but after he had planned this, there appeared an angel of the Lord to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary your wife home, for what is begotten in her comes from the holy Spirit.

but he did not live with her as a husband till she bore a son, whom he called Jesus.

And you Bethlehem, in Judah's land, You are not least among the rulers of Judah: For a ruler will come from you, Who will shepherd Israel my people."

Then, as they had been divinely warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by a different road.

So he got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went off to Egypt,

The axe is lying all ready at the root of the trees; any tree that is not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier, and I am not fit even to carry his sandals; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.

John tried to prevent him; "I need to get baptized by you," he said, "and you come to me!"

He answered, "It is written, Man is not to live on bread alone, but on every word that issues from the mouth of God."

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God."

As he was walking along the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew, casting a net in the sea ??for they were fishermen;

Do not imagine I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.

(I tell you truly, till heaven and earth pass away not an iota, not a comma, will pass from the Law until it is all in force.

You have heard how the men of old were told, 'Murder not: whoever murders must come up for sentence,

You have heard how it used to be said, Do not commit adultery.

Once again, you have heard how the men of old were told, 'You must not forswear yourself but discharge your vows to the Lord'.

But I tell you, you must not swear any oath, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

But I tell you, you are not to resist an injury: whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well;

give to the man who begs from you, and turn not away from him who wants to borrow.

For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you get for that? do not the very taxgatherers do as much?

and if you only salute your friends, what is special about that? do not the very pagans do as much?

Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No,

When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street-corners, so as to be seen by men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward.

Do not pray by idle rote like pagans, for they suppose they will be heard the more they say;

you must not copy them; your Father knows your needs before you ask him.

and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.'

but if you do not forgive men, your Father will not forgive your trespasses either.

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they look woebegone to let men see they are fasting; I tell you truly, they do get their reward.

so that your fast may be seen not by men but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrode, where thieves do not break in and steal.

Therefore I tell you, do not trouble about what you are to eat or drink in life, nor about what you are to put on your body; surely life means more than food, surely the body means more than clothes!

Look at the wild birds; they sow not, they reap not, they gather nothing in granaries, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than birds?

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which blooms to-day and is thrown to-morrow into the furnace, will not he much more clothe you? O men, how little you trust him!

Do not be troubled, then, and cry, 'What are we to eat?' or 'what are we to drink?' or 'how are we to be clothed?'

(pagans make all that their aim in life) for your heavenly Father knows quite well you need all that.

So do not be troubled about to-morrow; to-morrow will take care of itself. The day's own trouble is quite enough for the day.

Judge not, that you may not be judged yourselves;

Why do you note the splinter in your brother's eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?

Do not give dogs what is sacred and do not throw pearls before swine, in case they trample them under foot and turn to gore you.

[Relocated to follow vs 20] Any tree that does not produce sound fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

It is not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord!', who will get into the Realm of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me at that Day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? did we not cast out daemons in your name? did we not perform many miracles in your name?'

The rain came down, the floods rose, the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, for it was founded on rock.

And everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act upon them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand.

for he taught them like an authority, not like their own scribes.

Then Jesus told him, "See, you are not to say a word to anybody; away and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, to notify men."

The captain answered, "Sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof; only say the word, and my servant will be cured.

When Jesus heard it he said, "Those who are strong have no need of a doctor, but those who are ill.

Go and learn the meaning of this word, I care for mercy not for sacrifice. For I have not come to call just men but sinners."

Then the disciples of John came up to him and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast a great deal, and your disciples do not fast?"

he said, "Be off with you; the girl is not dead but asleep." They laughed at him.

These twelve men Jesus despatched with the following instructions, "Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town,

you are not to take gold or silver or coppers in your girdle,

Whoever will not receive you or listen to your message, leave that house or town and shake off the very dust from your feet.

Now, when they bring you up for trial, do not trouble yourselves about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will come to you at the moment,

for you are not the speakers, it is the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; truly I tell you, you will not have covered the towns of Israel before the Son of man arrives.

A scholar is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord;

Fear them not: ??nothing is veiled that shall not be revealed, or hidden that shall not be known;

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unless your Father wills it.

fear not, then, you are worth far more than sparrows!

Do not imagine I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me:

he who will not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, I tell you, he shall not lose his reward."

'We piped to you and you would not dance, we lamented and you would not beat your breasts.'

Then he proceeded to upbraid the towns where his many miracles had been performed, because they would not repent.

When the Pharisees noticed it, they said to him, "Look at your disciples, they are doing what is not allowed on the sabbath."

He replied, "Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry,

Have you not read in the Law that the priests in the temple are not guilty when they desecrate the sabbath?

Besides, if you had known what this meant, I care for mercy not for sacrifice, you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.

He said to them, "Is there a man of you with one sheep, who will not catch hold of it and lift it out of a pit on the sabbath, if it falls in?

charging them strictly not to make him known ??17 it was for the fulfilment of what had been said by the prophet Isaiah,

He will not wrangle or shout, no one will hear his voice in the streets.

He will not break the bruised reed, he will not put out the smouldering flax, till he carries religion to victory:

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

I tell you therefore, men will be forgiven any sin and blasphemy, but they will not be forgiven for blaspheming the Spirit.

Some other seeds fell on stony soil where they had not much earth, and shot up at once because they had no depth of soil;

He replied, "Because it is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Realm of heaven, but it is not granted to these people.

For he who has, to him shall more be given and richly given, but whoever has not, from him shall be taken even what he has.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because for all their seeing they do not see and for all their hearing they do not hear or understand.

I tell you truly, many prophets and good men have longed to see what you see, but they have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, but they have not heard it.

When anyone hears the word of the Realm and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; that is the man who is sown 'on the road.'

he has no root in himself, he does not last, but when the word brings trouble or persecution he is at once repelled.

So the servants of the owner went to him and said, 'Did you not sow good seed in your field, sir? How then does it contain weeds?'

Again, the Realm of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and collected fish of every sort.

Is this not the son of the joiner? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

Are not his sisters settled here among us? Then where has he got all this?"

There he could not do many miracles owing to their lack of faith.

Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; give them some food yourselves."

In the fourth watch of the night he went to them, walking on the sea,

"Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they take their food."

need not honour his father or mother. So you have repealed the law of God to suit your own tradition.

it is not what enters a man's mouth that defiles him, what defiles a man is what comes out of his mouth."

He replied, "Any plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Do you not see how all that enters the mouth passes into the belly and is then thrown out into the drain,

That is what defiles a man; a man is not defiled by eating with hands unwashed!"

He replied, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

Then Jesus called his disciples and said, "I am sorry for the crowd; they have been three days with me now, and they have nothing to eat. I will not send them away starving, in case they faint on the road."