arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue.

The men who acted as Paul's bodyguard took him all the way to Athens, and then went back with orders for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible.

After these events had been brought to a close, Paul under the guidance of the Spirit decided to pass through Macedonia and Greece on his way to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have gone there I must see Rome too."

And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there,

And now I commit you to the Lord, and to the message of His favor, which is able to build you up and to give you your proper possession among all God's consecrated people.

Then I asked, 'What am I to do, Lord?' And the Lord answered, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you what you are destined to do.'

and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear Him speak,

But when they had tied him for the flogging, Paul asked the captain who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman, and one who is uncondemned at that?"

He answered, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though you were going to examine his case more carefully.

While in this business I once was on my way to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests,

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you continue to persecute me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the goad.'

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you my servant and a witness to me of the things which you have seen and those which I shall yet enable you to see.

Even now I beg you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life, but only of the ship.

So I beg you to eat something, for it is necessary for your safety. For not a hair will be lost from the head of a single one of you."

Now it is for this reason that I invited you to come, namely, to see you and speak with you, for it is on account of Israel's hope that I am wearing this chain."

For I am longing to see you, to impart to you some spiritual gift, that you may be strengthened;

Furthermore, I want you to know, brothers, that I have often planned to come to see you (though until now I have been prevented), in order that I may gather some fruit among you too, as I have among the rest of the heathen.