The high priests gathered up the money, and they said, "It is not legal to put this into the Temple treasury, for it is blood money."

So after consultation they bought with it the Potter's Field as a burial ground for strangers.

Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear what evidence they are bringing against you?"

Now at festival time the governor was accustomed to release for the people any prisoner whom they chose,

and at this time there was a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.

For he knew that they had handed him over to him out of envy.

Pilate said to them, "Then what am I to do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?" They all said, "Have him crucified!"

He said, "Why, what has he done that is wrong?" But they shouted all the louder, "Have him crucified!"

When Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing but that a riot was beginning instead, he took some water and washed his hands in the presence of the crowd, saying, "I am not responsible for this man's death; you must see to it yourselves."

and made a wreath of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a stick in his hand, and knelt down before him in mockery, saying, "Long live the king of the Jews!"

And they spat at him, and took the stick and struck him on the head.

As they went out of the city they came upon a Cyrenian named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross.

they offered him a drink of wine mixed with gall, and when he tasted it he would not drink it.

There were two robbers crucified with him at the time, one at his right and one at his left.

And the passers-by jeered at him, shaking their heads

And about three, Jesus called out loudly, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?"

Some of the bystanders when they heard it said, "The man is calling for Elijah!"

And one of them ran off at once and got a sponge and soaked it in sour wine and put it on the end of a stick and held it up to him to drink.

But Jesus cried out again loudly, and gave up his spirit.

And at once the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split,

There were several women there watching from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee to wait upon him,

He went to Pilate and asked him for Jesus' body. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a piece of clean linen,

and laid it in a new tomb that belonged to him, that he had cut in the rock, and he rolled a great stone over the doorway of the tomb, and went away.

Pilate said to them, "Take a guard of soldiers, and go and make it as secure as you can."

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

And there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and went and rolled the stone back and sat upon it.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow.

And they hurried away from the tomb frightened and yet overjoyed, and ran to tell the news to his disciples.

And if news of it reaches the governor, we will satisfy him, and see that you do not get into trouble."

There they saw him and bowed down before him, though some were in doubt about it.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "Here I send my messenger on before you; He will prepare your way;

And all Judea and everybody in Jerusalem went out to him there, and accepted baptism from him in the Jordan River, acknowledging their sins.

It was in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And just as he was coming up out of the water he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit coming down like a dove to enter into him,

and out of the heavens came a voice: "You are my Son, my Beloved! You are my Chosen!"

The spirit immediately drove him out into the desert.

And they were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

Just then there was in their synagogue a man under the control of a foul spirit, and he cried out,

"What do you want of us, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are God's holy One!"

Jesus reproved him, and said, "Silence! Get out of him!"

The foul spirit convulsed the man and gave a loud cry and went out of him.

And they were all so amazed that they discussed it with one another, and said, "What does this mean? It is a new teaching! He gives orders with authority even to the foul spirits, and they obey him!"

and the whole town was gathered at the door.

And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and drove out many demons, and he would not let the demons speak, because they knew that he was Christ.

And Simon and his companions sought him out

He said to them, "Let us go somewhere else, to the neighboring country towns, so that I may preach in them, too, for that is why I came out here."

So he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out the demons.

And he pitied him and stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose! Be cured!"

But he went off and began to talk so much about it, and to spread the story so widely, that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in unfrequented places, and people came to him from every direction.

Some days later he came back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home,

As they could not get him near Jesus on account of the crowd, they broke open the roof just over his head, and through the opening they lowered the mat with the paralytic lying on it.

Jesus, at once perceiving by his spirit that they were pondering over this, said to them, "Why do you ponder over this in your minds?

And he got up, and immediately picked up his mat and went out before them all, so that they were all astonished and acknowledged the power of God, saying, "We never saw anything like this before."

He went out of the town again and along the shore, and all the people came to him and he taught them.

And as he was passing along he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tollhouse, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.

He was at table in his house, with many tax-collectors and irreligious people who were at table with him and his disciples, for there were many of them among his followers.

And when the scribes who were of the Pharisees' party saw that he was eating with irreligious people and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax-collectors and irreligious people?"

Jesus heard it, and said to them, "It is not well people but the sick who have to have the doctor. I did not come to invite the pious but the irreligious."

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were keeping a fast. And people came and asked him, "Why is it that when John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are keeping the fast, yours are not keeping it?"

He happened to be passing through the wheat fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick the heads of wheat as they made their way through.

And the Pharisees said to him, "Look! Why are they doing what it is against the law to do on the Sabbath?"

He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he was in need and hungry, he and his men?

How is it that he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the Presentation Loaves, which it is against the law for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions too?"

And he said to them, "Is it allowable to do people good on the Sabbath, or to do them harm? To save life or kill?" But they made no answer.

And he looked around at them with anger, hurt by their obstinacy, and he said to the man, "Hold out your hand!" And he held it out, and his hand was cured.

And whenever the foul spirits saw him, they fell down before him and screamed out, "You are the Son of God!"

He appointed twelve of them, whom he called apostles, to be with him and to be sent out to preach,

with power to drive out the demons. These were the twelve he appointed:

His relatives heard of it and came over to stop him, for they said that he was out of his mind.

And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said that he was possessed by Beelzebub and drove out demons by the help of the prince of demons.

So he called them to him and spoke to them in figures, saying, "How can Satan drive Satan out?

And looking around at the people sitting about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

Then he began again to teach by the seashore. And a crowd gathered around him so great that he got into a boat and sat in it, a little way from the shore, while all the people were on the land close to the water.

"Listen: A sower went out to sow,

and as he was sowing, some of the seed chanced to fall by the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

Some of it fell on rocky ground, and where there was not much soil, and it sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,

but when the sun came up, it was scorched, and withered up, because it had no root.

Some of the seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out, and it yielded no grain.

so that " 'They may look and look and yet not see, And listen and listen and yet not understand, Lest possibly they should turn and be forgiven.' ",

What the sower sows is the message.

The ones by the path are those into whose hearts the message falls, and as soon as they hear it Satan comes and carries off the message that has been sown in their hearts.

It is so too with the ones sown on the rocky ground; they gladly accept the message as soon as they hear it,

but it takes no real root in them and they last only a little while; then when trouble or persecution comes because of the message they give it up at once.

It is different with those sown among the thorns. They are people who listen to the message,

but the worries of the time and the pleasure of being rich and passions for other things creep in and choke the message out and it yields nothing.

And the ones sown in good ground are the people who listen to the message and welcome it and yield thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.

"Do people get out the lamp," he said to them, "and then put it under the peck-measure, or under the bed, instead of putting it up where it belongs?

For no one hides anything except for the purpose of sometime bringing it to light again, and people keep things secret only to reveal them some day.

"Take care what you hear," he said to them. "The measure you give will be given to you, and even more besides.

For people who have will have more given them, and from people who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

and then sleeping at night and getting up by day, while the seed sprouts and comes up, without his knowing it.

The ground of itself is productive, putting forth first a blade, then a head, then fully developed wheat in the head.

"How can we find any comparison," he said, "for the reign of God, or what figure can we use to describe it?

It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the world,

yet once sown, comes up and grows to be the largest of all the plants, and produces branches so large that the wild birds can roost under the shelter of it."

With many such figures he told them the message, as far as they were able to receive it.

That same day when it was evening he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side."

And a heavy squall of wind came on and the waves dashed into the boat, so that it was beginning to fill.

He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him up and said to him, "Master, does it make no difference to you that we are sinking?"