Then large numbers of people went out to him--people from Jerusalem and from all Judaea, and from the whole of the Jordan valley--

and were baptized by him in the Jordan, making full confession of their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he exclaimed, "O vipers' brood, who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

But I say to you that every one who becomes angry with his brother shall be answerable to the magistrate; that whoever says to his brother 'Raca,' shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and that whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the Gehenna of Fire.

and the heavy rain falls, the swollen torrents come, and the winds blow and beat against the house; yet it does not fall, for its foundation is on rock.

And every one who hears these my teachings and does not act upon them will be found to resemble a fool who builds his house upon sand.

The heavy rain descends, the swollen torrents come, and the winds blow and burst upon the house, and it falls; and disastrous is the fall."

when a Scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

"Follow me," said Jesus, "and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Passing on thence Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." And he arose, and followed Him.

Then He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over foul spirits, to drive them out; and to cure every kind of disease and infirmity.

Do not two sparrows sell for a halfpenny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's leave.

and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me.

and blessed is every one who does not stumble and fall because of my claims."

"No sooner however has the foul spirit gone out of the man, then he roams about in places where there is no water, seeking rest but finding none.

It is the smallest of all seeds, and yet when full-grown it is larger than any herb and forms a tree, so that the birds come and build in its branches."

When full, they haul it up on the beach, and sit down and collect the good fish in baskets, while the worthless they throw away.

and the men on board fell down before him and said, "You are indeed God's Son."

Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind; and if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into some pit."

"Be it so, Sir," she said, "for even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from their masters' tables."

And they all ate and were satisfied. The broken portions that remained over they took up--seven full hampers.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

On hearing this voice, the disciples fell on their faces and were filled with terror.

When they had returned to the people, there came to Him a man who fell on his knees before Him and besought Him.

But whoever shall occasion the fall of one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

If your hand or your foot is causing you to fall into sin, cut it off and away with it. It is better for you to enter into Life crippled in hand or foot than to remain in possession of two sound hands or feet but be thrown into the fire of the Ages.

And if your eye is causing you to fall into sin, tear it out and away with it; it is better for you to enter into Life with only one eye, than to remain in possession of two eyes but be thrown into the Gehenna of fire.

But no sooner had that servant gone out, than he met with one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 shillings; and seizing him by the throat and nearly strangling him he exclaimed, "'Pay me all you owe.'

"His fellow servant therefore fell at his feet and entreated him, "'Only give me time,' he said, 'and I will pay you.'

His fellow servants, therefore, seeing what had happened, were exceedingly angry; and they came and told their master without reserve all that had happened.

ought not you also to have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

Honour thy father and thy mother'; and 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself.'"

"If you desire to be perfect," replied Jesus, "go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and come, follow me."

saying to them, "Go to the village you see facing you, and as you enter it you will find a she-ass tied up and a foal with her. Untie her and bring them to me.

"Tell the Daughter of Zion, 'See, thy King is coming to thee, gentle, and yet mounted on an ass, even on a colt the foal of a beast of burden.'"

they brought the she-ass and the foal, and threw their outer garments on them. So He sat on them;

And the second is similar to it: 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself.'

"Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

"Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean.

The same is true of you: outwardly you seem to the human eye to be good and honest men, but, within, you are full of insincerity and disregard of God's Law.

Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.

Then will many stumble and fall, and they will betray one another and hate one another.

"But immediately after those times of distress the sun will be darkened, the moon will not shed her light, the stars will fall from the firmament, and the forces which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.

and should begin to beat his fellow servants, while he eats and drinks with drunkards;

The bridegroom was a long time in coming, so that meanwhile they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

Then said Jesus, "This night all of you will stumble and fail in your fidelity to me; for it is written, 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered in all directions.'

"All may stumble and fail," said Peter, "but I never will."

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zabdi. Then He began to be full of anguish and distress,

Going forward a short distance He fell on His face and prayed. "My Father," He said, "if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou willest."

They quickly left the tomb and ran, still terrified but full of unspeakable joy, to carry the news to His disciples.

"Come and follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers for men."

when all at once, there in their synagogue, a man under the power of a foul spirit screamed out:

So the foul spirit, after throwing the man into convulsions, came out of him with a loud cry.

And all were amazed and awe-struck, so they began to ask one another, "What does this mean? Here is a new sort of teaching--and a tone of authority! And even to foul spirits he issues orders and they obey him!"

And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." So he rose and followed Him.

And the foul spirits, whenever they saw Him, threw themselves down at His feet, screaming out: "You are the Son of God."

This was because they said, "He is possessed by a foul spirit."

At once, on His landing, there came from the tombs to meet Him a man possessed by a foul spirit.

For He had said to him, "Foul spirit, come out of the man."

He gave them leave; and the foul spirits came out and entered into the swine, and the herd--about 2,000 in number--rushed headlong down the cliff into the Lake and were drowned in the Lake.

In a moment the flow of her blood ceased, and she felt in herself that her complaint was cured.

Then summoning the Twelve to Him, He proceeded to send them out by twos, and gave them authority over the foul spirits.

And they carried away broken portions enough to fill twelve baskets, besides pieces of the fish.

Forthwith a woman whose little daughter was possessed by a foul spirit heard of Him, and came and flung herself at His feet.

When I broke up the five loaves for the 5,000 men, how many baskets did you carry away full of broken portions?" "Twelve," they said.

"And when the seven for the 4,000, how many hampers full of portions did you take away?" "Seven," they answered.

So they brought him to Jesus. And the spirit, when he saw Jesus, immediately threw the youth into convulsions, so that he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.

Then Jesus, seeing that an increasing crowd was running towards Him, rebuked the foul spirit, and said to it, "Dumb and deaf spirit, *I* command you, come out of him and never enter into him again."

"Rabbi," said John to Him, "we saw a man making use of your name to expel demons, and we tried to hinder him, on the ground that he did not follow us."

"And whoever shall occasion the fall of one of these little ones who believe, he would be better off if, with a millstone round his neck, he were lying at the bottom of the sea.

They were still on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were full of wonder, and some, though they followed, did so with fear. Then, once more calling to Him the Twelve, He began to tell them what was about to happen to Him.

Jesus, however, called them to Him and said to them, "You are aware how those who are deemed rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men make them feel their authority;

"Go," He said, "to the village facing you, and immediately on entering it you will find an ass's foal tied up which no one has ever yet ridden: untie him and bring him here.

when some of the bystanders called out, "What are you doing, untying the foal?"

So they brought the foal to Jesus, and threw their outer garments over him; and Jesus mounted.

But in the distance He saw a fig-tree in full leaf, and went to see whether perhaps He could find some figs on it. When however He came to it, He found nothing but leaves (for it was not fig time)

"The second is this: 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man as thou lovest thyself.' "Other Commandment greater than these there is none."

and To love Him with all one's heart, with all one's understanding, and with all one's strength, and to love one's fellow man no less than oneself, is far better than all our whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices."

So He sent two of His disciples with instructions, saying, "Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him,

Then said Jesus to them, "All of you are about to stumble and fall, for it is written, 'I will strike down the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered in all directions.'

"All may stumble and fall," said Peter, "yet I never will."

Then He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be full of terror and distress,

One youth indeed did follow Him, wearing only a linen cloth round his bare body. Of him they laid hold,

Then a man ran to fill a sponge with sour wine, and he put it on the end of a cane and placed it to His lips, saying at the same time, "Wait! let us see whether Elijah will come and take him down."

Seeing that many have attempted to draw up a narrative of the facts which are received with full assurance among us

it fell to his lot--according to the custom of the priesthood--to go into the Sanctuary of the Lord and burn the incense;

Now when Elizabeth's full time was come, she gave birth to a son;

But while they were there, her full time came,

And the child grew and became strong and full of wisdom, and the favour of God rested upon Him.

after staying the full number of days, when they started back home the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not discover this,

Accordingly John used to say to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, "O vipers' brood, who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led about by the Spirit in the Desert for forty days,

And they all spoke well of Him, wondering at the sweet words of kindness which fell from His lips, while they asked one another, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

But in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of a foul demon. In a loud voice he cried out,

All were astonished and awe-struck; and they asked one another, "What sort of language is this? For with authority and real power He gives orders to the foul spirits and they come out."

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master, leave my boat, for I am a sinful man."

After this He went out and noticed a tax-gatherer, Levi by name, sitting at the Toll office; and He said to him, "Follow me."

and those who were tormented by foul spirits were cured.

And behave to your fellow men just as you would have them behave to you.