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Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
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This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.'
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Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
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From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.
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For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John;
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and if you are willing to accept it, he is Eli'jah who is to come.
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He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates,
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'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'
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For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon';
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the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."