Matthew 10; Matthew 11; Matthew 12

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Matthew 10

1 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee;

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

4 Simon the Patriot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

5 These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions: "Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns.

6 Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.

7 Go and preach, "The Kingdom of heaven is near!'

8 Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid.

9 Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper money in your pockets;

10 do not carry a beggar's bag for the trip or an extra shirt or shoes or a walking stick. Workers should be given what they need.

11 "When you come to a town or village, go in and look for someone who is willing to welcome you, and stay with him until you leave that place.

12 When you go into a house, say, "Peace be with you.'

13 If the people in that house welcome you, let your greeting of peace remain; but if they do not welcome you, then take back your greeting.

14 And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet.

15 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than to the people of that town!

16 "Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves.

17 Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues.

18 For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles.

19 When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say.

20 For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 "People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.

22 Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

23 When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 "No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.

25 So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

26 "So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known.

27 What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops.

28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

29 For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent.

30 As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted.

31 So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

32 "Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven.

33 But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven.

34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law;

36 your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.

37 "Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples.

38 Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples.

39 Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.

40 "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

41 Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward.

42 You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward."

Matthew 11

1 When Jesus finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he left that place and went off to teach and preach in the towns near there.

2 When John the Baptist heard in prison about the things that Christ was doing, he sent some of his disciples to him.

3 "Tell us," they asked Jesus, "are you the one John said was going to come, or should we expect someone else?"

4 Jesus answered, "Go back and tell John what you are hearing and seeing:

5 the blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor.

6 How happy are those who have no doubts about me!"

7 While John's disciples were leaving, Jesus spoke about him to the crowds: "When you went out to John in the desert, what did you expect to see? A blade of grass bending in the wind?

8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that live in palaces!

9 Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.

10 For John is the one of whom the scripture says: "God said, I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'

11 I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John.

12 From the time John preached his message until this very day the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violent attacks, and violent men try to seize it.

13 Until the time of John all the prophets and the Law of Moses spoke about the Kingdom;

14 and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted.

15 Listen, then, if you have ears!

16 "Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other,

17 "We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn't dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn't cry!'

18 When John came, he fasted and drank no wine, and everyone said, "He has a demon in him!'

19 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, "Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results."

20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

21 "How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins!

22 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon than to you!

23 And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would still be in existence today!

24 You can be sure that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to you!"

25 At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.

26 Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.

27 "My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest.

30 For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."

Matthew 12

1 Not long afterward Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick heads of wheat and eat the grain.

2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, "Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath!"

3 Jesus answered, "Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry?

4 He went into the house of God, and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the Law for them to eat it - only the priests were allowed to eat that bread.

5 Or have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the Temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty?

6 I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple.

7 The scripture says, "It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.' If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty;

8 for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

9 Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue,

10 where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they asked him, "Is it against our Law to heal on the Sabbath?"

11 Jesus answered, "What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath? Will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

12 And a human being is worth much more than a sheep! So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath."

13 Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one.

14 Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

15 When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick

16 and gave them orders not to tell others about him.

17 He did this so as to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah:

18 "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgment to the nations.

19 He will not argue or shout, or make loud speeches in the streets.

20 He will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp. He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,

21 and on him all peoples will put their hope."

22 Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see.

23 The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. "Could he be the Son of David?" they asked.

24 When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

25 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and so he said to them, "Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.

26 So if one group is fighting another in Satan's kingdom, this means that it is already divided into groups and will soon fall apart!

27 You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong!

28 No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.

29 "No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

30 "Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.

31 For this reason I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

32 Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven - now or ever.

33 "To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears.

34 You snakes - how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

35 A good person brings good things out of a treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of a treasure of bad things.

36 "You can be sure that on the Judgment Day you will have to give account of every useless word you have ever spoken.

37 Your words will be used to judge you - to declare you either innocent or guilty."

38 Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. "Teacher," they said, "we want to see you perform a miracle."

39 "How evil and godless are the people of this day!" Jesus exclaimed. "You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah.

40 In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth.

41 On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah!

42 On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she traveled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!

43 "When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one,

44 it says to itself, "I will go back to my house.' So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all fixed up.

45 Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."

46 Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him.

47 So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."

48 Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!

50 Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

Matthew 10; Matthew 11; Matthew 12

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Matthew 10

Matthew 11

Matthew 12