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.

For this people's soul has grown dull, and with their ears they can scarcely hear, and they have shut tight their eyes, so that they will never see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn to me, so that I may cure them!'

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.

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."

"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.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was let down into the sea, and gathered fish of every kind,

He went to His own home town, and kept teaching in their synagogue in such a way that they were dumbfounded, and said, "Where did He get this wisdom and this power to do such wonder-works?

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."

And the men of that place recognized Him, and sent into all the countryside and brought to Him all who were sick,

But He answered, "Why do you too break God's command for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you?

But you say, 'Whoever tells his father or mother, "Everything I have that might be used for helping you, is devoted to God,"

It is not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him foul; no, it is what comes out of a man's mouth that makes him foul."

Then His disciples came up to Him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were knocked breathless to hear what you have just said?"

He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant must be rooted up.

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and afterwards into the waste?

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they make the man foul.

These are the things that make a man foul, but eating with unwashed hands does not make a man foul."

And a Canaanite woman of that district came out and pleaded, saying, "Do pity me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is suffering horrors from a demon."

She said, "Yes, Lord, and yet the house dogs usually eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, wonderful is your faith! You must have what you want." And her daughter was cured at that very moment.

so that the crowd was astonished to see the dumb talking, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. So they praised the God of Israel.

"It is a wicked and immoral age that is hankering for a spectacular sign, so no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah." Then He left them and went away.

Jesus knew it and said, "Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Have you so little faith?

How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread, when I said, keep on guarding yourselves against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?"

Then they understood that He meant, guard yourselves not against yeast for bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

When Jesus reached the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

He said to them, "Who do you yourselves say that I am?"

Then Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for it is not man that made this known to you, but my Father in heaven.

Then He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

It was just after that that Jesus Christ for the first time clearly taught His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem and submit to many forms of suffering at the hands of the elders, high priests, and scribes, and be killed, but be raised to life on the third day.

The disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist.

And Jesus reproved the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured that very moment.

After that the disciples came to Jesus and privately asked, "Why is it we could not drive it out?"

He answered them, "Because you have so little faith! For I solemnly say to you, if you have the faith that is living like a grain of mustard, you can say to this mountain, 'Move over from here to yonder,' and it will move over, and nothing will be impossible for you to do."

but still, that we may not influence them to do anything wrong, go down to the sea and throw over a hook. Pull in the first fish that bites, open its mouth and you will find in it a dollar. Take it and pay the tax for both of us."

Just at that moment the disciples came up and asked Jesus, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

"And if your own hand or your own foot makes you do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way. It is better for you to get into life maimed or crippled than to have both hands or both feet to be thrown into everlasting torture.

And if your own eye makes you do wrong, pluck it out and put it out of your way. It is better for you to go into life with a single eye than to have both eyes to be thrown into the pit of torture.

"Be careful not to look with scorn on a single one of these little children, for I tell you that in heaven their angels have uninterrupted access to my Father in heaven.

"What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides, and go and search for the one that is lost?

And if he finds it, I solemnly say to you, he rejoices over it more than he does over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.

Just so it is not the will of my Father in heaven that a single one of these little ones be lost.

"But that slave went out and found one of his fellow-slaves who owed him twenty dollars, and he caught him by the throat and began to choke him, demanding, 'Pay me what you owe me!'

"When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly troubled, and went and reported all that happened to their master.

Then his master called to him, and said, 'I cancelled all that huge debt of yours, because you pleaded with me to do so.

When Jesus had finished this discourse, He left Galilee and went into the district of Judea that is on the other side of the Jordan.

And He answered, "Have you not read that the Creator at the beginning made them male and female,

He answered them, "It was because of your moral perversity that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not so from the beginning.

I tell you, whoever divorces his wife for any other cause than her unfaithfulness, and marries another woman, commits adultery."

The disciples said to Him, "If that is a man's relation to his wife, there is no advantage in getting married."

After that some little children were brought to Him, for Him to lay His hands on them and pray for them, but His disciples reproved those who brought them.

And a man came up to Him and asked, "What is there good that I can do to possess eternal life?"

And He answered him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is perfectly good. But if you want to get into that life, you must practice keeping the commandments."

And when the young man heard that, he went away in deep distress, for he owned a great deal of property.

Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven."

And those who were hired first, when they came, supposed that they would receive more, but they too received twenty cents each.

And He asked her, "What do you want?" She answered Him, "Give orders that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right and one at your left in your kingdom."

But Jesus answered, "You do not realize what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They answered, "Yes, we can."

He said to them, "You will drink the cup that I am to drink, but seats at my right and at my left are not mine to give, but they will be given to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

But Jesus called them to Him and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men rule as despots over them.

And two blind men sitting by the roadside heard that Jesus was passing and cried out, "Do pity us, Lord, you Son of David!"

and ordered them, "Go into the village that is ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me.

And the crowds that went in front of Him and followed Him shouted: "Welcome the Son of David! Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord; Welcome Him from on high!"

But because the high priests and scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple, "Welcome the Son of David," they were indignant

When the disciples saw it, they were dumbfounded, and asked, "How is it that the fig tree withered up all at once?"

For John came to you walking in the way of uprightness, and yet you did not believe him. The tax-collectors and prostitutes did believe him, but you, even though you saw that, would not change your minds afterward and believe him.

Again he sent other slaves, and more than at first, and they treated them exactly the same way.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is his heir, come on, let us kill him, and get all that is coming to him!'

Then Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: 'That stone which the builders threw away has become the cornerstone; this is the work of the Lord and seems wonderful to us!'

Who ever falls upon that stone will be broken to pieces, but whomever it falls upon will be crushed to powder."

When the high priests and the Pharisees heard His stories, they knew that He was speaking about them,

A second time he sent other slaves, and said to them, 'Tell the invited guests that I have my reception all ready, my bullocks and fatlings are butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding reception!'

After that he said to his slaves, 'My wedding reception is ready, but those invited have proved unworthy.

So he said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding suit on?' But his lips were sealed.

So they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, to say to Him, "Teacher, we know that you are in the habit of telling the truth and of teaching the way of God in honesty, and you do not care what anyone says, for you are not partial.

On the same day some Sadducees, who claim that there is no resurrection, came up to Him, and asked this question:

Now the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, and so they had a meeting.

And not one could answer Him a word, and from that day on no one ever dared to ask Him any more questions.

And you must not be called 'leaders,' for you have only one Leader, and that is Christ.

You blind fools! which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred?

You blind men! which is greater, the offering, or the altar that makes the offering sacred?

You blind Pharisees! You must first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean too.

"A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean!

So you are witnessing against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused!

But He answered them, "Do you see all these things? I solemnly say to you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be torn down."

Jesus answered, "Look out that no one misleads you about it,

You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars; take care not to be scared out of your wits. They have to come, but that is not the end yet.

At that time they will turn you over to torture, and will murder you, and you will be hated by all the heathen, because you bear my name.

for there will be greater misery at that time than ever has been since the world began, or ever will be again.

"If anyone at that time says to you, 'Here is the Christ!' or 'There He is!' do not believe it,

"Now learn what the story of the fig tree means. Just as soon as its branches grow tender, and put forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

So when you see all these things, you will know that He is right at your door.

But about that day or hour not a single one knows -- not even the angels in heaven or the Son; not a single one but the Father alone.

But be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known in exactly what part of the night the thief would come, he would have been on guard and would not have let his house be broken into.

Blessed is that slave if, when his master comes back, he finds him so doing.

the master of that slave will come on the very day he is not expecting him,