"How blessed are those who are destitute in spirit, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!

"How blessed are those who mourn, because it is they who will be comforted!

"How blessed are those who are humble, because it is they who will inherit the earth!

"How blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because it is they who will be satisfied!

"How blessed are those who are merciful, because it is they who will receive mercy!

"How blessed are those who are pure in heart, because it is they who will see God!

"How blessed are those who make peace, because it is they who will be called God's children!

"How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!

"How blessed are you whenever people insult you, persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you falsely because of me!

Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That's how they persecuted the prophets who came before you."

"You are the salt of the world. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty again? It's good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Therefore, this is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light within you has turned into darkness, how great is that darkness!"

And why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies in the field and how they grow. They don't work or spin yarn,

Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when the beam is in your own eye?

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who keep on asking him!

How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life, and there aren't many people who find it!"

When they hand you over, don't worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, because in that hour what you are to say will be given to you.

It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they do the same to those of his household!"

How blessed is anyone who is not offended by me!"

"How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

How is it that he went into the house of God and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him and his companions to eat but was reserved for the priests?

How much more is a human being worth than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on Sabbath days."

So if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How, then, can his kingdom stand?

How can someone go into a strong man's house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then he can ransack his house.

You children of serpents! How can you say anything good when you are evil? The mouth speaks about what overflows from the heart.

"How blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear!

That is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, cull out the evil people from among the righteous ones,

You hypocrites! How well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said,

Jesus asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can't interpret the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.

Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected,

or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you collected?

How can you fail to understand that I wasn't talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"

Then Jesus told him, "How blessed you are, Simon son of Jonah, since flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, though my Father in heaven has.

Jesus replied, "You unbelieving and perverted generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me!"

How terrible it will be for the world due to its temptations to sin! Temptations to sin are bound to happen, but how terrible it will be for that person who causes someone to sin!

Then Peter came up and asked him, "Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? Seven times?"

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each one of you unless you forgive your brother from your hearts."

Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" they asked.

He asked him, "Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' But the man was speechless.

Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus in conversation.

He asked them, "Then how can David by the Spirit call him "Lord' when he says,

If David calls him "Lord', how can he be his son?"

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you don't allow those who are trying to enter to go in.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.

"How terrible it will be for you, blind guides! You say, "Whoever swears an oath by the sanctuary is excused, but whoever swears an oath by the gold of the sanctuary must keep his oath.'

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and every kind of impurity.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

You snakes, you children of serpents! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

"How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!

They were unaware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That's how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

How blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing this when he comes!

The Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him. How terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say this must happen?"

Peter, however, followed him at a distance as far as the high priest's courtyard. He went inside and sat down with the servants to see how this would end.

Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear how many charges they're bringing against you?"

and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said while he was still alive, "I will be raised after three days.'

Pilate told them, "You have a military guard. Go and make the tomb as secure as you know how."

How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?"

Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians went out and began to plot how to kill him.

So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables. "How can Satan drive out Satan?

Then he told them, "You don't understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables?

He sleeps and gets up night and day while the seeds sprout and grow, although he doesn't know how

He was also saying, "How can we show what the kingdom of God is like, or what parable can we use to describe it?

But Jesus wouldn't let him. Instead, he told him, "Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you."

So the man left and began proclaiming in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was utterly amazed.

He asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see." They found out and told him, "Five loaves and two fish."

He asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" "Seven," they said.

When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?" They told him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?" They told him, "Seven."

(Peter didn't know how to respond, because they were terrified.)

Jesus told them, "You unbelieving generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!"

Then Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He said, "Since he was a child.

Salt is good. But if salt loses its taste, how can you restore its flavor? Keep on having salt among yourselves, and live in peace with one another."

Then Jesus looked around and told his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus told them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth to get into the kingdom of God!

Those who went ahead and those who followed him were shouting, "Hosanna! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

How blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

As for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

Then one of the scribes came near and heard the Sadducees arguing with one another. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of them all?"

When Jesus saw how wisely the man answered, he told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask him another question.

While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "How can the scribes say that the Messiah is David's son?

David himself calls him "Lord,' so how can he be his son?" And the large crowd kept listening to him with delight.

As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts.

"How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!

For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

So Pilate asked him again, "Don't you have any answer? Look how many accusations they're bringing against you!"

When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had cried out and breathed his last, he said, "This man certainly was the Son of God!"

Then Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this, since I am an old man, and my wife is getting older?"

Mary asked the angel, "How can this happen, since I have not had relations with a man?"

and she loudly exclaimed, "How blessed are you among women, and how blessed is the infant in your womb!

How blessed is this woman for believing that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!"

How was it that he went into the house of God, took the Bread of the Presence and ate it, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and then gave some of it to his companions?"