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1 And the man had connection with Eve his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have got a man from the Lord.

2 Then again she became with child and gave birth to Abel, his brother. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a farmer.

3 And after a time, Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth.

4 And Abel gave an offering of the young lambs of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering;

5 But in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry and his face became sad.

6 And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your face sad?

7 If you do well, will you not have honour? and if you do wrong, sin is waiting at the door, desiring to have you, but do not let it be your master.

8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

9 And the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I have no idea: am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the earth.

11 And now you are cursed from the earth, whose mouth is open to take your brother's blood from your hand;

12 No longer will the earth give you her fruit as the reward of your work; you will be a wanderer in flight over the earth.

13 And Cain said, My punishment is greater than my strength.

14 You have sent me out this day from the face of the earth and from before your face; I will be a wanderer in flight over the earth, and whoever sees me will put me to death.

15 And the Lord said, Truly, if Cain is put to death, seven lives will be taken for his. And the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one might put him to death.

16 And Cain went away from before the face of the Lord, and made his living-place in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain had connection with his wife and she became with child and gave birth to Enoch: and he made a town, and gave the town the name of Enoch after his son.

18 And Enoch had a son Irad: and Irad became the father of Mehujael: and Mehujael became the father of Methushael: and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

19 And Lamech had two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the father of such as are living in tents and keep cattle.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all players on instruments of music.

22 And Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, who is the father of every maker of cutting instruments of brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, give ear to my voice; you wives of Lamech, give attention to my words, for I would put a man to death for a wound, and a young man for a blow;

24 If seven lives are to be taken as punishment for Cain's death, seventy-seven will be taken for Lamech's.

25 And Adam had connection with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name of Seth: for she said, God has given me another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain put to death.

26 And Seth had a son, and he gave him the name of Enosh: at this time men first made use of the name of the Lord in worship.

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37 And the rules and the orders and the law which he put in writing for you, you are to keep and do for ever; you are to have no other gods.

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4 Keep in mind the law of Moses, my servant, which I gave him in Horeb for all Israel, even the rules and the decisions.

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1 And when he had come down from the mountain, great numbers of people came after him.

2 And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.

3 And he put his hand on him, saying, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away he was made clean.

4 And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.

5 And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain captain came to him with a request,

6 Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain.

7 And he said to him, I will come and make him well.

8 And the captain in answer said, Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be made well.

9 Because I myself am a man under authority, having under me fighting men; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.

10 And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:

12 But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.

13 And Jesus said to the captain, Go in peace; as your faith is, so let it be done to you. And the servant was made well in that hour.

14 And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother in bed, very ill.

15 And he put his hand on hers and the disease went from her, and she got up and took care of his needs.

16 And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;

17 So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might come true: He himself took our pains and our diseases.

18 Now when Jesus saw a great mass of people about him, he gave an order to go to the other side.

19 And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go.

20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

21 And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.

22 But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.

23 And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him.

24 And there came up a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was sleeping.

25 And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near.

26 And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 And the men were full of wonder, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea do his orders?

28 And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way.

29 And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?

30 Now there was, some distance away, a great herd of pigs taking their food.

31 And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs.

32 And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea and came to their end in the water.

33 And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits.

34 And all the town came out to Jesus; and seeing him they made request that he would go away from their part of the country.

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1 And he got into a boat and went across and came to his town.

2 And they took to him a man stretched on a bed who had no power of moving; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man who was ill, Son, take heart; you have forgiveness for your sins.

3 And some of the scribes said among themselves, This man has no respect for God.

4 And Jesus, having knowledge of what was in their minds, said, Why are your thoughts evil?

5 For which is the simpler, to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?

6 But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (then said he to the man who was ill,) Get up, and take up your bed, and go to your house.

7 And he got up and went away to his house.

8 But when the people saw it they were full of fear, and gave glory to God who had given such authority to men.

9 And when Jesus was going from there, he saw a man whose name was Matthew, seated at the place where taxes were taken; and he said to him, Come after me. And he got up and went after him.

10 And it came about, when he was in the house taking food, that a number of tax-farmers and sinners came and took their places with Jesus and his disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners?

12 But on hearing this he said, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill.

13 But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees frequently go without food, but your disciples do not?

15 And Jesus said to them, Will the friends of the newly-married man be sad as long as he is with them? But the days will come when he will be taken away from them, and then will they go without food.

16 And no man puts a bit of new cloth on an old coat, for by pulling away from the old, it makes a worse hole.

17 And men do not put new wine into old wine-skins; or the skins will be burst and the wine will come out, and the skins are of no more use: but they put new wine into new wine-skins, and so the two will be safe.

18 While he was saying these things to them, there came a ruler and gave him worship, saying, My daughter is even now dead; but come and put your hand on her, and she will come back to life.

19 And Jesus got up and went after him, and so did his disciples.

20 And a woman, who for twelve years had had a flow of blood, came after him, and put her hand on the edge of his robe:

21 Because, she said to herself, if I may but put my hand on his robe, I will be made well.

22 But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, Daughter, take heart; your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour.

23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the players with their instruments and the people making a noise,

24 He said, Make room; for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they were laughing at him.

25 But when the people were sent out, he went in and took her by the hand; and the girl got up.

26 And the news of it went out into all that land.

27 And when Jesus went on from there, two blind men came after him, crying out, Have mercy on us, you Son of David.

28 And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, Have you faith that I am able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.

29 Then he put his hand on their eyes, saying, As your faith is, let it be done to you.

30 And their eyes were made open. And Jesus said to them sharply, Let no man have knowledge of it.

31 But they went out and gave news of him in all that land.

32 And while they were going away, there came to him a man without the power of talking, and with an evil spirit.

33 And when the evil spirit had been sent out, the man had the power of talking: and they were all surprised, saying, Such a thing has never been seen in Israel.

34 But the Pharisees said, By the ruler of evil spirits, he sends evil spirits out of men.

35 And Jesus went about all the towns and small places, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and making well all sorts of disease and pain.

36 But when he saw all the people he was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and wandering like sheep without a keeper.

37 Then he said to his disciples, There is much grain but not enough men to get it in.

38 Make prayer, then, to the Lord of the grain-fields, that he may send out workers to get in his grain.

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1 And he got together his twelve disciples and gave them the power of driving out unclean spirits, and of making well all sorts of disease and pain.

2 Now the names of the twelve are these: The first, Simon, who is named Peter, and Andrew, his brother; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax-farmer; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who was false to him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out and gave them orders, saying, Do not go among the Gentiles, or into any town of Samaria,

6 But go to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel,

7 And, on your way, say, The kingdom of heaven is near.

8 Make well those who are ill, give life to the dead, make lepers clean, send evil spirits out of men; freely it has been given to you, freely give.

9 Take no gold or silver or copper in your pockets;

10 Take no bag for your journey and do not take two coats or shoes or a stick: for the workman has a right to his food.

11 And into whatever town or small place you go, make search there for someone who is respected, and make his house your resting-place till you go away.

12 And when you go in, say, May peace be on this house.

13 And if the house is good enough, let your peace come on it: but if not, let your peace come back to you.

14 And whoever will not take you in, or give ear to your words, when you go out from that house or that town, put off its dust from your feet.

15 Truly I say to you, It will be better for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of God's judging than for that town.

16 See, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Be then as wise as snakes, and as gentle as doves.

17 But be on the watch against men: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins, and in their Synagogues they will give you blows;

18 And you will come before rulers and kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles.

19 But when you are given up into their hands, do not be troubled about what to say or how to say it: for in that hour what you are to say will be given to you;

20 Because it is not you who say the words, but the Spirit of your Father in you.

21 And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child: and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.

22 And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation.

23 But when they are cruel to you in one town, go in flight to another: for truly, I say to you, You will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of man comes.

24 A disciple is not greater than his master, or a servant than his lord.

25 It is enough for the disciple that he may be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have given the name Beelzebub to the master of the house, how much more to those of his house!

26 Have, then, no fear of them: because nothing is covered which will not come to light, or secret which will not be made clear.

27 What I say to you in the dark, say in the light: and what comes to your ear secretly, say publicly from the house-tops.

28 And have no fear of those who put to death the body, but are not able to put to death the soul. But have fear of him who has power to give soul and body to destruction in hell.

29 Are not sparrows two a farthing? and not one of them comes to an end without your Father:

30 But the hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Then have no fear; you are of more value than a flock of sparrows.

32 To everyone, then, who gives witness to me before men, I will give witness before my Father in heaven.

33 But if anyone says before men that he has no knowledge of me, I will say that I have no knowledge of him before my Father in heaven.

34 Do not have the thought that I have come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword.

35 For I have come to put a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law:

36 And a man will be hated by those of his house.

37 He who has more love for his father or mother than for me is not good enough for me; he who has more love for son or daughter than for me is not good enough for me.

38 And he who does not take his cross and come after me is not good enough for me.

39 He who has the desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, and he who gives up his life because of me will have it given back to him.

40 He who gives honour to you gives honour to me; and he who gives honour to me gives honour to him who sent me.

41 He who gives honour to a prophet, in the name of a prophet, will be given a prophet's reward; and he who gives honour to an upright man, in the name of an upright man, will be given an upright man's reward.

42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will not go without his reward.

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1 And it came about that when Jesus had come to the end of giving these orders to his twelve disciples, he went away from there, teaching and preaching in their towns.

2 Now when John had news in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples

3 To say to him, Are you he who is to come, or are we waiting for another?

4 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Go and give news to John of the things which you are seeing and hearing:

5 The blind see; those who were not able to, are walking; lepers are made clean; those who were without hearing, now have their ears open; the dead come to life again, and the poor have the good news given to them.

6 And a blessing will be on him who has no doubts about me.

7 And when they were going away, Jesus, talking of John, said to all the people, What went you out into the waste land to see? a tall stem moving in the wind?

8 But what went you out to see? a man delicately clothed? Those who have fair robes are in kings' houses.

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

10 This is he of whom it has been said, See, I send my servant before your face, who will make ready your way before you.

11 Truly I say to you, Among the sons of women there has not been a greater than John the Baptist: but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven is forcing its way in, and men of force take it.

13 For all the prophets and the law were in force till John.

14 And if you are able to see it, this is Elijah who was to come.

15 He who has ears, let him give ear.

16 But what comparison may I make of this generation? It is like children seated in the market-places, crying out to one another,

17 We made music for you and you did not take part in the dance; we gave cries of sorrow and you made no signs of grief.

18 For John came, taking no food or drink, and they say, He has an evil spirit.

19 The Son of man has come feasting, and they say, See, a lover of food and wine, a friend of tax-farmers and sinners! And wisdom is judged to be right by her works.

20 Then he went on to say hard things to the towns where most of his works of power were done, because they had not been turned from their sins.

21 Unhappy are you, Chorazin! Unhappy are you, Beth-saida! For if the works of power which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have been turned from their sins in days gone by, clothing themselves in haircloth and putting dust on their heads.

22 But I say to you, It will be better for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judging, than for you.

23 And you, Capernaum, were you not to be lifted up to heaven? you will go down into hell: for if the works of power which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been here to this day.

24 But I say to you that it will be better for the land of Sodom in the day of judging, than for you.

25 At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children.

26 Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing in your eyes.

27 All things have been given to me by my Father; and no one has knowledge of the Son, but the Father; and no one has knowledge of the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will make it clear.

28 Come to me, all you who are troubled and weighted down with care, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke on you and become like me, for I am gentle and without pride, and you will have rest for your souls;

30 For my yoke is good, and the weight I take up is not hard.

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1 At that time Jesus went through the fields on the Sabbath day; and his disciples, being in need of food, were taking the heads of grain.

2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, See, your disciples do that which it is not right to do on the Sabbath.

3 But he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did when he had need of food, and those who were with him?

4 How he went into the house of God and took for food the holy bread which it was not right for him or for those who were with him to take, but only for the priests?

5 Or is it not said in the law, how the Sabbath is broken by the priests in the Temple and they do no wrong?

6 But I say to you that a greater thing than the Temple is here.

7 But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.

8 For the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath.

9 And he went from there into their Synagogue:

10 And there was a man with a dead hand. And they put a question to him, saying, Is it right to make a man well on the Sabbath day? so that they might have something against him.

11 And he said to them, Which of you, having a sheep, if it gets into a hole on the Sabbath day, will not put out a helping hand and get it back?

12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! For this reason it is right to do good on the Sabbath day.

13 Then said he to the man, Put out your hand. And he put it out, and it was made as well as the other.

14 But the Pharisees went out and made designs against him, how they might put him to death.

15 And Jesus, having knowledge of this, went away from there, and a great number went after him; and he made them all well,

16 Ordering them not to give people word of him:

17 So that what was said by Isaiah the prophet might come true,

18 See my servant, the man of my selection, my loved one in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him, and he will make my decision clear to the Gentiles.

19 His coming will not be with fighting or loud cries; and his voice will not be lifted up in the streets.

20 The crushed stem will not be broken by him; and the feebly burning light will he not put out, till he has made righteousness overcome all.

21 And in his name will the Gentiles put their hope.

22 Then they took to him one with an evil spirit, who was blind and had no power of talking: and he made him well so that he had the power of talking and seeing.

23 And all the people were surprised and said, Is not this the Son of David?

24 But the Pharisees, hearing of it, said, This man only sends evil spirits out of men by Beelzebub, the ruler of evil spirits.

25 And having knowledge of their thoughts he said to them, Every kingdom having division in itself is made waste, and every town or house having division in itself will come to destruction.

26 And if Satan sends out Satan, he makes war against himself; how then will he keep his kingdom?

27 And if I by Beelzebub send evil spirits out of men, by whom do your sons send them out? So let them be your judges.

28 But if I by the Spirit of God send out evil spirits, then is the kingdom of God come on you.

29 Or how may one go into a strong man's house and take his goods, if he does not first put cords round the strong man? and then he may take his goods.

30 Whoever is not with me is against me; and he who does not take part with me in getting people together, is driving them away.

31 So I say to you, Every sin and every evil word against God will have forgiveness; but for evil words against the Spirit there will be no forgiveness.

32 And whoever says a word against the Son of man, will have forgiveness; but whoever says a word against the Holy Spirit, will not have forgiveness in this life or in that which is to come.

33 Make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for by its fruit you will get knowledge of the tree.

34 You offspring of snakes, how are you, being evil, able to say good things? because out of the heart's store come the words of the mouth.

35 The good man out of his good store gives good things; and the evil man out of his evil store gives evil things.

36 And I say to you that in the day when they are judged, men will have to give an account of every foolish word they have said.

37 For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees, hearing this, said to him, Master, we are looking for a sign from you.

39 But he, answering, said to them, An evil and false generation is looking for a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah:

40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41 The men of Nineveh will come up in the day of judging and give their decision against this generation: because they were turned from their sins at the preaching of Jonah; and now a greater than Jonah is here.

42 The queen of the South will come up in the day of judging and give her decision against this generation: for she came from the ends of the earth to give ear to the wisdom of Solomon; and now a greater than Solomon is here.

43 But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of a man, goes through dry places looking for rest, and getting it not.

44 Then he says, I will go back into my house from which I came out; and when he comes, he sees that there is no one in it, but that it has been made fair and clean.

45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits worse than himself, and they go in and make it their living-place: and the last condition of that man is worse than the first. Even so will it be with this evil generation.

46 While he was still talking to the people, his mother and his brothers came, desiring to have talk with him.

47 And one said to him, See, your mother and your brothers are outside, desiring to have talk with you.

48 But he in answer said to him who gave the news, Who is my mother and who are my brothers?

49 And he put out his hand to his disciples and said, See, my mother and my brothers!

50 For whoever does the pleasure of my Father in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

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1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was seated by the seaside.

2 And great numbers of people came together to him, so that he got into a boat; and the people took up their position by the sea.

3 And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth;

4 And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food:

5 And some of the seed went among the stones, where it had not much earth, and straight away it came up because the earth was not deep:

6 And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root it became dry and dead.

7 And some seeds went among thorns, and the thorns came up and they had no room for growth:

8 And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.

9 He who has ears, let him give ear.

10 And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories?

11 And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

12 Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

13 For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them.

14 And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:

15 For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.

16 But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.

17 For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.

18 Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth.

19 When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside.

20 And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy;

21 But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts.

22 And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.

23 And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it; who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.

24 And he gave them another story, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who put good seed in his field:

25 But while men were sleeping, one who had hate for him came and put evil seeds among the grain, and went away.

26 But when the green stem came up and gave fruit, the evil plants were seen at the same time.

27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not put good seed in your field? how then has it evil plants?

28 And he said, Someone has done this in hate. And the servants say to him, Is it your pleasure that we go and take them up?

29 But he says, No, for fear that by chance while you take up the evil plants, you may be rooting up the grain with them.

30 Let them come up together till the getting in of the grain; and then I will say to the workers, Take up first the evil plants, and put them together for burning: but put the grain into my store-house.

31 He put another story before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his field:

32 Which is smaller than all seeds; but when it has come up it is greater than the plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and make their resting-places in its branches.

33 Another story he gave to them: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and put in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.

34 All these things Jesus said to the people in the form of stories; and without a story he said nothing to them:

35 That it might come true which was said by the prophet, Opening my mouth, I will give out stories; I will give knowledge of things kept secret from before all time.

36 Then he went away from the people, and went into the house; and his disciples came to him, saying, Make clear to us the story of the evil plants in the field.

37 And he made answer and said, He who puts the good seed in the earth is the Son of man;

38 And the field is the world; and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom; and the evil seeds are the sons of the Evil One;

39 And he who put them in the earth is Satan; and the getting in of the grain is the end of the world; and those who get it in are the angels.

40 As then the evil plants are got together and burned with fire, so will it be in the end of the world.

41 The Son of man will send out his angels, and they will take out of his kingdom everything which is a cause of error, and all those who do wrong,

42 And will put them into the fire; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.

43 Then will the upright be shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him give ear.

44 The kingdom of heaven is like a secret store of wealth in a field, which a man came across and put back again; and in his joy he goes and gives all he has, to get that field.

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader searching for beautiful jewels.

46 And having come across one jewel of great price, he went and gave all he had in exchange for it.

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, which was put into the sea and took in every sort of fish:

48 When it was full, they took it up on the sands; and seated there they put the good into vessels, but the bad they put away.

49 So will it be in the end of the world: the angels will come and take out the bad from the good,

50 And will put them into the fire: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.

51 Are all these things now clear to you? They say to him, Yes.

52 And he said to them, For this reason every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who gives out from his store things new and old.

53 And when Jesus had come to the end of these stories he went away from there.

54 And coming into his country, he gave them teaching in their Synagogue, so that they were greatly surprised and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these works of power?

55 Is not this the woodworker's son? is not his mother named Mary? and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? from where, then, has he all these things?

57 And they were bitter against him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is nowhere without honour but in his country and among his family.

58 And the works of power which he did there were small in number because they had no faith.

The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.

1 At that time news of Jesus came to Herod the king;

2 And he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has come back from the dead, and so these powers are working in him.

3 For Herod had taken John and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

4 Because John had said to him, It is not right for you to have her.

5 And he would have put him to death, but for his fear of the people, because in their eyes John was a prophet.

6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias was dancing before them, and Herod was pleased with her.

7 So he gave her his word with an oath to let her have whatever she might make request for.

8 And she, at her mother's suggestion, said, Give me here on a plate the head of John the Baptist.

9 And the king was sad; but because of his oaths and because of his guests, he gave the order for it to be given to her;

10 And he sent and had John's head cut off in the prison.

11 And his head was put on a plate and given to the girl; and she took it to her mother.

12 And his disciples came, and took up his body and put it in the earth; and they went and gave Jesus news of what had taken place.

13 Now when it came to the ears of Jesus, he went away from there in a boat, to a waste place by himself: and the people hearing of it, went after him on foot from the towns.

14 And he came out and saw a great number of people and he had pity on them, and made well those of them who were ill.

15 And when evening had come, the disciples came to him, saying, This place is waste land, and the time is now past; send the people away so that they may go into the towns and get themselves food.

16 But Jesus said to them, There is no need for them to go away; give them food yourselves.

17 And they say to him, We have here but five cakes of bread and two fishes.

18 And he said, Give them to me.

19 And he gave orders for the people to be seated on the grass; and he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing, and made division of the food, and gave it to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the people.

20 And they all took of the food and had enough: and they took up twelve baskets full of broken bits which were not used.

21 And those who had food were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.

22 And straight away he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, till he had sent the people away.

23 And after he had sent the people away, he went up into the mountain by himself for prayer: and when evening was come, he was there by himself.

24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, and was troubled by the waves: for the wind was against them.

25 And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

26 And when they saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they gave cries of fear.

27 But straight away Jesus said to them, Take heart; it is I, have no fear.

28 And Peter, answering, said to him, Lord, if it is you, give me the order to come to you on the water.

29 And he said, Come. And Peter got out of the boat, and walking on the water, went to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind he was in fear and, starting to go down, he gave a cry, saying, Help, Lord.

31 And straight away Jesus put out his hand and took a grip of him, and said to him, O man of little faith, why were you in doubt?

32 And when they had got into the boat, the wind went down.

33 And those who were in the boat gave him worship, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.

34 And when they had gone across, they came to land at Gennesaret.

35 And when the men of that place had news of him, they sent into all the country round about, and took to him all who were ill,

36 With the request that they might only put their hands on the edge of his robe: and all those who did so were made well.