And He called His  ¹twelve disciples to Him and gave them  ²authority over unclean spirits, so that they would cast them out and heal every disease and every sickness.

And the names of the twelve  ¹apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and  ¹Matthew the  ²tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and  ³Thaddaeus;

Simon the  ¹Cananaean, and Judas  ²Iscariot, who also  ³betrayed Him.

These twelve Jesus sent forth, charging them,

saying, Do not go into the way of the  ¹Gentiles, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans.

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And as you go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has  ¹drawn near.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Do  ¹not acquire for yourselves gold nor silver nor copper for your belts;

No bag for the journey nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff; for the worker is worthy of his food.

And into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and there remain until you depart.

And as you enter into the house, greet it.

And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

And whoever does not receive you nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

Truly I say to you, It will be  ¹more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore  ¹prudent as serpents and guileless as doves.

And beware of men, for they will  ¹deliver you up to  ²sanhedrins, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.

And you will also be brought before  ¹governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak;

For you are not the ones speaking, but the  ¹Spirit of your Father is the One speaking in you.

And  ¹brother will deliver up brother to death, and father his child; and children will rise up against their parents and put them to death.

And you will be hated by all because of My name. But he who has endured to the end, this one shall be  ¹saved.

And when they persecute you in this city, flee into another. For truly I say to you, You shall by no means  ¹finish the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

A disciple is not  ¹above the teacher, nor a slave above his master.

It is sufficient for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the Master of the house  ¹Beelzebul, how much more those of His household!

Therefore do not fear them; for there is nothing covered which will not be revealed, and hidden which will not be made known.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.

And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear  ¹Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in  ²Gehenna.

Are not two sparrows sold for an  ¹assarion? And not one of them will fall to the earth apart from your Father.

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Every one therefore who will confess  ¹in Me before men, I also will confess  ²in him before My Father who is in the heavens;

But whoever will  ¹deny Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father who is in the heavens.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not  ¹come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set men at variance: a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

And a man's enemies will be those of his  ¹household.

He who loves father or mother  ¹above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me;

And he who does not  ¹take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

He who finds his soul-life shall  ¹lose it, and he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.

He who  ¹receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who has sent Me.

He who  ¹receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a  ²righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

And whoever gives to one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his  ¹reward.

And when Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

Now when John heard in the prison of the works of the Christ, he sent word through his disciples

And said to Him,  ¹Are You the Coming One, or should we expect  ²another?

And Jesus answered and said to them, Go, report to John the things that you hear and see:

The  ¹blind receive their sight and the  ²lame walk; the  ³lepers are cleansed and the  ⁴deaf hear; and the  ⁵dead are raised and the  ⁶poor have the gospel announced to them;

And blessed is he who is not  ¹stumbled because of Me.

And as these went away, Jesus began to  ¹say to the crowds concerning John, What did you go out into the wilderness to  ²look at? A  ³reed shaken by the wind?

But what did you go out to  ¹see? A  ²man arrayed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings.

But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and  ¹much more than a prophet.

This is he concerning whom it is written, “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”

Truly I say to you, Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is  ¹least  ²in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he.

But from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by  ¹violence, and violent men seize it.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied  ¹until John;

And if you are willing to receive  ¹it, he is  ²Elijah, who is to come.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like little children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to the others

And say, We have played the flute to you, and you did not dance; we have  ¹sung a dirge, and you did not mourn.

For John came  ¹neither eating nor drinking; and they say, He has a  ²demon.

The Son of Man came  ¹eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a  ²friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet  ³wisdom is justified by her  ⁴works.

Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His works of power took place, because they did not repent:

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

But I say to you, It will be  ¹more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, who have been exalted to heaven, to  ¹Hades you will be brought down. For if the works of power which took place in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

At that time Jesus  ¹answered and said, I  ²extol You, Father,  ³Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden  ⁴these things from the  ⁵wise and intelligent and have revealed them to  ⁶infants.

Yes, Father, for thus it has been well-pleasing  ¹in Your sight.

 ¹All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one fully  ²knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone fully know the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Come to Me all who  ¹toil and are burdened, and I will give you  ²rest.

 ¹Take My  ²yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am  ³meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your  ⁴souls.

For My  ¹yoke is  ²easy and My burden is light.

 ¹At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields. And His disciples became hungry and began to pick ears of grain and eat.

But the Pharisees, seeing this, said to Him, Behold, Your disciples are doing what is  ¹not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

But He said to them, Have you not  ¹read what  ²David did when he became hungry, and those who were with him;

How he entered into the house of God, and they ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, except for the priests only?

Or have you not  ¹read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

But I say to you that something  ¹greater than the temple is here.

But if you knew what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless.

For the Son of Man is  ¹Lord of the Sabbath.

And departing from there, He came into their synagogue.

And behold, a man who had a withered  ¹hand was there. And they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? so that they might accuse Him.

And He said to them, What man will there be among you who will have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! So then it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath.

Then He said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and it was  ¹restored, as sound as the other.

But the Pharisees, going out, took counsel against Him as to how they might  ¹destroy Him.

But Jesus, knowing it, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all;

And He charged them not to make Him known,

In order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

"Behold, My  ¹Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce  ²justice to the  ³Gentiles.

He will not strive nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

A  ¹bruised reed He will not break, and smoking  ²flax He will not quench until He brings forth justice unto victory.

And in His name will the Gentiles hope.”

Then there was brought to Him one possessed by a demon,  ¹blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

And all the crowds were amazed and said, Is this not the  ¹Son of David?

But the Pharisees, hearing this, said, This man does not cast out the demons except by  ¹Beelzebul, ruler of the demons.

But knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself becomes desolate, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his  ¹kingdom stand?

And if I, by Beelzebul, cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

But if I, by the  ¹Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the  ²kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or how can anyone enter into the  ¹house of the  ²strong man and plunder his  ³goods unless he first  ⁴binds the strong man? And then he will thoroughly plunder his house.

 ¹He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

Therefore I say to you, Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but  ¹blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever  ¹speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this  ²age nor in the one to come.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for  ¹by the fruit the tree is known.

Offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things.

And I say to you that every  ¹idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment.

For by your  ¹words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a  ¹sign from You.

But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous  ¹generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the  ¹heart of the earth three days and three nights.

Ninevite men will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something  ¹more than Jonah is here.

The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something  ¹more than Solomon is here.

When the unclean spirit goes out from the man, it roams through  ¹waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.

Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came out. And it comes and finds it unoccupied, swept, and decorated.

Then it goes and takes along with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and settle down there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Thus shall it be also with  ¹this evil generation.

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and His brothers stood outside seeking to speak to Him.

And someone said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.

But He answered and said to him who spoke to Him,  ¹Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?

And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers!

For whoever  ¹does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother.