For see, I will put a sheep-keeper over the land, who will have no care for that which is cut off, and will not go in search of the wanderers, or make well what is broken, and he will not give food to that which is ill, but he will take for his food the flesh of the fat, and let their feet be broken.

And the families of Judah will say in their hearts, The people of Jerusalem have their strength in the Lord of armies, their God.

And it will come about on that day, says the Lord of armies, that I will have the names of the images cut off out of the land, and there will be no more memory of them: and I will send all the prophets and the unclean spirit away from the land.

But he will say, I am no prophet, but a worker on the land; for I have been an owner of land from the time when I was young.

And this will be the disease which the Lord will send on all the peoples which have been warring against Jerusalem: their flesh will be wasted away while they are on their feet, their eyes will be wasted in their heads and their tongues in their mouths.

You have been loved by me, says the Lord. But you say, Where was your love for us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord: but Jacob was loved by me,

Though Edom says, We are crushed down but we will come back, building up the waste places; this is what the Lord of armies has said: They may put up buildings, but I will have them pulled down; and they will be named The land of evil-doing, and The people against whom the Lord keeps his wrath for ever.

A son gives honour to his father, and a servant has fear of his master: if then I am a father, where is my honour? and if I am a master, where is the fear of me? says the Lord of armies to you, O priests, who give no value to my name. And you say, How have we not given value to your name?

You put unclean bread on my altar. And you say, How have we made it unclean? By your saying, The table of the Lord is of no value.

And when you give what is blind for an offering, it is no evil! and when you give what is damaged and ill, it is no evil! Give it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or will you have his approval? says the Lord of armies.

And now, make request for the grace of God so that he may have mercy on us: this has been your doing: will he give his approval to any of you? says the Lord of armies.

If only there was one among you who would see that the doors were shut, so that you might not put a light to the fire on my altar for nothing! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of armies, and I will not take an offering from your hands.

And you say, See, what a weariness it is! and you let out your breath at it, says the Lord of armies; and you have given what has been cut about by beasts, and what is damaged in its feet and ill; this is the offering you give: will this be pleasing to me from your hands? says the Lord.

If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.

See, I will have your arm cut off, and will put waste on your faces, even the waste from your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

And you will be certain that I have sent this order to you, so that it might be my agreement with Levi, says the Lord of armies.

But you are turned out of the way; you have made the law hard for numbers of people; you have made the agreement of Levi of no value, says the Lord of armies.

And so I have taken away your honour and made you low before all the people, even as you have not kept my ways, and have given no thought to me in using the law.

Have we not all one father? has not one God made us? why are we, every one of us, acting falsely to his brother, putting shame on the agreement of our fathers?

The Lord will have the man who does this cut off root and branch out of the tents of Jacob, and him who makes an offering to the Lord of armies.

But you say, For what reason? Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your early years, to whom you have been untrue, though she is your friend and the wife to whom you have given your word.

You have made the Lord tired with your words. And still you say, How have we made him tired? By your saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he has delight in them; or, Where is God the judge?

See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.

And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.

For I am the Lord, I am unchanged; and so you, O sons of Jacob, have not been cut off.

From the days of your fathers you have been turned away from my rules and have not kept them. Come back to me, and I will come back to you, says the Lord of armies. But you say, How are we to come back?

Will a man keep back from God what is right? But you have kept back what is mine. But you say, What have we kept back from you? Tenths and offerings.

You are cursed with a curse; for you have kept back from me what is mine, even all this nation.

Your words have been strong against me, says the Lord. And still you say, What have we said against you?

You have said, It is no use worshipping God: what profit have we had from keeping his orders, and going in clothing of sorrow before the Lord of armies?

And they will be mine, says the Lord, in the day when I make them my special property; and I will have mercy on them as a man has mercy on his son who is his servant.

For see, the day is coming, it is burning like an oven; all the men of pride and all who do evil will be dry stems of grass: and in the day which is coming they will be burned up, says the Lord of armies, till they have not a root or a branch.

But when he was giving thought to these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, have no fear of taking Mary as your wife; because that which is in her body is of the Holy Spirit.

Saying, Where is the King of the Jews whose birth has now taken place? We have seen his star in the east and have come to give him worship.

And he sent them to Beth-lehem and said, Go and make certain where the young child is; and when you have seen him, let me have news of it, so that I may come and give him worship.

And was there till the death of Herod; so that the word of the Lord through the prophet might come true, Out of Egypt have I sent for my son.

And say not to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; because I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children for Abraham.

But John would have kept him back, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me?

Happy are those whose heart's desire is for righteousness: for they will have their desire.

Happy are those who have mercy: for they will be given mercy.

Let there be no thought that I have come to put an end to the law or the prophets. I have not come for destruction, but to make complete.

You have knowledge that it was said in old times, You may not put to death; and, Whoever puts to death will be in danger of being judged:

Truly I say to you, You will not come out from there till you have made payment of the very last farthing.

You have knowledge that it was said, You may not have connection with another man's wife:

Again, you have knowledge that it was said in old times, Do not take false oaths, but give effect to your oaths to the Lord:

You have knowledge that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

You have knowledge that it was said, Have love for your neighbour, and hate for him who is against you:

But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;

For if you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? do not the tax-farmers the same?

Take care not to do your good works before men, to be seen by them; or you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

When then you give money to the poor, do not make a noise about it, as the false-hearted men do in the Synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Truly, I say to you, They have their reward.

And when you make your prayers, be not like the false-hearted men, who take pleasure in getting up and saying their prayers in the Synagogues and at the street turnings so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.

And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us.

For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven.

But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.

And when you go without food, be not sad-faced as the false-hearted are. For they go about with changed looks, so that men may see that they are going without food. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.

Then do not be full of care, saying, What are we to have for food or drink? or, With what may we be clothed?

Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things:

Then have no care for tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Take the trouble of the day as it comes.

For as you have been judging, so you will be judged, and with your measure will it be measured to you.

Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye?

All those things, then, which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.

And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel.

And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?

And they took to him a man stretched on a bed who had no power of moving; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man who was ill, Son, take heart; you have forgiveness for your sins.

For which is the simpler, to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?

But on hearing this he said, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill.

But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

And when Jesus went on from there, two blind men came after him, crying out, Have mercy on us, you Son of David.

And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, Have you faith that I am able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.

And their eyes were made open. And Jesus said to them sharply, Let no man have knowledge of it.

And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation.

But when they are cruel to you in one town, go in flight to another: for truly, I say to you, You will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of man comes.

It is enough for the disciple that he may be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have given the name Beelzebub to the master of the house, how much more to those of his house!

Have, then, no fear of them: because nothing is covered which will not come to light, or secret which will not be made clear.

And have no fear of those who put to death the body, but are not able to put to death the soul. But have fear of him who has power to give soul and body to destruction in hell.

Then have no fear; you are of more value than a flock of sparrows.

But if anyone says before men that he has no knowledge of me, I will say that I have no knowledge of him before my Father in heaven.

Do not have the thought that I have come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword.

For I have come to put a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law:

He who has the desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, and he who gives up his life because of me will have it given back to him.

The blind see; those who were not able to, are walking; lepers are made clean; those who were without hearing, now have their ears open; the dead come to life again, and the poor have the good news given to them.

But what went you out to see? a man delicately clothed? Those who have fair robes are in kings' houses.

Unhappy are you, Chorazin! Unhappy are you, Beth-saida! For if the works of power which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have been turned from their sins in days gone by, clothing themselves in haircloth and putting dust on their heads.

And you, Capernaum, were you not to be lifted up to heaven? you will go down into hell: for if the works of power which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been here to this day.

At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children.

All things have been given to me by my Father; and no one has knowledge of the Son, but the Father; and no one has knowledge of the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will make it clear.

Take my yoke on you and become like me, for I am gentle and without pride, and you will have rest for your souls;

But he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did when he had need of food, and those who were with him?

But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.

And there was a man with a dead hand. And they put a question to him, saying, Is it right to make a man well on the Sabbath day? so that they might have something against him.

So I say to you, Every sin and every evil word against God will have forgiveness; but for evil words against the Spirit there will be no forgiveness.

And whoever says a word against the Son of man, will have forgiveness; but whoever says a word against the Holy Spirit, will not have forgiveness in this life or in that which is to come.

And I say to you that in the day when they are judged, men will have to give an account of every foolish word they have said.

While he was still talking to the people, his mother and his brothers came, desiring to have talk with him.

And one said to him, See, your mother and your brothers are outside, desiring to have talk with you.