Matthew 10:16-25

Persecution Will Come

16 ¹“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be ²wise as serpents and ³innocent as doves.

17 Beware of men, for ⁴they will deliver you over to courts and flog you ⁵in their synagogues,

18 ⁶and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, ⁷to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

19 ⁸When ⁹they deliver you over, ¹⁰do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for ¹¹what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

20 ¹²For it is not you who speak, but ¹³the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 ¹⁴Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,

22 ¹⁵and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. ¹⁶But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

23 When they ¹⁷persecute you in one town, ¹⁸flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel ¹⁹before the Son of Man comes.

24 ²⁰“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant^[a] above his master.

25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. ²¹If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign^[b] those of his household.

Cross References

• 1. 10:16 Luke 10:3; [John 17:18]
• 2. 10:16 Gen. 3:1
• 3. 10:16 Rom. 16:19 (Gk.); Phil. 2:15; [1 Cor. 14:20]
• 4. 10:17 See Mark 13:9, 11; Luke 12:11, 12
• 5. 10:17 See ch. 23:34
• 6. 10:18 [See ver. 17 above]
• 7. 10:18 See ch. 8:4
• 8. 10:19 [See ver. 17 above]
• 9. 10:19 For ver. 19-22, [Mark 13:11-13; Luke 21:12-19; 2 Tim. 4:16, 17]
• 10. 10:19 See ch. 6:25
• 11. 10:19 Deut. 18:18; [Num. 23:5]; See Ex. 4:12
• 12. 10:20 Luke 12:12; Acts 4:8; 6:10; 13:9; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 13:3; [ver. 40; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 1:1]
• 13. 10:20 [John 15:26]
• 14. 10:21 ver. 35, 36
• 15. 10:22 ch. 24:9; John 15:18-21
• 16. 10:22 ch. 24:13; Mark 13:13; [Dan. 12:12, 13; James 5:11; Rev. 2:10]; See Heb. 3:6
• 17. 10:23 ch. 23:34
• 18. 10:23 [ch. 12:15; Acts 8:1; 9:25, 30; 14:6; 17:10, 14]
• 19. 10:23 ch. 16:28
• 20. 10:24 Luke 6:40; John 13:16; 15:20; [Heb. 12:3]
• 21. 10:25 ch. 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15; See John 7:20

Footnotes

• [a] 10:24 Greek 'bondservant'; also verse 25
• [b] 10:25 Greek lacks 'will they malign'