And their eyes received strength to see. Then Jesus sternly charged them, "See that nobody knows it."

But they went out and spread the news about Him all over that country.

But at the very time they were going out, some people brought to Him a dumb man, who was under the power of a demon,

and after the demon had been driven out, the dumb man could talk. So the crowds were dumbfounded, saying, "Never before among the Jews was anything like this?

But the Pharisees kept on saying, "It is by the help of the prince of the demons that He drives them out."

So pray the Lord of the harvest to send out reapers to His harvest field."

Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive them out, and so that they could cure any disease or ailment.

Jesus sent these twelve out, after giving them the following charge: "Do not go to the heathen, or to any Samaritan town,

Keep on curing the sick, raising the dead, healing lepers, and driving out demons. You received and gave no pay; you must give and take none.

Into whatever town or village you go, inquire for some deserving person, and stay at his house until you leave the place.

As you go into his house, wish it well,

and if the house should prove deserving, may your good wish for peace upon it come true, but if not, may your good wish bring peace to yourselves.

"Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves.

But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak.

For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.

What I speak to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ears, you must proclaim from housetops.

Do not sparrows sell for a cent apiece? And yet not one of them can fall to the ground without your Father's notice.

And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:

But as they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the desert to gaze at? A reed that is tossed to and fro by the wind?

If not, what did you go out there to see? A man dressed in silks and satins? No, people who dress in that way are found in the palaces of kings.

If not, why did you go out there? To see a prophet?

"I solemnly say to you, of all men born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has ever appeared; and yet the one who is least important in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And from the days of John the Baptist until the present moment the kingdom of heaven has been continuously taken by storm, and those who take it by storm are seizing it as a precious prize.

For up to the days of John all the prophets, and even the law, prophesied about it,

and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is the Elijah who was to come.

"But to what can I compare the leaders of this age? They are like little children sitting in the market places and calling to their fellows in the game,

For John came neither eating nor drinking with others, and yet they said, 'He has a demon.'

The Son of Man came eating and drinking with others, and they say, 'Just look at Him! A glutton and a wine-drinker, a chum of tax-collectors and notorious sinners!' And yet wisdom is vindicated by her doings!"

And you, Capernaum, are you to be exalted to heaven? No, you belong to the regions of the dead! For if the wonder-works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued until today.

At that time Jesus said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for concealing these matters from wise and learned men, and for revealing them to little children.

Yes, Father, I thank You that Your good pleasure made it so.

At that time Jesus walked one sabbath through the wheat fields, and His disciples became hungry, and began to pull the heads of wheat and eat them.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Just look! Your disciples are doing something that it is against the law to do on the sabbath!"

But He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he and his soldiers became hungry?

How he went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred loaves, which it was against the law for him or his soldiers to eat, or for anyone except the priests?

Or, did you never read in the law that the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and yet are not guilty?

If you only knew what that saying means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want,' you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.

Now there was a man there with one hand withered. And, to get a charge against Him, they asked Him, "Is it right to cure people on the sabbath?"

But He said to them, "What man is there among you, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a ditch on the sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?

And how much more a man is worth than a sheep! So it is right to do good on the sabbath."

Then He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." And he held it out, and it was cured so that it became like the other.

But the Pharisees went out and held a consultation against Him, to put Him to death.

But because Jesus knew it, He left there. And many people followed Him, and He cured them all,

A broken reed He will not break off; a flickering wick He will not put out, until He brings His judgment to victory.

At that time some people brought to Him a man under the power of demons, who was blind and dumb, and He cured him, so that the dumb man could talk and see.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man is not driving out demons except by the help of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."

Now if Satan is driving out Satan, he has become disunited; how then can his kingdom last?

And if I am driving out demons by the help of Beelzebub, by whose help are your sons driving them out? So they must be your judges.

But if I by the Spirit of God am driving the demons out, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven for it, but whoever speaks abusively against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven for it, either in this world or in the world to come.

The good man out of his good inner storehouse, brings out good things, the bad man, out of his bad one, bad things.

for it is by your words that you will be acquitted and by your words that you will be condemned."

But He answered, "Only a wicked and treacherous age is hankering for a spectacular sign, and no sign will be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.

The men of Nineveh will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for they turned to the message preached by Jonah, and there is more than Jonah here!

The queen of the south will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for she came from the farthest limits of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and there is more than Solomon here!

"Whenever the foul spirit goes out of a man, it wanders about in deserts in search of rest, but cannot find it.

Then it says, 'I will go back to my house which I left,' and it finds it unoccupied, swept, and ready for use.

"Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there, and so the end of that man is worse than the beginning. This is the way it will be with the wicked leaders of this age."

That same day Jesus went out of His house and was sitting on the seashore.

And the crowds that gathered about Him were so great that He got into a boat and remained sitting in it, while all the crowd stood on the seashore.

And in stories, by way of comparison, He told them many things, as He continued to speak: "A sower went out to sow,

and as he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up,

and some fell upon rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and at once they sprang up, because there was no depth of soil,

And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out.

He answered: "It is you and not they who are granted the privilege of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.

For to anyone who has, more will be given, and his supply will overflow, but from anyone who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

So in them the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: "'You will listen and listen and not understand, and you will look and look and never see at all,

For I solemnly say to you, many prophets and upright men yearned to see what you are seeing, and did not see it, and to hear what you are hearing, and did not hear it.

When anyone hears the message of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and carries off the seed that was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

And what was sown upon the thin rocky soil illustrates the man who hears the message and bubbling over with joy at once accepts it,

but it takes no real root in him, and he lasts only a little while, and just as soon as suffering and persecution come for the truth's sake, he at once yields and falls.

And what was sown among the thorns illustrates the man who hears the message, and the worries of the times and the pleasures of being rich choke the truth out, and he yields no fruit.

And what was sown in rich soil illustrates the man who hears the message and understands it, and yields fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, another thirty-fold."

But while the world was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed wild wheat seed in the midst of the good seed, and went away.

And when the wheat plants grew up and yielded their ripened grain, the wild wheat plants appeared too.

And the farmer's slaves came up to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where did the wild wheat plants come from?'

And he said, 'No, never, for while you are gathering the wild wheat plants you might root up the good ones with them.

Let them both grow together until harvest time, and at the harvest time I will order the reapers, "Gather first the wild wheat plants and tie them into bundles to be burned up, but get the wheat into my barn."'"

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the largest of plants; yea, it grows into a tree, so that the wild birds come and roost in its branches."

He told another story: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to yeast which a woman took and worked into a bushel of flour until it all had risen."

to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in stories, I will utter truths concealed since creation."

Then He left the crowds and went into His house. And His disciples came up to Him and said, "Explain to us the story of the wild wheat in the field."

the field is the world; the good seed are the members of the kingdom; the wild wheat seed are the followers of the wicked one.

Just as the wild wheat plants are gathered and burned up, so it will be at the close of the age.

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all those who cause wrongdoing, and the wrongdoers,

Then the upright will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears listen!

"The kingdom of heaven is like a pot of gold which was buried in a field, which a man found and buried again; and for joy over it he went and sold all he had and bought that field.

One day he found a very costly pearl, and he went and sold all he had and bought it.

which, when it was full, the fishermen drew up on the shore, and sat down and picked out the good fish for their baskets and threw the bad away.

So it will be at the close of the age; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the upright,

He said to them, "Every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who can bring out of his storeroom new furnishings as well as old."

At that time Herod the governor heard the reports about Jesus,

and said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead, and that is why the powers are at work through him."

For Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him out of the way by putting him in prison, just to please Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

for John had said to him, "It is not right for you to have her as wife."

And the king was sorry, but on account of his oath and his guests, he ordered it to be given her.

And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.

Then John's disciples came and carried off his corpse, and buried him, and went and reported it to Jesus.

When Jesus heard it, He left there in a boat for a quiet place, to be alone. And when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him on foot from the towns.

So when He got out of the boat and saw a great crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, and He cured their sick people.