Matthew 10:16-25 - Persecution Of Disciples Predicted

¹⁶ "Remember it is I who am sending you out, as sheep into the midst of wolves; prove yourselves as sagacious as serpents, and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to appear before Sanhedrins, and will flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ and you will even be put on trial before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they have delivered you up, have no anxiety as to how you shall speak or what you shall say; for at that very time it shall be given you what to say; ²⁰ for it is not you who will speak: it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, and father, child; and children will rise against their own parents and will put them to death. ²² And you will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name; but he who holds out to the End--he will be saved. ²³ Whenever they persecute you in one town, escape to the next; for I solemnly tell you that you will not have gone the round of all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ²⁴ "The learner is never superior to his teacher, and the servant is never superior to his master. ²⁵ Enough for the learner to be on a level with his teacher, and for the servant to be on a level with his master. If they have called the master of the house Baal-zebul, how much more will they slander his servants?

⁹ "At that time they will deliver you up to punishment and will put you to death; and you will be objects of hatred to all the nations because you are called by my name. ¹⁰ Then will many stumble and fall, and they will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will rise up and lead multitudes astray; ¹² and because of the prevalent disregard of God's law the love of the great majority will grow cold; ¹³ but those who stand firm to the End shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this Good News of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the whole world to set the evidence before all the Gentiles; and then the End will come.

⁹ "You yourselves must be on your guard. They will deliver you up to Sanhedrins; you will be brought into synagogues and cruelly beaten; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to be witnesses to them for me. ¹⁰ But the proclamation of the Good News must be carried to all the Gentiles before the End comes. ¹¹ When however they are marching you along under arrest, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but speak what is given you when the time comes; for it will not be you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² "Brother will betray brother to be killed, and fathers will betray children; and children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name, but those who stand firm to the End will be saved.

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. ¹³ In the end all this will be evidence of your fidelity. ¹⁴ "Make up your minds, however, not to prepare a defence beforehand, ¹⁵ for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to withstand or reply to. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, friends; and some of you they will put to death. ¹⁷ You will be the objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name; ¹⁸ and yet not a hair of your heads shall perish. ¹⁹ By your patient endurance you will purchase your lives.

¹ "These things I have spoken to you in order to clear stumbling-blocks out of your path. ² You will be excluded from the synagogues; nay more, the time is coming when any one who has murdered one of you will suppose he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they have failed to recognize the Father and to discover who I am. ⁴ But I have spoken these things to you in order that when the time for their accomplishment comes you may remember them, and may recollect that I told you. I did not, however, tell you all this at first, because I was still with you.