Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus in conversation.

He asked them, "Then how can David by the Spirit call him "Lord' when he says,

If David calls him "Lord', how can he be his son?"

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you don't allow those who are trying to enter to go in.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.

"How terrible it will be for you, blind guides! You say, "Whoever swears an oath by the sanctuary is excused, but whoever swears an oath by the gold of the sanctuary must keep his oath.'

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and every kind of impurity.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

You snakes, you children of serpents! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

"How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!

They were unaware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That's how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

How blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing this when he comes!

The Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him. How terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say this must happen?"

Peter, however, followed him at a distance as far as the high priest's courtyard. He went inside and sat down with the servants to see how this would end.

Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear how many charges they're bringing against you?"

and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said while he was still alive, "I will be raised after three days.'

Pilate told them, "You have a military guard. Go and make the tomb as secure as you know how."

How was it that he went into the House of God during the lifetime of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and gave some of it to his companions?"

Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians went out and began to plot how to kill him.

So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables. "How can Satan drive out Satan?

Then he told them, "You don't understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables?

He sleeps and gets up night and day while the seeds sprout and grow, although he doesn't know how

He was also saying, "How can we show what the kingdom of God is like, or what parable can we use to describe it?

But Jesus wouldn't let him. Instead, he told him, "Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you."

So the man left and began proclaiming in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was utterly amazed.

He asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see." They found out and told him, "Five loaves and two fish."

He asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" "Seven," they said.

When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces?" They told him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many large baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?" They told him, "Seven."

(Peter didn't know how to respond, because they were terrified.)

Jesus told them, "You unbelieving generation! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!"

Then Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He said, "Since he was a child.

Salt is good. But if salt loses its taste, how can you restore its flavor? Keep on having salt among yourselves, and live in peace with one another."

Then Jesus looked around and told his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus told them again, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth to get into the kingdom of God!

Those who went ahead and those who followed him were shouting, "Hosanna! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

How blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

As for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

Then one of the scribes came near and heard the Sadducees arguing with one another. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of them all?"

When Jesus saw how wisely the man answered, he told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask him another question.

While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "How can the scribes say that the Messiah is David's son?

David himself calls him "Lord,' so how can he be his son?" And the large crowd kept listening to him with delight.

As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts.

"How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!

For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born."

So Pilate asked him again, "Don't you have any answer? Look how many accusations they're bringing against you!"

When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had cried out and breathed his last, he said, "This man certainly was the Son of God!"

Then Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this, since I am an old man, and my wife is getting older?"

Mary asked the angel, "How can this happen, since I have not had relations with a man?"

and she loudly exclaimed, "How blessed are you among women, and how blessed is the infant in your womb!

How blessed is this woman for believing that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled!"

How was it that he went into the house of God, took the Bread of the Presence and ate it, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and then gave some of it to his companions?"

Then Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "How blessed are you who are destitute, because the kingdom of God is yours!

How blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be satisfied! How blessed are you who are crying now, because you will laugh!

"How blessed are you whenever people hate you, avoid you, insult you, and slander you because of the Son of Man!

"But how terrible it will be for you who are rich, because you have had your comfort!

How terrible it will be for you who are full now, because you will be hungry! How terrible it will be for you who are laughing now, because you will mourn and cry!

"How terrible it will be for you when everyone says nice things about you, because that's the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets!"

How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you don't see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you'll see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

How blessed is anyone who is not offended by me!"

So pay attention to how you listen, because to the one who has something, more will be given. However, from the one who doesn't have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him."

The people who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.

"Go home and tell what God has done for you." So the man left and kept proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

When the woman saw that she couldn't hide, she came forward trembling. Bowing down in front of him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched Jesus and how she had been instantly healed.

Jesus answered, "You unbelieving and perverted generation! How much longer must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here!"

"How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

Then turning to his disciples in private, he told them, "How blessed are the eyes that see what you see!

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who keep asking him!"

Now, if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

As Jesus was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and told him, "How blessed is the womb that gave birth to you and the breasts that nursed you!"

But he said, "Instead, how blessed are those who hear God's word and obey it!"

"How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You love to have the places of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplaces.

How terrible it will be for you! You are like unmarked graves people walk on them without realizing it."

Jesus said, "How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law, too! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, yet you don't even lift a finger to ease those burdens.

How terrible it will be for you! You build monuments for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them!

How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn't go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in."

When people bring you before synagogue leaders, rulers, or authorities, don't worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,

That's how it is with the person who stores up treasures for himself rather than with God."

Consider the crows. They don't plant or harvest, they don't even have a storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

Consider how the lilies grow. They don't work or spin yarn, but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

Now if that's the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you you who have little faith?

How blessed are those servants whom the master finds watching for him when he comes! I tell all of you with certainty, he himself will put on an apron, make them sit down at the table, and go around and serve them.

How blessed they will be if their master comes in the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them awake!

How blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing this when he comes!

"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, yet you don't know how to interpret the present time?"

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you people were unwilling!

Look! Your house is left vacant to you. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

When Jesus noticed how the guests were choosing the places of honor, he told them a parable.

Now one of those eating with him heard this and told him, "How blessed is the person who will eat in the kingdom of God!"

"Now, salt is good. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can its flavor be restored?

"Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have more food than they can eat, and here I am starving to death!

"So he called for each of his master's debtors. He asked the first, "How much do you owe my master?'