For John showed you the way to be good and you would not believe him; the taxgatherers and harlots believed him, and even though you saw that, you would not change your mind afterwards and believe him.

Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner: this is the doing of the Lord, and a wonder to our eyes?

I tell you therefore that the Realm of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that bears the fruits of the Realm.

They sent him their disciples with the Herodians, who said, "Teacher, we know you are sincere and that you teach the Way of God honestly and fearlessly; you do not court human favour.

When they heard that they marvelled; then they left him and went away.

That same day some Sadducees came up to him, men who hold there is no resurrection. They put this question to him:

"Teacher, Moses said that if anyone dies without children, his brother is to espouse his wife and raise offspring for his brother.

He said to them, "How is it then that David in the Spirit calls him Lord?

No one could make any answer to him, and from that day no one ventured to put another question to him.

Woe to you, blind guides that you are! you say, 'Swear by the sanctuary, and it means nothing; but swear by the gold of the sanctuary, and the oath is binding.'

You are senseless and blind! for which is the greater, the gold or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred?

You are blind! for which is the greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

He who swears by the altar swears by it and by all that lies on it;

Blind guides that you are, filtering away the gnat and swallowing the camel!

Blind Pharisee! first clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may be clean as well.

So you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are sons of those who killed the prophets!

And you will fill up the measure that your fathers filled.

it is that on you may fall the punishment for all the just blood shed on earth from the blood of Abel the just down to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

Jesus replied, "Take care that no one misleads you;

All that is but the beginning of the trouble.

Pray that you may not have to fly in winter or on the sabbath,

If anyone tells you at that time, 'Here is the Christ!' or, 'there he is!' do not believe it;

for false Christs and false prophets will rise and bring forward great signs and wonders, so as to mislead the very elect, ??if that were possible.

For like lightning that shoots from east to west, so will be the arrival of the Son of man.

Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, but only my Father.

But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives!

that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know;

For the case is that of a man going abroad, who summoned his servants and handed over his property to them;

His master said to him in reply, 'You rascal, you idle servant! You knew, did you, that I reap where I have never sowed and gather where I have never winnowed!

"the perfume might have been sold for a good sum, and the poor might have got that."

From that moment he sought a good opportunity to betray him.

He said, "Go into the city to so-and-so; tell him that the Teacher says, 'My time is near, I will celebrate the passover at your house with my disciples.' "

The Son of man goes the road that the scripture has described for him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better that man had never been born!"

Watch and pray, all of you, so that you may not slip into temptation. The spirit is eager but the flesh is weak."

Now his betrayer had given them a signal; he said, " Whoever I kiss, that is the man."

Only, how could the scriptures be fulfilled then ??the scriptures that say this must be so?"

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you sallied out to arrest me like a robber, with swords and cudgels? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you never seized me.

At this he broke out cursing and swearing, "I do not know the man." At that moment a cock crowed.

Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said, that 'before the cock crows you will disown me three times.' And he went outside and wept bitterly.

saying, "I did wrong in betraying innocent blood." "What does that matter to us?" they said, "it is your affair, not ours!"

That is why the field is called to this day "The Field of Blood."

At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Jesus Bar-Abbas;

(He knew quite well that Jesus had been delivered up out of envy.

Besides, when he was seated on the tribunal, his wife had sent to tell him, "Do nothing with that innocent man, for I have suffered greatly to-day in a dream about him.")

Now when Pilate saw that instead of him doing any good a riot was rising, he took some water and washed his hands in presence of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this good man's blood. It is your affair!"

Two robbers were also crucified with him at that time, one on the right hand and one on the left.

and about three o'clock Jesus gave a loud cry, "Eli, eli, lema sabachthani" (that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?)

Now when the army-captain and his men who were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and all that happened, they were dreadfully afraid; they said, "This man was certainly a son of God!"

Next day (that is, on the day after the Preparation) the high priests and Pharisees gathered round Pilate

and said, "We remember, sir, that when this impostor was alive he said, 'I will rise after three days.'

Now be quick and go to his disciples, tell them he has risen from the dead and that 'he precedes you to Galilee; you shall see him there.' That is my message for you."

While they were on their way, some of the sentries went into the city and reported all that had taken place to the high priests,

and told them to say that "his disciples came at night and stole him when we were asleep."

"If this comes to the ears of the governor," they added, "we will satisfy him and see that you have no trouble about the matter."

Now it was in those days that Jesus arrived from Nazaret in Galilee and got baptized in the Jordan by John.

Then they were all so amazed that they discussed it together, saying, "Whatever is this?" "It's new teaching with authority behind it!" "He orders even unclean spirits!" "Yes, and they obey him!"

but he said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the adjoining country-towns, so that I may preach there as well; that is why I came out here."

But he went off and proceeded to proclaim it aloud and spread news of the affair both far and wide. The result was that Jesus could no longer enter any town openly; he stayed outside in lonely places, and people came to him from every quarter.

When he entered Capharnahum again after some days it was reported that he was at home,

Conscious at once that they were arguing to themselves in this way, Jesus asked them, "Why do you argue thus in your hearts?

A time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then they will fast, on that day.

Now it happened that he was passing through the cornfields on the sabbath, and as the disciples made their way through they began to pull the ears of corn.

The Pharisees said to him, "Look at what they are doing on the sabbath! That is not allowed."

so that the Son of man is Lord even over the sabbath."

for he healed so many that all who had complaints were pressing on him to get a touch of him.

He appointed twelve to be with him, also that he might despatch them to preach

but the crowd gathered again, so that it was impossible even to have a meal.

But the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and "It is by the prince of daemons that he casts out daemons."

If a realm is divided against itself, that realm cannot stand:

if a household is divided against itself, that household cannot stand:

Whoever does the will of God, that is my brother and sister and mother."

and as he sowed it chanced that some seed fell on the road, and the birds came and ate it up;

some other seed fell on good soil and bore a crop that sprang up and grew, yielding at the rate of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

so that for all their seeing they may not perceive, and for all their hearing they may not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven."

but they have no root in themselves, they do not last; the next thing is that when the word brings trouble or persecution, they are at once repelled.

but once sown it springs up to be larger than any plant, throwing out such big branches that the wild birds can roost under its shadow."

That same day when evening came he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side;"

But a heavy squall of wind came on, and the waves splashed into the boat, so that the boat filled.

so the spirits begged him saying, "Send us into the swine, that we may enter them,"

and when they reached Jesus they saw the lunatic sitting down, clothed and in his sober senses ??the man who had been possessed by 'Legion.' That frightened them.

As he was stepping into the boat the lunatic begged that he might accompany him;

So he went off and began to proclaim throughout Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; it made everyone astonished.

with earnest entreaties. "My little girl is dying," he said, "do come and lay your hands on her that she may recover and live,"

And at once the hemorrhage stopped, and she felt in her body that she was cured of her complaint.

Jesus was at once conscious that some healing virtue had passed from him, so he turned round in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

When the sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and the large audience was astounded. "Where did he get all this?" they said. "What is the meaning of this wisdom he is endowed with? And these miracles, too, that his hands perform!

Now this came to the hearing of king Herod, for the name of Jesus had become well known; people said, "John the Baptizer has risen from the dead, that is why miraculous powers are working through him;"

The daughter of Herodias went in and danced to them, and Herod and his guests were so delighted that the king said to the girl, "Ask anything you like and I will give you it."

He replied, "Give them some food, yourselves." They said, "Are we to go and buy ten pounds' worth of food and give them that to eat?"

Then he gave orders that they were to make all the people lie down in parties on the green grass;

they hurried round all the district and proceeded to carry the sick on their pallets wherever they heard that he was;

They noticed that some of his disciples ate their food with 'common' (that is, unwashed) hands.

But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, 'This money might have been at your service, but it is Korban' (that is, dedicated to God),

That is repealing the word of God in the interests of the tradition which you keep up. And you do many things like that."

nothing outside a man can defile him by entering him; it is what comes from him that defiles him.

It does not enter his heart but his belly and passes from that into the drain" (thus he pronounced all food clean).

"No," he said, "it is what comes from a man, that is what defiles him.

He said to her, "Well, go your way; the daemon has left your daughter, since you have said that."

And a deaf man who stammered was brought to him, with the request that he would lay his hand on him.