Matthew 11-13

Matthew 11

¹And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their cities.

²But John, having heard in the prison the works of the Christ, sent by his disciples,

³and said to him, Art *thou* the coming one? or are we to wait for another?

⁴And Jesus answering said to them, Go, report to John what ye hear and see.

⁵Blind men see and lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear; and dead are raised, and poor have glad tidings preached to them:

⁶and blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me.

⁷But as they went away, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed moved about by the wind?

⁸But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in delicate raiment? behold, those who wear delicate things are in the houses of kings.

⁹But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet:

¹⁰this is he of whom it is written, Behold, *I* send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

¹¹Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the baptist. But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he.

¹²But from the days of John the baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seize on it.

¹³For all the prophets and the law have prophesied unto John.

¹⁴And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come.

¹⁵He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁶But to whom shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the markets, which, calling to their companions,

¹⁷say, We have piped to you, and ye have not danced: we have mourned to you, and ye have not wailed.

¹⁸For John has come neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.

¹⁹The Son of man has come eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man that is eating and wine-drinking, a friend of tax-gatherers, and of sinners: -- and wisdom has been justified by her children.

²⁰Then began he to reproach the cities in which most of his works of power had taken place, because they had not repented.

²¹Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to thee Bethsaida! for if the works of power which have taken place in you, had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repented in sackcloth and ashes.

²²But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in judgment-day than for you.

²³And *thou*, Capernaum, who hast been raised up to heaven, shalt be brought down even to hades. For if the works of power which have taken place in thee, had taken place in Sodom, it had remained until this day.

²⁴But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in judgment-day than for thee.

²⁵At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes.

²⁶Yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight.

²⁷All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him.

²⁸Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and *I* will give you rest.

²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls;

³⁰for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 12

¹At that time Jesus went on the sabbath through the cornfields; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears and to eat.

²But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to him, Behold, thy disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on sabbath.

³But he said to them, Have ye not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him?

⁴How he entered into the house of God, and ate the shewbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only?

⁵Or have ye not read in the law that on the sabbaths the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

⁶But I say unto you, that there is here what is greater than the temple.

⁷But if ye had known what is: I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

⁸For the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.

⁹And, going away from thence, he came into their synagogue.

¹⁰And behold, there was a man having his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? that they might accuse him.

¹¹But he said to them, What man shall there be of you who has one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and raise it up?

¹²How much better then is a man than a sheep! So that it is lawful to do well on the sabbath.

¹³Then he says to the man, Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched it out, and it was restored sound as the other.

¹⁴But the Pharisees, having gone out, took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.

¹⁵But Jesus knowing it, withdrew thence, and great crowds followed him; and he healed them all:

¹⁶and charged them strictly that they should not make him publicly known:

¹⁷that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying,

¹⁸Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew forth judgment to the nations.

¹⁹He shall not strive or cry out, nor shall any one hear his voice in the streets;

²⁰a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory;

²¹and on his name shall the nations hope.

²²Then was brought to him one possessed by a demon, blind and dumb, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spake and saw.

²³And all the crowds were amazed and said, Is this man the Son of David?

²⁴But the Pharisees, having heard it, said, This man does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub, prince of demons.

²⁵But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not subsist.

²⁶And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom subsist?

²⁷And if *I* cast out demons by Beelzebub, your sons, by whom do they cast them out? For this reason *they* shall be your judges.

²⁸But if *I* by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you.

²⁹Or how can any one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless first he bind the strong man? and then he will plunder his house.

³⁰He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters.

³¹For this reason I say unto you, Every sin and injurious speaking shall be forgiven to men, but speaking injuriously of the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men.

³²And whosoever shall have spoken a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming one.

³³Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. For from the fruit the tree is known.

³⁴Offspring of vipers! how can ye speak good things, being wicked? For of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵The good man out of the good treasure brings forth good things; and the wicked man out of the wicked treasure brings forth wicked things.

³⁶But I say unto you, that every idle word which men shall say, they shall render an account of it in judgment-day:

³⁷for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

³⁸Then answered him some of the scribes and Pharisees, saying, Teacher, we desire to see a sign from thee.

³⁹But he, answering, said to them, A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it save the sign of Jonas the prophet.

⁴⁰For even as Jonas was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

⁴¹Ninevites shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, more than Jonas is here.

⁴²A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, more than Solomon is here.

⁴³But when the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and does not find it.

⁴⁴Then he says, I will return to my house whence I came out; and having come, he finds it unoccupied, swept, and adorned.

⁴⁵Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in, they dwell there; and the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first. Thus shall it be to this wicked generation also.

⁴⁶But while he was yet speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.

⁴⁷Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren are standing without, seeking to speak to thee.

⁴⁸But he answering said to him that spoke to him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?

⁴⁹And, stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold my mother and my brethren;

⁵⁰for whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in the heavens, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Matthew 13

¹And that same day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea.

²And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that going on board ship himself he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore.

³And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow:

⁴and as he sowed, some grains fell along the way, and the birds came and devoured them;

⁵and others fell upon the rocky places where they had not much earth, and immediately they sprang up out of the ground because of not having any depth of earth,

⁶but when the sun rose they were burned up, and because of not having any root were dried up;

⁷and others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them;

⁸and others fell upon the good ground, and produced fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty.

⁹He that has ears, let him hear.

¹⁰And the disciples came up and said to him, Why speakest thou to them in parables?

¹¹And he answering said to them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given;

¹²for whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall be caused to be in abundance; but he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

¹³For this cause I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor understand;

¹⁴and in them is filled up the prophecy of Esaias, which says, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and beholding ye shall behold and not see;

¹⁵for the heart of this people has grown fat, and they have heard heavily with their ears, and they have closed their eyes as asleep, lest they should see with the eyes, and hear with the ears, and understand with the heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

¹⁶But blessed are *your* eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear;

¹⁷for verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye behold and did not see them, and to hear the things which ye hear and did not hear them.

¹⁸*Ye*, therefore, hear the parable of the sower.

¹⁹From every one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and catches away what was sown in his heart: this is he that is sown by the wayside.

²⁰But he that is sown on the rocky places -- this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,

²¹but has no root in himself, but is for a time only; and when tribulation or persecution happens on account of the word, he is immediately offended.

²²And he that is sown among the thorns -- this is he who hears the word, and the anxious care of this life, and the deceit of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

²³But he that is sown upon the good ground -- this is he who hears and understands the word, who bears fruit also, and produces, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty.

²⁴Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field;

²⁵but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel amongst the wheat, and went away.

²⁶But when the blade shot up and produced fruit, then appeared the darnel also.

²⁷And the bondmen of the householder came up and said to him, Sir, hast thou not sown good seed in thy field? whence then has it darnel?

²⁸And he said to them, A man that is an enemy has done this. And the bondmen said to him, Wilt thou then that we should go and gather it up?

²⁹But he said, No; lest in gathering the darnel ye should root up the wheat with it.

³⁰Suffer both to grow together unto the harvest, and in time of the harvest I will say to the harvestmen, Gather first the darnel, and bind it into bundles to burn it; but the wheat bring together into my granary.

³¹Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field;

³²which is less indeed than all seeds, but when it is grown is greater than herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches.

³³He spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until it had been all leavened.

³⁴All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them,

³⁵so that that should be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the world's foundation.

³⁶Then, having dismissed the crowds, he went into the house; and his disciples came to him, saying, Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field.

³⁷But he answering said, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man,

³⁸and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one;

³⁹and the enemy who has sowed it is the devil; and the harvest is the completion of the age, and the harvestmen are angels.

⁴⁰As then the darnel is gathered and is burned in the fire, thus it shall be in the completion of the age.

⁴¹The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and those that practise lawlessness;

⁴²and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that has ears, let him hear.

⁴⁴The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hid in the field, which a man having found has hid, and for the joy of it goes and sells all whatever he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls;

⁴⁶and having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a seine which has been cast into the sea, and which has gathered together of every kind,

⁴⁸which, when it has been filled, having drawn up on the shore and sat down, they gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out.

⁴⁹Thus shall it be in the completion of the age: the angels shall go forth and sever the wicked from the midst of the just,

⁵⁰and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹Jesus says to them, Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, Lord.

⁵²And he said to them, For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

⁵³And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables he withdrew thence.

⁵⁴And having come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom and these works of power?

⁵⁵Is not this the son of the carpenter? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things?

⁵⁷And they were offended in him. And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour, unless in his country and in his house.

⁵⁸And he did not there many works of power, because of their unbelief.