and you will be haled before governors and kings for my sake ??it will be a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

Now, when they bring you up for trial, do not trouble yourselves about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will come to you at the moment,

for you are not the speakers, it is the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.

and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end.

what I tell you in the dark, you must utter in the open, what you hear in a whisper you must proclaim on the housetop.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unless your Father wills it.

He who has found his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent his disciples

to ask him, "Are you the Coming One? Or are we to look out for someone else?"

Jesus answered them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see:

As the disciples of John went away, Jesus proceeded to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

Come, what did you go out to see? A man arrayed in soft raiment? The wearers of soft raiment are in royal palaces.

Come, why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.

This is he of whom it is written, Here I send my messenger before your face to prepare the way for you.

I tell you truly, no one has arisen among the sons of women who is greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the Realm of heaven is greater than he is.

From the days of John the Baptist till now the Realm of heaven suffers violence, and the violent press into it.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied of it until John: ??14 if you care to believe it, he is the Elijah who is to come.

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace, who call to their playmates,

I tell you this, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

At that time Jesus spoke and said, "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the wise and learned and revealing it to the simpleminded;

At that time Jesus walked one sabbath through the cornfields, and as his disciples were hungry they started to pull some ears of corn and eat them.

When the Pharisees noticed it, they said to him, "Look at your disciples, they are doing what is not allowed on the sabbath."

He replied, "Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry,

how he went into the house of God, and there they ate the loaves of the Presence which neither he nor his men were allowed to eat, but only the priests?

Besides, if you had known what this meant, I care for mercy not for sacrifice, you would not have condemned men who are not guilty.

Now a man with a withered hand was there; so in order to get a charge against him they asked him, "Is it right to heal on the sabbath?"

He said to them, "Is there a man of you with one sheep, who will not catch hold of it and lift it out of a pit on the sabbath, if it falls in?

And how much more is a man worth than a sheep? Thus it is right to do a kindness on the sabbath."

Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it was quite restored, as sound as the other.

but as Jesus knew of it he retired from the spot. Many followed him, and he healed them all,

charging them strictly not to make him known ??17 it was for the fulfilment of what had been said by the prophet Isaiah,

He will not break the bruised reed, he will not put out the smouldering flax, till he carries religion to victory:

But when the Pharisees heard of it they said, "This fellow only casts out daemons by Beelzebul the prince of daemons."

As Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, "Any realm divided against itself comes to ruin, any city or house divided against itself will never stand;

and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then can his realm stand?

Besides, if I cast out daemons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Thus they will be your judges.

But if I cast out daemons by the Spirit of God, then the Reign of God has reached you already.

You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For the mouth utters what the heart is full of.

The good man brings good out of his good store, and the evil man brings evil out of his store of evil.

He replied to them, "It is an evil and disloyal generation that craves a Sign, but no Sign will be given to it except the Sign of the prophet Jonah;

The men of Ninive will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for when Jonah preached they did repent, and here is One greater than Jonah.

The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here is One greater than Solomon.

When an unclean spirit leaves a man, it roams through dry places in search of refreshment and finds none.

Then it says, 'I will go back to the house I left,' and when it comes it finds the house vacant, clean, and all in order.

Then it goes off to fetch seven other spirits worse than itself; they go in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. This is how it will be with the present evil generation."

Stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

That same day Jesus went out of the house and seated himself by the seaside;

He spoke at some length to them in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow,

and as he sowed some seeds fell on the road and the birds came and ate them up.

Some other seeds fell on stony soil where they had not much earth, and shot up at once because they had no depth of soil;

He replied, "Because it is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Realm of heaven, but it is not granted to these people.

For he who has, to him shall more be given and richly given, but whoever has not, from him shall be taken even what he has.

I tell you truly, many prophets and good men have longed to see what you see, but they have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, but they have not heard it.

When anyone hears the word of the Realm and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; that is the man who is sown 'on the road.'

As for him who is sown 'on stony soil,' that is the man who hears the word and accepts it at once with enthusiasm;

he has no root in himself, he does not last, but when the word brings trouble or persecution he is at once repelled.

As for him who is sown 'among thorns,' that is the man who listens to the word, but the worry of the world and the delight of being rich choke the word; so it proves unfruitful.

As for him who is sown 'on good soil,' that is the man who hears the word and understands it; he bears fruit, producing now a hundredfold, now sixty, and now thirtyfold."

but while men slept his enemy came and resowed weeds among the wheat and then went away.

So the servants of the owner went to him and said, 'Did you not sow good seed in your field, sir? How then does it contain weeds?'

'No,' he said, 'for you might root up the wheat when you were gathering the weeds.

Let them both grow side by side till harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell the reapers to gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burnt, but to collect the wheat in my granary.'"

It is less than any seed on earth, but when it grows up it is larger than any plant, it becomes a tree, so large that the wild birds come and roost in its branches."

He told them another parable. "The Realm of heaven," he said, "is like dough which a woman took and buried in three pecks of flour, till all of it was leavened."

Jesus said all this to the crowds in parables; he never spoke to them except in a parable ??35 to fulfil what had been said by the prophet, I will open my mouth in parables, I will speak out what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

Well then, just as the weeds are gathered and burnt in the fire, so will it be at the end of the world;

the Son of man will despatch his angels, and they will gather out of his Realm all who are hindrances and who practise iniquity,

The Realm of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field; the man who finds it hides it and in his delight goes and sells all he possesses and buys that field.

when he finds a single pearl of high price, he is off to sell all he possesses and buy it.

When it was full, they dragged it to the beach and sitting down they gathered the good fish into vessels but flung away the bad.

So will it be at the end of the world. The angels will go out and separate the evil from among the just

So he said to them, "Well then, every scribe who has become a disciple of the Realm of heaven is like a householder who produces what is new and what is old from his stores."

Now when Jesus had finished these parables he set out from there,

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus.

And she, at the instigation of her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head this moment on a dish."

The king was sorry, but for the sake of his oath and his guests he ordered it to be given her;

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

His disciples came and removed the corpse and buried him; then they went and reported it to Jesus.

When Jesus heard it he withdrew by boat to a desert place in private; but the crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the towns.

So when he disembarked he saw a large crowd, and out of pity for them he healed their sick folk.

When evening fell, the disciples came up to him and said, "It is a desert place and the day is now gone; send off the crowds to buy food for themselves in the villages."

They all ate and had enough; besides, they picked up the fragments left over and filled twelve baskets with them.

The men who ate numbered about five thousand, apart from the women and children.

but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified; "It is a ghost," they said and shrieked for fear.

Then Jesus spoke to them at once; "Courage," he said, "it is I, have no fear."

Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is really you, order me to come to you on the water."

He said, "Come." Then Peter got out of the boat and walked over the water on his way to Jesus;

Jesus at once stretched his hand out and caught him, saying, "How little you trust me! Why did you doubt?"

On crossing over they came to land at Gennesaret.

and begging him to let them touch the mere tassel of his robe ??and all who touched it got perfectly well.

But you say, whoever tells his father or mother, 'This money might have been at your service but it is dedicated to God,'

it is not what enters a man's mouth that defiles him, what defiles a man is what comes out of his mouth."

Then the disciples came up and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees have taken offence at what they hear you say?"

Peter answered, "Explain this parable to us at anyrate."

Do you not see how all that enters the mouth passes into the belly and is then thrown out into the drain,

while what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart ??and that is what defiles a man.

For out of the heart come evil designs, murder, adultery, sexual vice, stealing, false witness, and slander.

That is what defiles a man; a man is not defiled by eating with hands unwashed!"

And a woman of Canaan came out of these parts and wailed, "Have pity on me, Lord, O Son of David! My daughter is cruelly possessed by a daemon."