"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

At that time Jesus began to proclaim-- "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

If your right eye is a snare to you, take it out and throw it away. It would be best for you to lose one part of your body, and not to have the whole of it thrown into the Pit.

And, if your right hand is a snare to you, cut it off and throw it away. It would be best for you to lose one part of your body, and not to have the whole of it go down to the Pit.

Again, you have heard that to our ancestors it was said--'Thou shalt not break an oath, but thou shall keep thine oaths as a debt due to the Lord.'

How will you say to your brother 'Let me take out the straw from your eye,' when all the time there is a beam in your own?

And on your way proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Remember, I am sending you out as my Messengers like sheep among wolves. So be as wise as serpents, and as blameless as doves.

He who welcomes a Prophet, because he is a Prophet, shall receive a Prophet's reward; and he who welcomes a good man, because he is a good man, shall receive a good man's reward.

And, if any one gives but a cup of cold water to one of these lowly ones because he is a disciple, I tell you that he shall assuredly not lose his reward."

And now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, they are saying 'Here is a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax-gatherers and outcasts!' And yet Wisdom is vindicated by her actions."

"It is a wicked and unfaithful generation," answered Jesus, "that is asking for a sign, and no sign shall be given it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah.

Yet, though Herod wanted to put him to death, he was afraid of the people, because they looked on John as a Prophet.

In the evening the disciples came up to him, and said: " This is a lonely spot, and the day is now far advanced; send the crowds away, that they may go to the villages, and buy themselves food."

But, when they saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they exclaimed, and cried out for fear.

'This is a people that honor me with their lips, While their hearts are far removed from me;

But Jesus answered: [ "In the evening you say 'It will be fine weather, for the sky is as red as fire.'

But in the morning you say 'To-day it will be stormy, for the sky is as red as fire and threatening.' You learn to read the sky; yet you are unable to read the signs of the times!]

If your hand or your foot is a snare to you, cut it off, and throw it away. It would be better for you to enter the Life maimed or lame, than to have both hands, or both feet, and be thrown into the aeonian fire.

If your eye is a snare to you, take it out, and throw it away. It would be better for you to enter the Life with only one eye, than to have both eyes and be thrown into the fiery Pit.

Just as the Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

But if we say 'human,' we are afraid of the people, for every one regards John as a Prophet."

As a last resource he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

Yet, although eager to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, who regarded him as a Prophet.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! She who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not came!

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.

And so may you, as soon as you see all these things, know that he is at your doors.

But, should he be a bad servant, and say to himself 'My master is a long time in coming,'

For it is as though a man, going on his travels, called his servants, and gave his property into their charge.

And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people--just as a shepherd separates sheep from goats- -

"Why are you troubling the woman?" Jesus said, when he noticed it. "For this is a beautiful deed that she has done to me.

"The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the Good News."

Jesus again began to teach by the Sea; and, as an immense crowd was gathering round him, he got into a boat, and sat in it on the Sea, while all the people were on the shore at the water's edge.

And Jesus said to them: "Is a lamp brought to be put under the corn-measure or under the couch, instead of being put on the lampstand?

"My little daughter," he said, "is at the point of death; I beg you to come and place your hands on her, that her life may be spared."

And if a place does not welcome you, or listen to you, as you go out of it shake off the dust that is on the soles of your feet, as a protest against them."

Others again said--"He is Elijah," and others--"He is a Prophet, like one of the great Prophets."

When it grew late, his disciples came up to him, and said: "This is a lonely spot, and it is already late.

His answer was: "It was well said by Isaiah when he prophesied about you hypocrites in the words--'This is a people that honor me with their lips, While their hearts are far removed from me;

For even the Son of Man came, not be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

And so may you, as soon as you see these things happening, know that he is at your doors.

"Let her alone," said Jesus, as they began to find fault with her, "why are you troubling her? This is a beautiful deed that she has done for me.

Then, as an illustration, Jesus said to them: "No man ever tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old one; for, if he does, he will not only tear the new garment, but the piece from the new one will not match the old.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they expel you from among them, and taunt you, and reject your Name as an evil thing--on account of the Son of Man.

There is no such thing as a good tree bearing worthless fruit, or, on the other hand, a worthless tree bearing good fruit.

When they found Jesus, they earnestly implored him to do so. "He is a man who deserves that you should show him this favor," they said,

And now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, you are saying 'Here is a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax- gatherers and outcasts.'

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself: "Had this man been 'The Prophet,' he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast."

If people do not welcome you, as you leave that town, shake even the dust off your feet, as a protest against them."

I tell you that, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is a friend, yet because of his persistence he will rouse himself and give him what he wants.

As the crowds increased, Jesus began to speak: "This generation is a wicked generation. It is asking a sign, but no sign shall be given it except the sign of Jonah.

But should that servant say to himself 'My master is a long time coming,' and begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

There is a baptism that I must undergo, and how great is my distress until it is over!

And to the people Jesus said: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once 'There is a storm coming,' and come it does.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! she who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen takes her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

And say 'Here is a man who began to build and was not able to finish!'

Every one who divorces his wife and marries another woman is an adulterer, and the man who marries a divorced woman is an adulterer.

"Where will it be, Master?" interposed the disciples. "Where there is a body," said Jesus, "'there will the vultures flock.'"

On seeing this, every one began to complain: "He has gone to stay with a man who is an outcast."

"Salvation has come to this house to-day," answered Jesus, "for even this man is a son of Abraham.

Until I put they enemies as a stool for thy feet."'

As soon, however, as you see Jerusalem surrounded by armed camps, then you may know that the hour of her desecration is at hand.

About an hour later another man declared positively: "This man also was certainly with him. Why, he is a Galilean!"

And they began to accuse him: "This is a man whom we found misleading our people, preventing them from paying taxes to the Emperor, and giving out that he himself is 'Christ, a King.'"

Nor did Herod either; for he has sent him back to us. And, as a fact, he has not done anything deserving death;

He came as a witness--to bear witness to the Light that through him all men might believe.

John also made this statement--"I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of the heavens, and it remained upon him.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said: "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!"

But Jesus was speaking of his body as a temple.

You are yourselves witnesses that I said 'I am not the Christ,' but 'I have been sent before him as a Messenger.'

"I have no one, Sir," the afflicted man answered, "to put me into the Bath when there is a troubling of the water, and, while I am getting to it, some one else steps down before me."

"There is a boy here," said Andrew, another of his disciples, Simon Peter's brother,

And there were many whispers about him among the people, some saying 'He is a good man;' others: 'No! he is leading the people astray.'

"In truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "every one who sins is a slave to sin.

As for you, you are children of your Father the Devil, and you are determined to do what your father loves to do. He was a murderer from the first, and did not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he does what is natural to him; because he is a liar, and the father of lying.

Upon this his neighbors, and those who had formerly known him by sight as a beggar, exclaimed: "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"

So the Jews again called the man who had been blind, and said to him: "Give God the praise; we know that this is a bad man."

In truth I tell you, whoever does not go into the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up at some other place, that man is a thief and a robber;

I have come as a Light into the world, that no one who believes in me should remain in the darkness.

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains united to the vine; no more can you, unless you remain united to me.

If any one does not remain united to me, he is thrown away, as a branch would be, and withers up. Such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and are burnt.

From his baptism by John down to that day on which he was taken from us--some one must be found to join us as a witness of his resurrection."

Till I put your enemies as a footstool under they feet."'

On seeing this, Peter said to the people: "Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? and why do you stare at us, as though we, by any power or piety of our own, had enabled this man to walk?

The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this--'Like a sheep, he was led away to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the hands of its shearer, so he refrains from opening his lips.

"Go at once," said the Lord, "to the 'Straight Street', and ask at Judas's house for a man named Saul, from Tarsus. He is at this moment praying,

I had but just begun to speak," continued Peter, "when the Holy Spirit fell on them, exactly as on us at the first;

On reaching Salamis, they began to tell the Message of God in the Jewish Synagogues; and they had John with them as an assistant.

"They are Jews, and they are teaching customs which it is not right for us, as Romans, to sanction or adopt."

As a consequence, many of them became believers in Christ, besides a considerable number of Greek women of position, and of men also.

But, since it is a dispute about words, and names, and your own Law, you must see to it yourselves. I do not choose to be a judge in such matters."

However, when they recognized him as a Jew, one cry broke from them all, and they continued shouting for two hours--"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

So, when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

On our arrival at Jerusalem, the Brethren there gave us a hearty welcome;

On hearing this, the Captain went and reported it to the Commanding Officer. "Do you know what you are doing?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."

(For Sadducees say there is no such thing as a resurrection, and that there is neither angel nor spirit, while Pharisees believe in both.)

We have found this man a public pest; he is one who stirs up disputes among the Jews all the world over, and is a ringleader of the Nazarene heretics.

This, however, I do acknowledge to you, that it is as a believer in the Cause which they call heretical, that I worship the God of my ancestors. At the same time, I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the prophets;

And, as they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul's case before the King. "There is a man here," he said, "left a prisoner by Felix,

In the interval before daybreak Paul kept urging them all to take something to eat. "It is a fortnight to-day," he said, "that, owing to your anxiety, you have gone without food, taking nothing.