(For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each.”

They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.”

And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying.

And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples,

and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.”

But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,

And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”

And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.

On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’

And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.

Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.

While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.

One of the lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.”

But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,

Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”

And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?

And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?

And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them,

And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’

And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’

Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’

Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’

And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

And He said, “A man had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them.

But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;

And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’

But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;

And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.

And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’

But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—

But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’

But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come!

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they?

And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;

And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

And answering they *said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,

And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said;

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”