But immediately He spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I! Do not be afraid!”

He said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

But when he saw [the effects of] the wind, he was frightened, and he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

He replied to them, “Why also do you violate the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition [handed down by the elders]?

For God said [through Moses], ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of or insults or treats improperly father or mother is to be put to death.’

But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Whatever [money or resource that] I have that would help you is [already dedicated and] given to God,”

You hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders), rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said,

He answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be torn up by the roots.

And He said, “Are you still so dull [and unable to put things together]?

But He did not say a word in answer to her. And His disciples came and asked Him [repeatedly], “Send her away, because she keeps shouting out after us.”

He answered, “I was commissioned by God and sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

And He replied, “It is not good (appropriate, fair) to take the children’s bread and throw it to the pet dogs.”

Jesus went on from there and passed along by [the eastern shore of] the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on the hillside and was sitting there.

And great crowds came to Him, bringing with them the lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they put them down at His feet; and He healed them.

And Jesus asked them, “How many loaves [of bread] do you have?” They replied, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and when He had given thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples [gave them] to the people.

Then Jesus sent the crowds away, got into the boat and went to the district of Magadan.

But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’

And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and has a threatening look.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but cannot interpret the signs of the times?

An evil and [morally] unfaithful generation craves a [miraculous] sign; but no sign will be given to it, except the sign of [the prophet] Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you have no bread?

Do you still not understand or remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up?

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up?

How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the [false] teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Then He gave the disciples strict orders to tell no one that He was the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed).

From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples [clearly] that He must go to Jerusalem, and endure many things at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), and be killed, and be raised [from death to life] on the third day.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory and majesty of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay each one in accordance with what he has done.

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John the brother of James, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased and delighted! Listen to Him!”

He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic (moonstruck) and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

And Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

He answered, “Because of your little faith [your lack of trust and confidence in the power of God]; for I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and [if it is God’s will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

and they will kill Him, and He will be raised [from death to life] on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved and distressed.

Peter answered, “Yes.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly rulers collect duties or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

He called a little child and set him before them,

“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost?

And if it turns out that he finds it, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother.

But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that every word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If he pays no attention to them [refusing to listen and obey], tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile (unbeliever) and a tax collector.

Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? Up to seven times?”

When he began the accounting, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him.

But because he could not repay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and his children and everything that he possessed, and payment to be made.

And his master’s heart was moved with compassion and he released him and forgave him [canceling] the debt.

But that same slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’

But he was unwilling and he went and had him thrown in prison until he paid back the debt.

And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (jailers) until he paid all that he owed.

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the part of Judea that is beyond the Jordan;

and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

He replied, “Have you never read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

He said to them, “Because your hearts were hard and stubborn Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given.

Then children were brought to Jesus so that He might place His hands on them [for a blessing] and pray; but the disciples reprimanded them.

But He said, “Leave the children alone, and do not forbid them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

After placing His hands on them [for a blessing], He went on from there.

Jesus answered, “Why are you asking Me about what is [essentially] good? There is only One who is [essentially] good; but if you wish to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments.”

He said to Jesus, “Which commandments?” And Jesus answered, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony;

But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].

When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour (9:00 a.m.) and saw others standing idle in the market place;

and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right (an appropriate wage).’ And they went.

He went out about the sixth hour (noon) and the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), and did the same thing.

And about the eleventh hour (5:00 p.m.) he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’

They answered him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He told them, ‘You go into the vineyard also.’

But the owner of the estate replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve [disciples] aside, and along the way He said to them,

and will hand Him over to the Gentiles (Roman authorities) to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and He will be raised [to life] on the third day.”

And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit [in positions of honor and authority] one on Your right and one on Your left.”

He said to them, “You will drink My cup [of suffering]; but to sit on My right and on My left this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

If anyone says anything to you, you should say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and without delay the owner will send them [with you].”

and they brought the donkey and the colt, and placed their coats on them; and Jesus sat on the coats.

The crowds that went ahead of Him, and those that followed Him, were shouting [in praise and adoration],

“Hosanna to the Son of David (Messiah);
Blessed [praised, glorified] is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!”

When He entered Jerusalem, all the city was trembling [with excitement], saying, “Who is this?”

And Jesus entered the temple [grounds] and drove out [with force] all who were buying and selling [birds and animals for sacrifice] in the temple area, and He turned over the tables of the moneychangers [who made a profit exchanging foreign money for temple coinage] and the chairs of those who were selling doves [for sacrifice].

Jesus said to them, “It is written [in Scripture], ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”

And the blind and the lame came to Him in [the porticoes and courts of] the temple area, and He healed them.

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful and miraculous things that Jesus had done, and heard the boys who were shouting in [the porticoes and courts of] the temple [in praise and adoration], “Hosanna to the Son of David (the Messiah),” they became indignant

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Now early in the morning, as Jesus was coming back to the city, He was hungry.

Seeing a lone fig tree at the roadside, He went to it and found nothing but leaves on it; and He said to it, “Never again will fruit come from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

When the disciples saw it, they were astonished and asked, “How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?”

When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what [kind of] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority [to exercise this power]?”

The baptism of John—from where did it come? From heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men?” And they began debating among themselves [considering the implications of their answer], saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what [kind of] authority I do these things.”

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and changed his mind and went.

Then the man came to the second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go.

For John came to you [walking] in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even change your mind afterward and believe him [accepting what he proclaimed to you].

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to tenant farmers and went on a journey [to another country].

When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his [share of the] fruit.

Again he sent other servants, more than the first time; and they treated them the same way.

Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son and have regard for him.’

Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what will he do to those tenants?”