Matthew 10:16-25 - Persecution Of Disciples Predicted

¹⁶ Remember, I am sending you out as my Messengers like sheep among wolves. So be as wise as serpents, and as blameless as doves. ¹⁷ Be on your guard against your fellow men, for they will betray you to courts of law, and scourge you in their Synagogues; ¹⁸ And you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, that you may witness for me before them and the nations. ¹⁹ Whenever they betray you, do not be anxious as to how you shall speak or what you shall say, for what you shall say will be given you at the moment; ²⁰ For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks within you.

²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; and children will turn against their parents, and cause them to be put to death; ²² And you will be hated by every one on account of my Name. Yet the man that endures to the end shall be saved. ²³ But, when they persecute you in one town, escape to the next; for, I tell you, you will not have come to the end of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ²⁴ A scholar is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a scholar to be treated like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Baal-zebub, how much more the members of his household!

⁹ When that time comes, they will give you up to persecution, and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my Name. ¹⁰ And then many will fall away, and will betray one another, and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false Prophets, also, will appear and lead many astray; ¹² and, owing to the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. ¹³ Yet the man that endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this Good News of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the world as a witness to all nations; and then will come the end.

⁹ See to yourselves! They will betray you to courts of law; and you will be taken to Synagogues and beaten; and you will be brought up before governors and kings for my sake, that you may bear witness before them. ¹⁰ But the Good News must first be proclaimed to every nation. ¹¹ Whenever they betray you and hand you over for trial, do not be anxious beforehand as to what you shall say, but say whatever is given you at the moment; for it will not be you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; and children will turn against their parents, and cause them to be put to death; ¹³ And you will be hated by every one on account of my Name. Yet the man that endures to the end shall be saved.

¹² Before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you, and they will betray you to Synagogues and put you in prison, when you will be brought before kings and governors for the sake of my Name. ¹³ Then will be your opportunity of witnessing for me. ¹⁴ Make up your minds, therefore, not to prepare your defense; ¹⁵ For I will myself give you words, and a wisdom which all your opponents together will be unable to resist or defy. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by your parents and brothers and relations and friends, and they will cause some of you to be put to death, ¹⁷ And you will be hated by every one on account of my Name. ¹⁸ Yet not a single hair of your heads shall be lost! ¹⁹ By your endurance you shall win yourselves Life.

¹ I have spoken to you in this way so that you may not falter. ² They will expel you from their Synagogues; indeed the time is coming when any one who kills you will think that he is making an offering to God. ³ They will do this, because they have not learned to know the Father, or even me. ⁴ But I have spoken to you of these things that, when the time for them comes, you may remember that I told you about them myself.