Matthew

¹Jesus¹⁴⁰ called to himself his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and sickness. ²The names of the Twelve apostles are: first, Simon, who is called Peter; Andrew, his brother; James the son of Zebedee; John, his brother; ³Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James [the son] of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, the one called¹⁴¹ Thaddaeus;^{142 4}Simon the Canaanite;¹⁴³ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

⁵Jesus sent these Twelve out and gave them this instruction: “Do not go among the Gentiles and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans. ⁶Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, preach and say: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ ⁸Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead¹⁴⁴, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, give freely as well. ⁹Do not take any gold, silver or brass in your money belts. ¹⁰Do not take a bag for your journey, or two coats, or shoes, or staff: the one who works is worthy of his food. ¹¹As you enter any city or village, find out who is worthy and stay there until you go on. ¹²As you enter into the household, greet it, saying, “”‘Peace be to this house.’^{145 13}If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴If some place does not receive you and does not hear your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you depart from that house or that city. ¹⁵Amen, I tell you: in the day of judgment, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city.

Persecutions—Sheep among wolves

¹⁶Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves! Therefore, be wise as serpents, and yet innocent as doves. ¹⁷But beware of men: they will hand you over to councils and in their synagogues, they will flog you. ¹⁸Yes, you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as witnesses to them and to the nations. ¹⁹When they arrest you, do not worry about what you will say; what you are to say will be given you in that hour. ²⁰Indeed, it is not you who [shall] speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. ²²You will be hated by all for my Name’s sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³Nevertheless, when they persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen, I tell you: you will not have finished going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.¹⁴⁶

²⁴A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. ²⁵It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the slave like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,¹⁴⁷ how much more those of his household! ²⁶Therefore, do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and nothing hidden that will not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸Do not be afraid of those who [can] kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.¹⁴⁸

²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin¹⁴⁹? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, ³⁰but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Therefore, do not be afraid! You are of more value than many sparrows! ³²Whoever confesses me before men I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. ³³But whoever denies me in front of others I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Not peace but the sword

³⁴Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth! I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵Indeed, I came to set a son against his father, a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶A man’s enemies will be members¹⁵⁰ of his own household.¹⁵¹

Requirements for discipleship—Rewards

³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸Whoever does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. ³⁹The one who saves¹⁵² his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will obtain it. ⁴⁰Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever receives a righteous person because of this person’s righteousness will receive the reward of the righteous. ⁴²Amen, I tell you that whoever gives one of these little ones even just a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple will in no way lose his reward.”

Message from John the Baptist—The Lord bears witness to John

140. Greek “he”
141. CT omits “Lebbaeus, whose surname was”
142. Identified with Jude (Judas/Judah) [son of/brother of] James in Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13
143. That is, “from Cana”—CT reads “the Zealot” (which is a similar but different Greek word)
144. MT and other ancient manuscripts (L, Θ) omit “raise the dead”
145. Other manuscripts omit “saying peace be to this house”
146. Widely believed to be a reference to Pentecost or the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
147. See Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15
148. Or “hell”
149. An assarion was a small coin worth one tenth of a drachma or a sixteenth of a denarius. It was approximately the wages of one half hour of agricultural labor.
150. Or “people”
151. Micah 7:6
152. Or “secures”