"So you bear witness against yourselves, that you are the descendants of those who slew the prophets!

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see to it that you are not afraid. Such things must happen, but the end is not yet.

All these things are the beginning of birth-pangs.

then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;

Alas for thee women who are with child, and for the nursing mothers in those days!

"Learn from the fig tree, her parable; when her branches are become soft, and put forth leaves, you know that summer is near;

"and the foolish said to the wise, "'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'

But when Jesus understood it he said to them. "Why are you annoying the woman? This is a beautiful deed she has done for me;

went to the chief priests and said, "What are you ready to give me for betraying him to you?" So they weighed him thirty pieces of silver;

Then Jesus said to the crowds. "Are you come out as against a robber, with swords and staves to arrest me? Day after day, I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not apprehend me.

Rising to his feet the high priest asked Jesus. "Do you make no answer? What is it that these are testifying against you?"

But Jesus kept silence. Again the high priest addressed him, "I adjure you by the Living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!"

A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "You also are certainly one of them, for your speech betrays you."

Now Jesus stood before the Governor, and the Governor questioned him. "Are you the King of the Jews?" he asked.

Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear what they are testifying against you?"

"You who were going to destroy the Temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

But to the women the angel said: "You need have no fear, for I know that you are seeking Jesus, the Crucified One.

"What business have you with us, you Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God."

One day a leper cane to him and besought him as he knelt down to him, saying, "If you choose, you are able to cleanse me."

Then Jesus, when he perceived their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son your sins are forgiven."

"Why do you reason thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your cot and walk'?

Now the disciples of John and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, and people came to ask him, "How is it that the disciples of John and the Pharisees are fasting, but your disciples are not?"

"Look," said the Pharisees to him, "Why are they doing on the Sabbath Day what is against the law?"

And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they threw themselves down at his feet, screaming out, "You are the Son of God."

Now a crowd was sitting round him and they told him, "See! your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, wanting to see you."

"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he replied.

"Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, that one is my brother and sister and mother."

"What the Sower sows is the Word. There are those 'on the wayside' where the Word is sown.

And like the sowing upon 'stony ground' are those who, whenever they hear the Word, at once receive it with joy,

There are others who are 'sown among thorns.'

But those, on the other hand, who were sown on that good soil, are those who listen to the Word, and welcome it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold."

The wind fell, and there ensued a great calm. Then he said to them. "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"

He continued asking him, "What is your mane?" "Legion is my name, for we are many."

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?"

King Herod heard it, for the name of Jesus had become well known, People were saying, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and on that account these powers are working in him."

In answer he said to them, "You yourselves are to give them food." "Are we to go and buy fifty dollars worth of bread," they said, "and give them food?"

"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites," he answered. "As it is written, 'This people honor me with their lips, While their hearts are far from me;

"Are even you without understanding?" he said. "Do you not perceive that nothing whatever from without can defile a man by entering him,

and if I send them away fasting to their homes, they will faint on the way. Moreover, some of them are from a distance."

"Why are you arguing together because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive and understand?

Are your minds so slow to comprehend? You have eyes, do you not see? You have ears, do you not hear?

And they told him. "Some say John the Baptist, others, Elijah, and others that you are one of the prophets."

And he continued questioning them, "But you yourselves, Who do you say I am?" Peter in reply said to him, "You are Christ."

But he turned round, and looked upon his disciples, and rebuked Peter. "Get thee behind me, Satan," he said, "for your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but man's."

"In solemn truth I tell you," he said, "there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God, come with power."

He asked them, "What are you discussing with them?"

so that they are no more two, but one flesh.

When he had looked at them, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God."

But many who are first shall be last, and the last, first."

"See," said he, "we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be betrayed to the high priests and the Scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will hand him over to the Gentiles,

"You know not what you are asking," said Jesus. "Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make them feel their authority.

And if any man asks you, 'Why are you doing that?" answer, 'The Lord has need of him, and he will immediately send him back.'"

And some of the bystanders began to say to them, "What are you trying to do, untying that colt?"

So when they came, they said: "Teacher, we know that you are sincere and are not afraid of any one, for you do not regard the face of men; nay, but you reach the way of God in truth. Is it right to pay poll-tax to Caesar or not?

Shall we pay, or not pay?" But he, knowing well their hypocrisy, said to them. "Why are you testing me? Bring me a dollar for me to look at."

And Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's." They were amazed at him.

When they rise from the dead men do not marry, and women are not given in marriage, but they are as the angels are in heaven.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are in grave error."

Jesus saw that he had answered with discrimination, and said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one ventured to question him.

As Jesus was walking out of the Temple courts, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and buildings these are!"

"Tell us when these things shall be, and what shall be the sign that all these predictions are about to be fulfilled."

For nation shall rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines; these are the beginning of birth-pangs.

When, however, they are leading you all to trial, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but whatever is given you in that hour, that say, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

And alas for the pregnant women, and for those that are nursing their infants in those days!

"From the fig tree learn now her parable; as soon as ever her branches are full of sap and bursting into leaf, you know that summer is near.

So they began upbraiding her, but Jesus said: "Let her alone. Why are you troubling her?

And Jesus said to them. "All of you are about to stumble, for it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad.'"

"Abba, Father," he said, "all things are possible with thee. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt."

Then he came and found them asleep, and he said to Peter. "Are you sleeping, Simon? Could you not keep watch one hour?

But Jesus interposed, saying. "Are you come out to arrest me with swords and clubs, as if I were a robber?

But he remained silent, and answered nothing. Again the high priest questioned him. "Are you the Christ," he said, "the Son of the Blessed?"

But he denied it. He said: "I don't know, I don't understand what you are saying." Then he went out into the porch, and the cock crew.

A second time he continued to deny it. After a little the by-standers began to say to Peter again, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean."

But he began with curses an solemn oaths to say, "I do not know the man you are talking about."

Pilate questioned him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" In reply Jesus said, "It is as you say."

"See, how many accusations they are making." But Jesus no longer made any answer, at which Pilate wondered.

They were terrified, but he said to them. "Do not be terrified! You are seeking Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified? He is risen; he is not here. See, the place where they laid him!

But the Angel said to him. "Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

and called out with a loud cry. "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is your unborn child!

The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread."

Then he brought him to Jerusalem, and caused him to stand upon the Temple roof, and said to him. "If you really are the Son of God throw yourself down here;

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the prisoners, And recovery of sight to the blind; To set at liberty those that are bruised,

"Ha! Jesus of Nazareth, what business have you with us? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, you holy one of God!"

Demons also came out of many, screaming and saying, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them, and did not permit them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you!"

"What is this caviling in your hearts? Which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise and walk?"

And the Pharisees and their scribes began complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why are you eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?"

Jesus answered them saying. "They who are well have no need of a physician, but they who are ill.

Again they said unto him. "Why do the disciples of John fast frequently, and make supplications, as also do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples are eating and drinking?"

And some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"

Then raising his eyes upon his disciples he began to say to them. "Blessed are you poor, For the kingdom of God is yours.

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, For you shall be filled. "Blessed are you who are wailing now, For you shall laugh.

"Blessed are you when men shall hate you, And excommunicate you and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil because of the Son of man.

"Woe unto you who are full now! For you shall suffer hunger. "Woe to you who are laughing now! For you shall wail and weep.

"But to you who are listening to me I say, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

"And if you are kind to those who are kind to you, what credit is it to you? Even sinners do the same.

"And if you lend to those from whom you are hoping to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so as to get as much back.

"You do not gather figs from thorns, and grapes are not plucked from a bramble-bush.

"And why are you calling me Lord, Lord, and not doing what I tell you?