"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

But I say to you, Do not swear at all! Not by Heaven, because it is God's throne;

not by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King;

nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.

Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

But seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

Then He began to upbraid the cities in which most of His mighty works were done, because they did not repent.

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and revealed them to babes.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah, and behold, One greater than Jonah is here.

Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth. And they sprang up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth.

And the sun rising, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.

He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand.

And He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

For Herod had laid hold on John, and had bound him, and had put him in prison because of Herodias his brother Philip's wife.

And when he desired to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

Then Jesus called His disciples and said, I have compassion on the crowd because they continue with Me for three days now and have nothing to eat. And I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no loaves.

And knowing Jesus said to them, Why do you reason among yourselves because you took no loaves, little-faiths?

And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.

Woe to the world because of offenses! For it is necessary that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

Then his lord, after he had called him, said to him, O wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

He said to them, Because of your hard-heartedness Moses allowed you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so.

They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and you shall receive whatever is right.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good?

But seeking to lay hands on Him, they feared the crowd, because they held Him for a prophet.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold.

Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be offended because of Me this night. For it is written, "I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad."

Peter answered and said to Him, though all shall be offended because of You, I will never be offended.

And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

For he knew they had delivered Him because of envy.

But as he was sitting down on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that just man, for today because of Him I have suffered many things in a dream.