1 MEANWHILE, as the myriads of the crowd were thronging together so that they trod down one another, he began and said to his disciples first, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.

2 For nothing is covered up which will not be revealed, nor secret which will not be known.

3 Whatever you have said in darkness will, on the contrary, be heard in the light, and what you have spoken into the ear in inner moms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

4 I tell you, my friends, never fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

5 But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I say, fear him.

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

7 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Never fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.

8 But I tell you every one who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man confess before the angels of God.

9 And he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

10 Every one who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who says profane words against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11 When they bring you in before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not be anxious about how to defend yourselves or what to say.

12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you must say."

13 One out of the crowd said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

14 But he said, "Man, who appointed me judge or divider over you?"

15 He said to them, "See to it and be on your guard against every form of covetousness, for not even when one has a superabundance is his life from the things he owns."

16 He gave them an illustration, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded abundantly.

17 He debated within himself, saying, 'What shall I do? for I have no place to store my crops.'

18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and will build larger ones, and there I will store all my wheat and my goods;

19 and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry!'

20 But God said to him, 'Foolish man, this night your soul will be required of you; and the things that you have prepared \'97 whose will they be?'

21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

22 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, never worry about your life, what you are to eat, nor about your body, what you are to put on.

23 For the life is more than the food and the body is more than the clothing.

24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have neither granary nor barn; yet God feeds them. How much more you are worth than the birds!

25 Which of you can by worrying add a foot to his height?

26 If you cannot do the least, why do you worry about the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they neither spin nor weave. Yet I tell you even Solomon in all his splendor was not arrayed like one of these.

28 But if God so clothes the herbage which to-day is in the field and to-morrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!

29 Do not seek after something to eat and something to drink, and do not be agitated by cares.

30 For these things all the nations of the world are seeking after.

31 But strive for his kingdom and these things will be provided for you.

32 Never fear, little flock! For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33 Sell what you have and give gifts of mercy. Make for yourselves purses that never grow old, an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief approaches nor moth consumes;

34 for where your treasure is there your heart will be.

35 Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning;

36 and be like men expecting their Master when he returns from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

37 Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when he comes, will find watching! Truly I tell you he will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

38 If he comes in the second watch or in the third watch and finds them so, blessed are they!

39 But know this, if the householder had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

40 And you be ready, for in an hour that you do not think the Son of Man is coming."

41 Peter said, "Master, do you intend this illustration for us or for all?"

42 The Master said, "Who then is the faithful, the wise, manager whom the master will appoint over his establishment to give out rations at the proper time?

43 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing!

44 I tell you truly he will appoint him over all his possessions.

45 But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master will be long in coming,' and begins to strike the men servants and the maids and to eat and drink and get drunk,

46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not expecting and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unfaithful.

47 That servant who knew his master's will and is not ready, and has not done according to his will, will be beaten with many lashes.

48 But he who did not know and yet has done things worthy of lashes will be beaten with few. From every one to whom much was given, much will be required, and from him to whom they have committed much, men will ask the more.

49 "I came to cast fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled?

50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I distressed until it is accomplished!

51 Do you think that I came to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but dissension.

52 There will be from now on five in one house split into parties, three against two and two against three,

53 father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

54 He said also to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens.

55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be burning heat,' and so it happens.

56 Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky, why do you not interpret this crisis?

57 Why do you not of yourselves judge correctly?

58 As you are going with your opponent to the magistrate, take pains on the road to get free from him, so that he may not drag you before the judge and the judge deliver you to the officer and the officer cast you into prison.

59 I tell you you will not come out until you pay in full to the last penny."