I will set a garrison around my Temple, to hinder those who might come and go, and to guard against oppressors who intend to invade; for I have taken note of this with my eyes."

Now concerning you and my blood covenant with you, I have liberated your prisoners from a waterless pit.

Return to your fortress, you prisoners who have hope. Even today I am telling you: In return I will repay you double.

For I have bent Judah as if it were my bow, loading it with Ephraim. I raised up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, wielding you like a mighty warrior's sword."

"The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers; they will be glad, like those who have wine. Their children will see this and rejoice; their hearts will find joy in the Lord.

I will whistle for them, gathering them together, because I have redeemed them, and they will multiply as they were before.

""At that time, I will search out and destroy all of the nations who have come against Jerusalem.

"He will say, "I am no mere prophet. A servant of mankind am I, because a man dedicated to this have I been from my youth.'

"This will be the plague with which the LORD inflicts all of the people who have attacked Jerusalem: he will cause their flesh to rot away, even while they're standing on their feet. He will cause their eyes to rot away in their sockets, and their tongues to rot away in their mouths.

If the people of Egypt do not come to Jerusalem to take part, they will have no annual Nile overflow. A plague will come from the LORD to strike the nations who do not come to observe the Festival of Tents.

"I've loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, "How have you loved us?'

"A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I'm a father, where is my honor? And if I'm a master, where is my respect?" says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. "But you ask, "How have we despised your name?'

By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, "How have we defiled you?' By saying, "The Table of the LORD is contemptible.'

"But you priests turned aside from the way, and by your teaching you caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

Do we not have one father? Has not one God created us? Why does each of us act deceitfully, each man against his own brother, to profane the covenant of our ancestors?

"You have wearied the LORD with your words. You ask, "How have we wearied you?' By your saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD and he's pleased with them,' or "Where is the God of justice?'"

"Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and haven't kept them. Return to me and I'll return to you," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "But you ask, "How will we return?'

"You have spoken arrogant words against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, "What did we say against you?'

He did not have marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

and asked, "Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Don't think you can say to yourselves, "We have father Abraham!' because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

The people living in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land and shadow of death, a light has risen."

"You have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, "You are not to commit murder,' and, "Whoever murders will be subject to punishment.'

"You have heard that it was said, "You are not to commit adultery.'

So if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell."

"Again, you have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, "You must not swear an oath falsely,' but, "You must fulfill your oaths to the Lord.'

"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat as well.

"You have heard that it was said, "You must love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.

If you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don't they?

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So whenever you give to the poor, don't blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

"And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

Now if that is the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, won't he clothe you much better you who have little faith?

Because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened.

The centurion replied, "Sir, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed,

because I, too, am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me. I say to one of them "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and told those who were following him, "I tell all of you with certainty, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!

"Go," Jesus told the centurion, "and it will be done for you, just as you have believed." And his servant was healed that very hour.

Jesus told him, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest."

He asked them, "Why are you afraid, you who have little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, replied, "Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?

As Jesus was traveling on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. You have received without payment, so give without payment.

"Brother will hand brother over for execution, and a father his child. Children will rebel against parents and have them put to death.

So when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, because I tell all of you with certainty that you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they do the same to those of his household!"

Indeed, even the hairs on your head have all been counted!

"From the days of John the Baptist until the present, the kingdom from heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people have been attacking it,

"How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

"And you, Capernaum! You won't be lifted up to heaven, will you? You'll go down to Hell! Because if the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants.

All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one fully knows the Son except the Father, and no one fully knows the Father except the Son and the person to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

But he told them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

Or haven't you read in the Law that on every Sabbath the priests in the Temple violate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?

If you had known what "I want mercy and not sacrifice' means, you would not have condemned the innocent,

"Here is my Servant whom I have chosen, whom I love, and with whom I am pleased! I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to unbelievers.

I tell you, on Judgment Day people will give an account for every thoughtless word they have uttered,

Other seeds fell on stony ground, where they did not have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once because the soil wasn't deep.

But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they did not have any roots, they dried up.

He answered them, "You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom from heaven, but it hasn't been given to them,

because to anyone who has something, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who doesn't have anything, even what he has will be taken away from him.

for this people's heart has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing. They have shut their eyes so that they might not see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'

but since he doesn't have any root in himself, he lasts for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, he immediately falls away.

John had been telling him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

They told him, "We don't have anything here except five loaves of bread and two fish."

"Have courage!" Jesus immediately told them. "It's me. Stop being afraid!"

At once Jesus reached out his hand, caught him, and asked him, "You who have so little faith, why did you doubt?"

But you say, "Whoever tells his father or his mother, "Whatever support you might have received from me has been given to God,"

does not have to honor his father.' Because of your tradition, then, you have disregarded the authority of God's word.

Suddenly, a Canaanite woman from that territory came near and began to shout, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed!"

Then Jesus called his disciples and said, "I have compassion for the crowd because they have already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away without food, or they may faint on the road."

Jesus asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

Knowing this, Jesus asked them, "You who have little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don't have any bread?

I will give you the keys to the kingdom from heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven."

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he would have to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal because of the elders, the high priests, and the scribes. Then he would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised.

because what profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

and said, "Sir, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and suffers terribly. Often he falls into fire and often into water.

He told them, "Because of your lack of faith. I tell all of you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

"So if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life injured or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell fire.

"See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, because I tell you, their angels in heaven always have access to my Father in heaven.

If he finds it, I tell all of you with certainty that he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that haven't strayed.

"If your brother sins against you, go and confront him while the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.

"I tell all of you with certainty, whatever you prohibit on earth will have been prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven.

because where two or three have come together in my name, I am there among them."

Then Peter came up and asked him, "Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? Seven times?"

Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?'

He answered them, "Haven't you read that the one who made them at the beginning "made them male and female'

because some men are celibate from birth, while some are celibate because they have been made that way by others. Still others are celibate because they have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom from heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."

Just then a man came up to Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what good deed should I do to have eternal life?"

The young man told him, "I have kept all of these. What do I still lack?"

Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me."

"Look!" Peter replied. "We have left everything and followed you. So what will we get?"

Jesus told them, "I tell all of you with certainty, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the renewed creation, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, governing the twelve tribes of Israel.

He told them, "You will indeed drink from my cup. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right hand or at my left. These positions have already been prepared for others by my Father."

When two blind men who were sitting by the roadside heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!"