And he saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went up to it to see if he could find any figs on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for figs.

And he taught them, and said, "Does not the Scripture say, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' cave."

I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea!' and has no doubt in his mind, but has faith that what he says will happen, shall have it.

But the tenants said to one another, 'This is his heir! Come on, let us kill him, and the property will belong to us!'

And they tried to have him arrested, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew that the illustration was aimed at them. And they left him and went away.

And they came up and said to him, "Master, we know that you tell the truth regardless of the consequences, for you are not guided by personal considerations, but teach the way of God with sincerity. Is it right to pay the poll tax to the emperor or not?

Should we pay it, or refuse to pay it?" But he saw through their pretense, and said to them, "Why do you put me to such a test? Bring me a denarius to look at."

"Master," they said, "Moses made us a law that if a man's brother died, leaving a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.

For when people rise from the dead, there is no marrying or being married, but they live as angels do in heaven.

But as to the dead being raised, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

He is not God of dead men but of living! You are entirely wrong."

The scribe said to him, "Really, Master, you have finely said that he stands alone, and there is none but he,

For they all gave of what they had to spare, but she in her want has put in everything she possessed??ll she had to live on."

But when you hear of wars and rumors of war, you must not be alarmed. They have to come, but it is not yet the end.

But you must be on your guard; they will hand you over to courts and you will be taken into synagogues and beaten, and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, to testify to them.

When they are taking you off to trial do not worry beforehand about what you ought to say, but say whatever is given you when the time comes, for it is not you that will speak, but the holy Spirit.

You will be hated by everyone, because you bear my name. But he who holds out to the end will be saved.

But as soon as you see the dreadful desecration standing where he has no right to stand" (the reader must take note of this), "then those who are in Judea must fly to the hills;

If the Lord had not cut those days short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of his own chosen people he has cut the days short.

But you must be on your guard; I have told you all about it beforehand.

But in those days, when that misery is over, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light

Earth and sky will pass away, but my words will not.

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father.

But there were some who said indignantly to themselves, "What was the use of wasting the perfume like that?

And they grumbled at her. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you bother her? It is a fine thing that she has done to me.

For you always have the poor among you, and whenever you please you can do for them, but you will not always have me.

For the Son of Man is indeed to go away as the Scriptures say of him, but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born."

But after I am raised to life again I will go back to Galilee before you."

But Peter said to him, "Even if they all desert you, I will not!"

But he persisted vehemently, "If I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And they all said the same thing.

and he said, "Abba!" that is, Father, "anything is possible for you! Take this cup away from me! Yet not what I please but what you do!"

You must all watch, and pray that you may not be subjected to trial. One's spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."

But one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck at the high priest's slave and cut his ear off.

I have been among you day after day in the Temple teaching, and you never seized me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled!"

And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him,

but he left the cloth behind and ran away naked.

But Jesus was silent and made no answer. The high priest again questioned him and said to him, "Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?"

But Jesus said, "I am! and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming in the clouds of the sky!"

But he denied it, saying, "I do not know or understand what you mean." He went out into the gateway.

But he denied it again. And again a little while after, the bystanders said to Peter, "You certainly are one of them, for you are a Galilean!"

But he began to swear with the strongest oaths, "I do not know this man that you are talking about!"

But Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See what charges they are making against you."

But Jesus made no further answer at all, so that Pilate wondered.

But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to set Barabbas free for them instead.

And Pilate said to them, "Why, what has he done that is wrong?" But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

They offered him drugged wine, but he would not take it.

The high priests too made sport of him to one another with the scribes and said, "He saved others, but he cannot save himself!

But Jesus gave a loud cry, and expired.

But he said to them, "You must not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here. See! This is where they laid him.

But go and say to his disciples and to Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; you will see him there, just as he told you.' "

And they fled out of the tomb, for they were all trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing about it to anyone, for they were afraid to do so. AN ANCIENT APPENDIX But they reported briefly to Peter and his companions all they had been told. And afterward Jesus himself sent out by them from the east to the west the sacred and incorruptible message of eternal salvation. \b ANOTHER ANCIENT APPENDIX

They went back and told the rest, but they would not believe them.

He who believes it and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe it will be condemned.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink no wine or strong drink, but he will be filled with the holy Spirit from his very birth,

But when he came out he could not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. For his part, he kept making signs to them, and remained dumb.

But she was startled at what he said, and wondered what this greeting meant.

But his mother said, "No! He is to be named John."

But they made signs to the child's father and asked him what he wished to have the child named.

but Mary treasured up all they had said, and pondered over it.

and she had been a widow until she was now eighty-four. She never left the Temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer.

But they did not understand what he told them.

But the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire."

And soldiers would ask him, "And what ought we to do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money or make false charges against people, but be satisfied with your pay."

John said to them all, "I am only baptizing you in water, but someone is coming who is stronger than I am, whose shoes I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you in the holy Spirit and in fire.

He has his winnowing fork in his hand, to clean up his threshing-floor, and store his wheat in his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with inextinguishable fire."

but Herod the governor, whom he condemned because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the wicked things Herod had done,

But, I tell you, there were plenty of widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine all over the land,

and Elijah was not sent to one of them, but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

And there were plenty of lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cured, but Naaman the Syrian."

But he made his way through the midst of them and went on.

And demons came out of many people, crying out, "You are the Son of God!" But he reproved them and forbade them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

But he said to them, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is what I was sent to do."

Simon answered, "Master, we worked all night and caught nothing, but as you tell me to do it, I will put down the nets."

Then he warned him to tell nobody, "But go," he said, "show yourself to the priest, and in proof of your cure make the offerings for your purification, just as Moses prescribed."

But Jesus himself would retire into the desert and pray.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to debate and say, "Who is this man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

But Jesus saw what they were discussing, and said to them, "What are you pondering over in your minds?

But to let you know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"??urning to the man who was paralyzed he said to him??"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"

Jesus answered them, "It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor.

I have not come to invite the pious but the irreligious to repentance!"

They said to him, "John's disciples observe frequent fasts and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples eat and drink."

But other days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, in those days they will fast."

How he went into the house of God and took the Presentation Loaves, which it was against the Law for anyone but the priests to eat, and ate them with his companions?"

But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand in front." And he got up and stood there.

But they were perfectly furious, and discussed with one another what they could do to Jesus.

"But alas for you who are rich, for you have had your comfort!

"But I tell you who hear me, love your enemies, treat those who hate you well,

But love your enemies, and help them and lend to them, never despairing, and you will be richly rewarded, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the wicked.

A pupil is not better than his teacher, but every pupil when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

But the man who listens to it, and does not act upon it, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The torrent burst upon it, and it collapsed at once, and the wreck of that house was complete."

So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the captain sent some friends to him, to say to him, "Master, do not take any more trouble, for I am not a suitable person to have you under my roof.

That is why I did not think I was fit to come to you. But simply say the word, and have my servant cured.

but the Pharisees and experts in the Law thwarted God's purpose for themselves, by refusing to be baptized by him.

And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came to your house; you did not give me any water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss, but from the moment I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.

You did not put any oil upon my head, but she has put perfume upon my feet.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven, for she has loved me so much. But the man with little to be forgiven loves me but little."

But he said to the woman, "It is your faith that has saved you. Go in peace."

And he said, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but they are given to others in the form of figures, so that they may look and yet not see, and hear and yet not understand.

The ones on the rock are those who receive the message joyfully when they first hear it, but it takes no real root. They believe for a little while, and then in the time of trial they draw back.