No one could say a word in answer; nor did any one after that day venture to question him further.

Therefore practice and lay to heart everything that they tell preach but do not practice.

But alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You turn the key of the Kingdom of Heaven in men's faces. For you do not go in yourselves, nor yet allow those who try to go in to do so.

Alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You destroy widow's houses, even while pretending to make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation.

Alas for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You scour land and sea to make a single convert, and, when he is gained, you make him twice as deserving of the Pit as you are yourselves.

Fools that you are and blind! Which is the more important? The gold? Or the Temple which has given sacredness to the gold?

Therefore a man, swearing by the altar, swears by it and by all that is on it,

Alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You pay tithes on mint, fennel, and caraway seed, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law--justice, mercy, and good faith. These last you ought to have put into practice, without neglecting the first.

Alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are filled with the results of greed and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

Alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed look fair outside, while inside they are filled with dead men's bones and all kinds of filth.

Alas for you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You build the tombs of the Prophets, and decorate the monuments of religious men,

By doing this you are furnishing evidence against yourselves that you are true children of the men who murdered the Prophets.

That is why I send you Prophets, wise men, and Teachers of the Law, some of whom you will crucify and kill, and some of whom you will scourge in your Synagogues, and persecute from town to town;

in order that upon your heads may fall every drop of innocent 'blood split on earth,' from the blood of innocent Abel down to that of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.

Jesus replied to them as follows: "See that no one leads you astray;

When that time comes, they will give you up to persecution, and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my Name.

Yet the man that endures to the end shall be saved.

and a man on the housetop must not go down to get the things that are in his house;

And alas for the women that are with child, and for those that are nursing infants in those days!

Pray, too, that your flight may not take place in winter, nor on a Sabbath;

for that will be 'a time of great distress, the like of which has not occurred from the beginning of the world down to the present time'--no, nor ever will again.

And, at that time, if any one should say to you 'Look! here is the Christ!' or 'Here he is!', do not believe it;

For false Christs and false Prophets will arise, and will display great signs and marvels, so that, were it possible, even God's People would be led astray.

Learn the lesson taught by the fig tree. As soon as its branches are full of sap, and it is bursting into leaf, you know that summer is near.

And so may you, as soon as you see all these things, know that he is at your doors.

But about that Day and Hour, no one knows--not even the angels of Heaven, nor yet the Son--but only the Father himself.

At that time, of two men on a farm one will be taken and one left;

But this you do know, that, had the owner of the house known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Therefore, do you also prepare, since it is just when you are least expecting him that the Son of Man will come.

Who, then is that trustworthy, careful servant, who has been placed by his master over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?

Happy will that servant be whom his master, when he comes home, shall find doing this.

I tell you that his master will put him in charge of the whole of his property.

That servant's master will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour of which he is unaware,

But the prudent ones answered 'No, for fear that there will not be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell it, and buy for yourselves.'

The man who had received the six hundred pounds came up, too, and said 'Sir, I knew that you were a hard man; you reap where you have not sown, and gather up where you have not winnowed;

'You lazy, worthless servant!' was his master's reply. 'You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather up where I have not winnowed?

"You know that in two days time the Festival of the Passover will be here; and that the Son of Man is to be given up to be crucified."

"Why are you troubling the woman?" Jesus said, when he noticed it. "For this is a beautiful deed that she has done to me.

It was then that one of the Twelve, named Judas Iscariot, made his way to the Chief Priests,

So from that time Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

And, while they were eating, he said: "I tell you that one of you will betray me."

True, the Son of Man must go, as Scripture says of him, yet alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is being betrayed! For that man 'it would be better never to have been born!'"

And I tell you that I shall never, after this, drink of this juice of the grape, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the Kingdom of my Father."

"I tell you," replied Jesus, "that this very night, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times!"

Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."

Do you think that I cannot ask my Father for help, when he would at once send to my aid more than twelve legions of angels?

But in that case how would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that this must be?"

"It is true," Jesus answered; "Moreover I tell you all that hereafter you shall 'see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Almighty, and coming on the clouds of the heavens.'"

"Now play the Prophet for us, you Christ! Who was it that struck you?"

Then Peter began to swear, with most solemn imprecations: "I do not know the man." At that moment a cock crowed;

Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that Jesus was condemned, repented of what he had done, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests and Councillors.

"I did wrong in betraying a good man to his death," he said. "What has that to do with us?" they replied. "You must see to that yourself."

And that is why that field is called the 'Field of Blood' to this very day.

Then it was that these words spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled-- 'They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him who was valued, whom some of the people of Israel valued,

At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

For he knew that it was out of jealousy that they had given Jesus up to him.

While he was still on the Bench, his wife sent this message to him--"Do not have anything to do with that good man, for I have been very unhappy to-day in a dream on account of him."

When Pilate saw that his efforts were unavailing, but that, on the contrary, a riot was beginning, he took some water, and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying as he did so: "I am not answerable for this bloodshed; you must see to it yourselves."

After that, the Governor's soldiers took Jesus with them into the Government House, and gathered the whole garrison round him.

And about three Jesus called out loudly: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani"--that is to say, 'O my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?'

The Roman Captain, and the men with him who were watching Jesus, on seeing the earthquake and all that was happening, became greatly frightened and exclaimed: "This must indeed have been God's Son!"

The next day--that is, the day following the Preparation-Day- -the Chief Priests and Pharisees came in a body to Pilate, and said:

"Sir, we remember that, during his lifetime, that impostor said 'I shall rise after three days.'

So order the tomb to be made secure till the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal him, and then say to the people 'He has risen from the dead,' when the latest imposture will be worse than the first."

But the angel, addressing the women, said; "You need not be afraid. I now that it is Jesus, who was crucified, for whom you are looking.

While they were still on their way, some of the guard came into the city, and reported to the Chief Priests everything that had happened.

And told them to say that his disciples came in the night, and stole him while they were asleep;

"And should this matter come before the Governor," they added, "we will satisfy him, and see that you have nothing to fear."

So the soldiers took the money, and did as they were instructed. And this story has been current among the Jews from that day to this.

And teaching them to lay to heart all the commands that I have given you; and, remember, I myself am with you every day until the close of the age."

And he proclaimed--"There is coming after me one more powerful than I, and I am not fit even to stoop down and unfasten his sandals.

Now about that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And they were all so amazed that they kept asking: "What is this? Strange teaching indeed! He gives his commands with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!"

But Jesus said to them: "Let us go somewhere else, into the country towns near, that I may make my proclamation in them also; for that was why I came."

The man, however, went away, and began to speak about it publicly, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town, but stayed outside in lonely places; and people came to him from every direction.

Some days later, when Jesus came back to Capernaum, the news spread that he was in a house there;

And so many people collected together, that after a while there was no room for them even round the door; and he began to tell them his Message.

Jesus, at once intuitively aware that they wee debating with themselves in this way, said to them: "Why are you debating in your minds about this?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins on earth"--here he said to the paralyzed man--

When the Teachers of the Law belonging to the party of the Pharisees saw that he was eating in the company of such people, they said to his disciples: "He is eating in the company of tax- gatherers and outcasts!"

Hearing this, Jesus said: "It is not those who are in health that need a doctor, but those who are ill. I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast, and people came and asked Jesus: "Why is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, while yours do not?"

But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be parted from them, and they will fast then--when that day comes.

And they watched Jesus closely, to see if he would cure the man on the Sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him.

And a great number, hearing of all that he was doing, came to him from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Edom, from beyond the Jordan, and from the country round Tyre and Sidon.

For he had cured many of them, and so people kept crowding upon him, that all who were afflicted might touch him.

And he appointed twelve--whom he also named 'Apostles'--that they might be with him, and that he might send them out as his Messengers, to preach,

So he appointed the Twelve--Peter (which was the name that Jesus gave to Simon),

And Judas Iscariot, the man that betrayed him.

Jesus went into a house; and again a crowd collected, so that they were not able even to eat their food.

When his relations heard of it, they went to take charge of him, for they said that he was out of his mind.

I tell you that men will be forgiven everything--their sins, and all the slanders that they utter;

This was said in reply to the charge that he had a foul spirit in him.

And he said: "To you the hidden truth of the Kingdom of God has been imparted; but to those who are outside it all teaching takes the form of parables, that--

The People meant by the seed that falls along the path are these--where the Message is sown, but, as soon as they have heard it, Satan immediately comes and carries away the Message that has been sown in them.

But the cares of life, and the glamour of wealth, and cravings for many other things come in and completely choke the Message, so that it gives no return.

Nothing is hidden unless it is some day to come to light, nor was anything ever kept hidden but that it should some day come into the light of day.

By what can we illustrate it? Perhaps by the growth of a mustard-seed. This seed, when sown in the ground, though it is smaller than all other seeds,

Yet, when sown, shoots up, and becomes larger than any other herb, and puts out great branches, so that even 'the wild birds can roost in its shelter.'"