121 At that time, when thousands of the people had come together, in such numbers that they were crushing one another, he said first to his disciples, Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is deceit. 2 But nothing is covered up, which will not come to light, or secret, which will not be made clear. 3 So, whatever you have said in the dark, will come to men's hearing in the light, and what you have said secretly inside the house, will be made public from the house-tops.
4 And I say to you, my friends, Have no fear of those who may put the body to death, and are able to do no more than that. 5 But I will make clear to you of whom you are to be in fear: of him who after death has power to send you to hell; yes, truly I say, Have fear of him. 6 Are not five sparrows given in exchange for two farthings? and God has every one of them in mind. 7 But even the hairs of your head are numbered. Have no fear: you are of more value than a flock of sparrows.
8 And I say to you that to everyone who gives witness to me before men, the Son of man will give witness before the angels of God. 9 But if anyone says before men that he has no knowledge of me, I will say that I have no knowledge of him before the angels of God. 10 And if anyone says a word against the Son of man, he will have forgiveness: but for him who says evil words against the Holy Spirit, there will be no forgiveness. 11 And when they take you before the Synagogues and the authorities and the rulers, take no thought about what answers you will give, or what you will say: 12 For the Holy Spirit will make clear to you in that very hour what to say.
13 And one of the people said to him, Master, give an order to my brother to make division of the heritage with me. 14 But he said, Man, who made me a judge or a maker of decisions for you? 15 And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has. 16 And he said to them, in a story, The land of a certain man of great wealth was very fertile: 17 And he said to himself, What is to be done? for I have no place in which to put all my fruit. 18 And he said, This I will do: I will take down my store-houses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. 20 But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together? 21 So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.
22 And he said to his disciples, For this reason I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about what food you will take, or for your body, how it may be clothed. 23 Is not life more than food, and the body than its clothing? 24 Give thought to the ravens; they do not put seeds into the earth, or get together grain; they have no store-houses or buildings; and God gives them their food: of how much greater value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by taking thought is able to make himself any taller? 26 If, then, you are not able to do even that which is least, why are you troubled about the rest? 27 Give thought to the flowers: they do no work, they make no thread; and still I say to you, Even Solomon, in all his glory, was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God gives such clothing to the grass in the field, which today is living, and tomorrow will be burned in the oven, how much more will he give clothing to you, O men of little faith? 29 And do not give overmuch thought to your food and drink, and let not your mind be full of doubts. 30 For the nations of the world go in search of all these things: but your Father has knowledge that you have need of them. 31 But let your chief care be for his kingdom, and these other things will be given to you in addition.
32 Have no fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Give what property you have in exchange for money, and give the money to the poor; make for yourselves money-bags which will not get old, wealth stored up in heaven which will be yours for ever, where thieves will not come nor worms put it to destruction. 34 For where your wealth is, there will your heart be.
35 Be ready, dressed as for a journey, with your lights burning. 36 And be like men who are looking for their lord, when he comes back from the bride-feast; so that when he comes to the door, it will be open to him quickly. 37 Happy are those servants who are watching when the lord comes; truly I say to you, he will make himself their servant and, placing them at the table, he will come out and give them food. 38 And if he comes in the second division of the night or in the third, and they are watching for him, happy are those servants. 39 But be certain of this, that if the master of the house had had knowledge of the time when the thief was coming, he would have been watching, and would not have let his house be broken into. 40 So be ready: for the Son of man is coming at a time when you are not looking for him.
41 And Peter said to him, Lord, are these words said to us only, or to all men? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is the wise and responsible servant whom his lord will put in control of his family, to give them their food at the right time? 43 Happy is that servant who, when his lord comes, is doing so. 44 Truly I say to you, he will put him in control of all his goods. 45 But if that servant says to himself, My lord is a long time coming; and goes about giving blows to the men-servants and the women-servants, feasting and taking overmuch wine; 46 The lord of that servant will come at a time when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not ready for him, and he will have him cut in two and will give him his part in the fate of those who have no faith; 47 And the servant who had knowledge of his lord's desires and was not ready for him and did not do as he was ordered, will be given a great number of blows; 48 But he who, without knowledge, did things for which punishment is given, will get only a small number of blows. The man to whom much is given, will have to give much; if much is given into his care, of him more will be requested.
49 I came to send a fire on the earth, and it may even now have been lighted. 50 But there is a baptism which I have to undergo; and how am I kept back till it is complete! 51 Is it your opinion that I have come to give peace on earth? I say to you, No, but division: 52 For from this time, a family of five in one house will be on opposite sides, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be at war, the father against his son, and the son against his father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
54 Then he said to the people, When you see a cloud coming up in the west, straight away you say, There will be rain; and so it is. 55 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, There will be heat; and so it is. 56 O false ones! the face of the earth and the heaven is clear to you; how is it that the signs of these times are not as clear to you?
57 And why are you, in your hearts, unable to be judges of what is right? 58 For if anyone has a cause at law against you, and you are going with him before the ruler, make an attempt, on the way, to come to an agreement with him, for if you do not, he may take you before the judge and the judge will give you up to the police, and they will put you in prison. 59 I say to you, You will not come out of it till you have made payment to the very last farthing.
31 Now in the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being ruler of Judaea, and Herod being king of Galilee, his brother Philip king of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias king of Abilene, 2 When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the waste land. 3 And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed. 4 As it says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight. 5 Every valley will be lifted up, and all the mountains and hills made low, and the twisted will be made straight, and the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh will see the salvation of God. 7 So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come? 8 Make clear by your acts that your hearts have been changed; and do not say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children of Abraham. 9 And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; and every tree which does not have good fruit will be cut down and put into the fire. 10 And the people put questions to him, saying, What have we to do? 11 And he made answer and said to them, He who has two coats, let him give to him who has not even one; and he who has food, let him do the same. 12 Then tax-farmers came to him for baptism and said to him, Master, what have we to do? 13 And he said to them, Do not make an attempt to get more money than the right amount. 14 And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you.
15 And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not, 16 John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: 17 In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out. 18 And so comforting them with these and other words, he gave the good news to the people; 19 But Herod the king, because John had made a protest on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and other evil things which Herod had done, 20 Did this most evil thing of all, and had John shut up in prison.
21 Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open, 22 The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, You are my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
23 And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 The son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 The son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 The son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 The son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 The son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 The son of Jesus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 The son of Symeon, the son of Judas, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 The son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 The son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 The son of Amminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 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, the son of Shelah, 36 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, the son of Cainan, 38 The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
