A Warning against Hypocrisy

121 At which time the myriads of the multitude having been gathered together, so as to tread upon one another, he began to say unto his disciples, first, 'Take heed to yourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy; 2 and there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known; 3 because whatever in the darkness ye said, in the light shall be heard: and what to the ear ye spake in the inner-chambers, shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops.

Whom to Fear

4 'And I say to you, my friends, be not afraid of those killing the body, and after these things are not having anything over to do; 5 but I will show to you, whom ye may fear; Fear him who, after the killing, is having authority to cast to the gehenna; yes, I say to you, Fear ye Him. 6 'Are not five sparrows sold for two assars? and one of them is not forgotten before God, 7 but even the hairs of your head have been all numbered; therefore fear ye not, than many sparrows ye are of more value.

Confessing Christ before Men

8 'And I say to you, Every one—whoever may confess with me before men, the Son of Man also shall confess with him before the messengers of God, 9 and he who hath denied me before men, shall be denied before the messengers of God, 10 and every one whoever shall say a word to the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven to him, but to him who to the Holy Spirit did speak evil, it shall not be forgiven. 11 'And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what ye may reply, or what ye may say, 12 for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that hour what it behoveth 'you' to say.'

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 And a certain one said to him, out of the multitude, 'Teacher, say to my brother to divide with me the inheritance.' 14 And he said to him, 'Man, who set me a judge or a divider over you?' 15 And he said unto them, 'Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.' 16 And he spake a simile unto them, saying, 'Of a certain rich man the field brought forth well; 17 and he was reasoning within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where I shall gather together my fruits? 18 and he said, This I will do, I will take down my storehouses, and greater ones I will build, and I will gather together there all my products and my good things, 19 and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years, be resting, eat, drink, be merry. 20 'And God said to him, Unthinking one! this night thy soul they shall require from thee, and what things thou didst prepare—to whom shall they be? 21 so 'is' he who is treasuring up to himself, and is not rich toward God.'

Care and Anxiety

22 And he said unto his disciples, 'Because of this, to you I say, Be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat; nor for the body, what ye may put on; 23 the life is more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing. 24 'Consider the ravens, that they sow not, nor reap, to which there is no barn nor storehouse, and God doth nourish them; how much better are ye than the fowls? 25 and who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit? 26 If, then, ye are not able for the least—why for the rest are ye anxious? 27 'Consider the lilies, how do they grow? they labour not, nor do they spin, and I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these; 28 and if the herbage in the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow into an oven is cast, God doth so clothe, how much more you—ye of little faith? 29 'And ye—seek not what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, and be not in suspense, 30 for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father hath known that ye have need of these things; 31 but, seek ye the reign of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

Treasure in Heaven

32 'Fear not, little flock, because your Father did delight to give you the reign; 33 sell your goods, and give alms, make to yourselves bags that become not old, a treasure unfailing in the heavens, where thief doth not come near, nor moth destroy; 34 for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.

Watchful Servants

35 'Let your loins be girded, and the lamps burning, 36 and ye like to men waiting for their lord, when he shall return out of the wedding feasts, that he having come and knocked, immediately they may open to him. 37 'Happy those servants, whom the lord, having come, shall find watching; verily I say to you, that he will gird himself, and will cause them to recline (at meat), and having come near, will minister to them; 38 and if he may come in the second watch, and in the third watch he may come, and may find 'it' so, happy are those servants. 39 'And this know, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief doth come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through; 40 and ye, then, become ye ready, because at the hour ye think not, the Son of Man doth come.'

The Unfaithful Servant

41 And Peter said to him, 'Sir, unto us this simile dost thou speak, or also unto all?' 42 And the Lord said, 'Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the lord shall set over his household, to give in season the wheat measure? 43 Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so; 44 truly I say to you, that over all his goods he will set him. 45 'And if that servant may say in his heart, My lord doth delay to come, and may begin to beat the men-servants and the maid-servants, to eat also, and to drink, and to be drunken; 46 the lord of that servant will come in a day in which he doth not look for 'him', and in an hour that he doth not know, and will cut him off, and his portion with the unfaithful he will appoint. 47 'And that servant, who having known his lord's will, and not having prepared, nor having gone according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes, 48 and he who, not having known, and having done things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few; and to every one to whom much was given, much shall be required from him; and to whom they did commit much, more abundantly they will ask of him.

Jesus the Cause of Division

49 'Fire I came to cast to the earth, and what will I if already it was kindled? 50 but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I pressed till it may be completed! 51 'Think ye that peace I came to give in the earth? no, I say to you, but rather division; 52 for there shall be henceforth five in one house divided—three against two, and two against three; 53 a father shall be divided against a son, and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter, and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'

Discerning the Times

54 And he said also to the multitudes, 'When ye may see the cloud rising from the west, immediately ye say, A shower doth come, and it is so; 55 and when—a south wind blowing, ye say, that there will be heat, and it is; 56 hypocrites! the face of the earth and of the heaven ye have known to make proof of, but this time—how do ye not make proof of 'it'?

Agree with Your Adversary

57 'And why, also, of yourselves, judge ye not what is righteous? 58 for, as thou art going away with thy opponent to the ruler, in the way give diligence to be released from him, lest he may drag thee unto the judge, and the judge may deliver thee to the officer, and the officer may cast thee into prison; 59 I say to thee, thou mayest not come forth thence till even the last mite thou mayest give back.'

The Preaching of John the Baptist

31 And in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar—Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother, tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 Annas and Caiaphas being chief priests—there came a word of God unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness, 3 and he came to all the region round the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of reformation—to remission of sins, 4 as it hath been written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths; 5 every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straightness, and the rough become smooth ways; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' 7 Then said he to the multitudes coming forth to be baptised by him, 'Brood of vipers! who did prompt you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 make, therefore, fruits worthy of the reformation, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have a father—Abraham; for I say to you, that God is able out of these stones to raise children to Abraham; 9 and already also the axe unto the root of the trees is laid, every tree, therefore, not making good fruit is cut down, and to fire it is cast.' 10 And the multitudes were questioning him, saying, 'What, then, shall we do?' 11 and he answering saith to them, 'He having two coats—let him impart to him having none, and he having victuals—in like manner let him do.' 12 And there came also tax-gatherers to be baptised, and they said unto him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' 13 and he said unto them, 'Exact no more than that directed you.' 14 And questioning him also were those warring, saying, 'And we, what shall we do?' and he said unto them, 'Do violence to no one, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.'

15 And the people are looking forward, and all are reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether or not he may be the Christ; 16 John answered, saying to all, 'I indeed with water do baptise you, but he cometh who is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his sandals—he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire; 17 whose winnowing shovel 'is' in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the wheat to his storehouse, and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.' 18 And, therefore, indeed with many other things, exhorting, he was proclaiming good news to the people, 19 and Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him concerning Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, and concerning all the evils that Herod did, 20 added also this to all, that he shut up John in the prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

21 And it came to pass, in all the people being baptised, Jesus also being baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily appearance, as if a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, saying, 'Thou art My Son—the Beloved, in thee I did delight.'

The Genealogy of Jesus

23 And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, son of Joseph, 24 the 'son' of Eli, the 'son' of Matthat, the 'son' of Levi, the 'son' of Melchi, the 'son' of Janna, the 'son' of Joseph, 25 the 'son' of Mattathias, the 'son' of Amos, the 'son' of Naum, the 'son' of Esli, 26 the 'son' of Naggai, the 'son' of Maath, the 'son' of Mattathias, the 'son' of Semei, the 'son' of Joseph, the 'son' of Juda, 27 the 'son' of Joanna, the 'son' of Rhesa, the 'son' of Zerubbabel, the 'son' of Shealtiel, 28 the 'son' of Neri, the 'son' of Melchi, the 'son' of Addi, the 'son' of Cosam, the 'son' of Elmodam, the 'son' of Er, 29 the 'son' of Jose, the 'son' of Eliezer, the 'son' of Jorim, the 'son' of Matthat, 30 the 'son' of Levi, the 'son' of Simeon, the 'son' of Juda, the 'son' of Joseph, the 'son' of Jonan, the 'son' of Eliakim, 31 the 'son' of Melea, the 'son' of Mainan, the 'son' of Mattatha, the 'son' of Nathan, 32 the 'son' of David, the 'son' of Jesse, the 'son' of Obed, the 'son' of Booz, the 'son' of Salmon, the 'son' of Nahshon, 33 the 'son' of Amminadab, the 'son' of Aram, the 'son' of Esrom, the 'son' of Pharez, 34 the 'son' of Judah, the 'son' of Jacob, the 'son' of Isaac, the 'son' of Abraham, the 'son' of Terah, the 'son' of Nahor, 35 the 'son' of Serug, the 'son' of Reu, the 'son' of Peleg, the 'son' of Eber, 36 the 'son' of Salah, the 'son' of Cainan, the 'son' of Arphaxad, the 'son' of Shem, the 'son' of Noah, the 'son' of Lamech, 37 the 'son' of Methuselah, the 'son' of Enoch, the 'son' of Jared, the 'son' of Mahalaleel, 38 the 'son' of Cainan, the 'son' of Enos, the 'son' of Seth, the 'son' of Adam, the 'son' of God.