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Matthew 21:18-46; Matthew 22; Matthew 23:1-38

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Matthew 21:18-46

18 Now in the morning when he was coming back to the town, he had a desire for food.
19 And seeing a fig-tree by the wayside, he came to it, and saw nothing on it but leaves only; and he said to it, Let there be no fruit from you from this time forward for ever. And straight away the fig-tree became dry and dead.
20 And when the disciples saw it they were surprised, saying, How did the fig-tree become dry in so short a time?
21 And Jesus in answer said to them, Truly I say to you, If you have faith, without doubting, not only may you do what has been done to the fig-tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and put into the sea, it will be done.
22 And all things, whatever you make request for in prayer, having faith, you will get.
23 And when he had come into the Temple, the chief priests and those in authority over the people came to him while he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things? and who gave you this authority?
24 And Jesus said to them in answer, I will put one question to you, and if you give me the answer, I will say by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, where did it come from? from heaven or from men? And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, If we say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why then did you not have faith in him?
26 But if we say, From men; we are in fear of the people, because all take John to be a prophet.
27 And they made answer and said, We have no idea. Then he said to them, And I will not say to you by what authority I do these things.
28 But how does it seem to you? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go and do work today in the vine-garden.
29 And he said in answer, I will not: but later, changing his decision, he went.
30 And he came to the second and said the same. And he made answer and said, I go, sir: and went not.
31 Which of the two did his father's pleasure? They say, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, that tax-farmers and loose women are going into the kingdom of God before you.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you had no faith in him, but the tax-farmers and the loose women had faith in him: and you, when you saw it, did not even have regret for your sins, so as to have faith in him.
33 Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.
34 And when the time for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the workmen, to get the fruit.
35 And the workmen made an attack on his servants, giving blows to one, putting another to death, and stoning another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more in number than the first: and they did the same to them.
37 But after that he sent his son to them, saying, They will have respect for my son.
38 But when the workmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death and take his heritage.
39 And they took him and, driving him out of the vine-garden, put him to death.
40 When, then, the lord of the vine-garden comes, what will he do to those workmen?
41 They say to him, He will put those cruel men to a cruel death, and will let out the vine-garden to other workmen, who will give him the fruit when it is ready.
42 Jesus says to them, Did you never see in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes?
43 For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
44 Any man falling on this stone will be broken, but he on whom it comes down will be crushed to dust.
45 And when his stories came to the ears of the chief priests and the Pharisees, they saw that he was talking of them.
46 And though they had a desire to take him, they were in fear of the people, because in their eyes he was a prophet.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.

Matthew 22

1 And Jesus, talking to them again in stories, said:
2 The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a feast when his son was married,
3 And sent out his servants to get in the guests to the feast: and they would not come.
4 Again he sent out other servants, with orders to say to the guests, See, I have made ready my feast: my oxen and my fat beasts have been put to death, and all things are ready: come to the feast.
5 But they gave no attention, and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his trade:
6 And the rest put violent hands on his servants, and did evil to them, and put them to death.
7 But the king was angry; and he sent his armies, and those who had put his servants to death he gave to destruction, burning down their town with fire.
8 Then he said to his servants, The feast is ready but the guests were not good enough.
9 Go then to the cross-roads, and get all those whom you see to come to the bride-feast.
10 And those servants went out into the streets, and got together all those whom they came across, bad and good: and the feast was full of guests.
11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a guest's robe;
12 And he says to him, Friend, how came you in here not having a guest's robe? And he had nothing to say.
13 Then the king said to the servants, Put cords round his hands and feet and put him out into the dark; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.
14 For out of all to whom the good news has come, only a small number will get salvation.
15 Then the Pharisees went and had a meeting to see how they might make use of his words to take him.
16 And they sent to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we see that you are true, and that you are teaching the true way of God, and have no fear of anyone, because you have no respect for a man's position.
17 Give us, then, your opinion of this: Is it right to give tax to Caesar, or not?
18 But Jesus saw their trick and said, Oh false ones, why are you attempting to put me in the wrong?
19 Let me see the tax money. And they gave him a penny.
20 And he said to them, Whose is this image and name on it?
21 They say to him, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's.
22 And hearing it, they were full of wonder, and went away from him.
23 On the same day there came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no coming back from the dead: and they put a question to him, saying,
24 Master, Moses said, If a man, at the time of his death, has no children, let his brother take his wife, and get a family for his brother;
25 Now there were among us seven brothers; and the first was married and at his death, having no seed, gave his wife to his brother;
26 In the same way the second and the third, up to the seventh.
27 And last of all the woman came to her end.
28 When they come back from the dead, then, whose wife will she be of the seven? because they all had her.
29 But Jesus said to them in answer, You are in error, not having knowledge of the Writings, or of the power of God.
30 For when they come back from the dead there are no husbands and wives, but they are as the angels in heaven.
31 But about the dead coming back to life, have you no knowledge of what was said to you by God in the Writings:
32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living.
33 And the people hearing it were surprised at his teaching.
34 But the Pharisees, hearing how the mouths of the Sadducees had been stopped, came together;
35 And one of them, a teacher of the law, put a question to him, testing him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the chief rule in the law?
37 And he said to him, Have love for the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the first and greatest rule.
39 And a second like it is this, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself.
40 On these two rules all the law and the prophets are based.
41 Now while the Pharisees were together, Jesus put a question to them, saying,
42 What is your opinion of the Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, The Son of David.
43 He says to them, How then does David in the Spirit give him the name of Lord, saying,
44 The Lord said to my Lord, Be seated at my right hand, till I put under your feet all those who are against you?
45 If David then gives him the name of Lord, how is he his son?
46 And no one was able to give him an answer, and so great was their fear of him, that from that day no one put any more questions to him.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.

Matthew 23:1-38

1 Then Jesus said to the people and to his disciples:
2 The scribes and the Pharisees have the authority of Moses;
3 All things, then, which they give you orders to do, these do and keep: but do not take their works as your example, for they say and do not.
4 They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them
5 But all their works they do so as to be seen by men: for they make wide their phylacteries, and the edges of their robes,
6 And the things desired by them are the first places at feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues,
7 And words of respect in the market-places, and to be named by men, Teacher.
8 But you may not be named Teacher: for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers.
9 And give no man the name of father on earth: because one is your Father, who is in heaven.
10 And you may not be named guides: because one is your Guide, even Christ.
11 But let the greatest among you be your servant.
12 And whoever makes himself high will be made low, and whoever makes himself low will be made high.
13 But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back.
14 [
15 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you go about land and sea to get one disciple and, having him, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 A curse is on you, blind guides, who say, Whoever takes an oath by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gold of the Temple, he is responsible.
17 You foolish ones and blind: which is greater, the gold, or the Temple which makes the gold holy?
18 And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible.
19 You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy
20 He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it.
21 And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is
22 And he who takes an oath by heaven, takes it by the seat of God, and by him who is seated on it.
23 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone.
24 You blind guides, who take out a fly from your drink, but make no trouble over a camel.
25 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire.
26 You blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become equally clean.
27 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you are like the resting-places of the dead, which are made white, and seem beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and of all unclean things.
28 Even so you seem to men to be full of righteousness, but inside you are all false and full of wrongdoing.
29 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you put up buildings for housing the dead bodies of the prophets, and make fair the last resting-places of good men, and say,
30 If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 So that you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who put the prophets to death.
32 Make full, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?
34 For this reason, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you will put to death and put on the cross, and to some of them you will give blows in your Synagogues, driving them from town to town;
35 So that on you may come all the blood of the upright on the earth, from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you put to death between the Temple and the altar.
36 Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, putting to death the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her! Again and again would I have taken your children to myself as a bird takes her young ones under her wings, and you would not!
38 See, your house is made waste
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.