The Gospel of Matthew: part 3

The Gospel of  Matthew: part 3 - 

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Chapter 14

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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;

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

And he said, Give them to me.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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,

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.

Chapter 15

Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying,

Why do your disciples go against the teaching of the fathers? for they take food with unwashed hands.

And in answer he said to them, Why do you, yourselves, go against the word of God on account of the teaching which has been handed down to you?

For God said, Give honour to your father and mother: and, He who says evil of father or mother will be put to death.

But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, That by which you might have had profit from me is given to God;

There is no need for him to give honour to his father. And you have made the word of God without effect because of your teaching.

You false ones, well did Isaiah say of you,

These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.

And he got the people together and said to them, Give ear, and let my words be clear to you:

Not that which goes into the mouth makes a man unclean, but that which comes out of the mouth.

Then the disciples came and said to him, Did you see that the Pharisees were troubled when these words came to their ears?

But he said in answer, Every plant which my Father in heaven has not put in the earth, will be taken up by the roots.

Let them be: they are blind guides. And if a blind man is guiding a blind man, the two will go falling into a hole together.

Then Peter said to him, Make the story clear to us.

And he said, Are you, like them, still without wisdom?

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth goes on into the stomach, and is sent out as waste?

But the things which come out of the mouth come from the heart; and they make a man unclean.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, the taking of life, broken faith between the married, unclean desires of the flesh, taking of property, false witness, bitter words:

These are the things which make a man unclean; but to take food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.

And Jesus went away from there into the country of Tyre and Sidon.

And a woman of Canaan came out from those parts, crying and saying, Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is greatly troubled with an unclean spirit.

But he gave her no answer. And his disciples came and said to him, Send her away, for she is crying after us.

But he made answer and said, I was sent only to the wandering sheep of the house of Israel.

But she came and gave him worship, saying, Help, Lord.

And he made answer and said, It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.

But she said, Yes, Lord: but even the dogs take the bits from under their masters’ table.

Then Jesus, answering, said to her, O woman, great is your faith: let your desire be done. And her daughter was made well from that hour.

And Jesus went from there and came to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and took his seat there.

And there came to him great numbers of people having with them those who were broken in body, or blind, or without voice, or wounded, or ill in any way, and a number of others; they put them down at his feet and he made them well:

So that the people were full of wonder when they saw that those who had no voice were talking, the feeble were made strong, those whose bodies were broken had the power of walking, and the blind were able to see: and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

And Jesus got his disciples together and said, I have pity for the people, because they have now been with me three days and have no food: and I will not send them away without food, or they will have no strength for the journey.

And the disciples say to him, How may we get enough bread in a waste place, to give food to such a number of people?

And Jesus says to them, How much bread have you? And they said, Seven cakes, and some small fishes.

Then he gave an order to the people to be seated on the earth,

And he took the seven cakes of bread and the fishes; and having given praise, he gave the broken bread to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the people.

And they all took food, and had enough; and they took up of the broken bits, seven baskets full.

And there were four thousand men who took food, together with women and children.

And when he had sent the people away, he got into the boat, and came into the country of Magadan.

Chapter 16

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, made a request to him to give them a sign from heaven.

But in answer he said to them, At nightfall you say, The weather will be good, for the sky is red.

And in the morning, The weather will be bad today, for the sky is red and angry. You are able to see the face of heaven, but not the signs of the times.

An evil and false generation is searching after a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. And he went away from them.

And when the disciples came to the other side they had not taken thought to get bread.

And Jesus said to them, Take care to have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, We took no bread.

And Jesus, seeing it, said, O you of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, because you have no bread?

Do you still not see, or keep in mind the five cakes of bread of the five thousand, and the number of baskets you took up?

Or the seven cakes of bread of the four thousand, and the number of baskets you took up?

How is it that you do not see that I was not talking to you about bread, but about keeping away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Then they saw that it was not the leaven of bread which he had in mind, but the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Now when Jesus had come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he said, questioning his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of man is?

And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

He says to them, But who do you say that I am?

And Simon Peter made answer and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven.

And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock will my church be based, and the doors of hell will not overcome it.

I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever is fixed by you on earth will be fixed in heaven: and whatever you make free on earth will be made free in heaven.

Then he gave orders to the disciples to give no man word that he was the Christ.

From that time Jesus went on to make clear to his disciples how he would have to go up to Jerusalem, and undergo much at the hands of those in authority and the chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and the third day come again from the dead.

And Peter, protesting, said to him, Be it far from you, Lord; it is impossible that this will come about.

But he, turning to Peter, said, Get out of my way, Satan: you are a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross, and come after me.

Because whoever has a desire to keep his life safe will have it taken from him; but whoever gives up his life because of me, will have it given back to him.

For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

For the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he will give to every man the reward of his works.

Truly I say to you, There are some of those here who will not have a taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Chapter 17

And after six days Jesus takes with him Peter, and James, and John, his brother, and makes them go up with him into a high mountain by themselves.

And he was changed in form before them; and his face was shining like the sun, and his clothing became white as light.

And Moses and Elijah came before their eyes, talking with him.

And Peter made answer and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will let me, I will make here three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

While he was still talking, a bright cloud came over them: and a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased; give ear to him.

And at these words the disciples went down on their faces in great fear.

And Jesus came and put his hand on them and said, Get up and have no fear.

And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, but Jesus only.

And when they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus gave them orders, saying, Let no man have word of what you have seen, till the Son of man has come again from the dead.

And his disciples, questioning him, said, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?

And in answer he said, Elijah truly has to come and put all things right:

But I say to you that Elijah has come, and they had no knowledge of him, but did to him whatever they were pleased to do; the same will the Son of man undergo at their hands.

Then the disciples saw that he was talking to them of John the Baptist.

And when they came to the people, a man went down on his knees to him, saying,

Lord have mercy on my son: for he is off his head, and is in great pain; and frequently he goes falling into the fire, and frequently into the water.

And I took him to your disciples, and they were not able to make him well.

And Jesus, answering, said, O false and foolish generation, how long will I be with you? how long will I put up with you? let him come here to me.

And Jesus gave orders to the unclean spirit, and it went out of him: and the boy was made well from that hour.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, Why were we not able to send it out?

And he says to them, Because of your little faith: for truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Be moved from this place to that; and it will be moved; and nothing will be impossible to you.

And while they were going about in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of man will be given up into the hands of men;

And they will put him to death, and the third day he will come again from the dead. And they were very sad.

And when they had come to Capernaum, those who took the Temple tax came to Peter and said, Does not your master make payment of the Temple tax?

He says, Yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus said to him, What is your opinion, Simon? from whom do the kings of the earth get payment or tax? from their sons or from other people?

And when he said, From other people, Jesus said to him, Then are the sons free.

But, so that we may not be a cause of trouble to them, go to the sea, and let down a hook, and take the first fish which comes up; and in his mouth you will see a bit of money: take that, and give it to them for me and you.

Chapter 18

In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And he took a little child, and put him in the middle of them,

And said, Truly, I say to you, If you do not have a change of heart and become like little children, you will not go into the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever, then, will make himself as low as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever gives honour to one such little child in my name, gives honour to me:

But whoever is a cause of trouble to one of these little ones who have faith in me, it would be better for him to have a great stone fixed to his neck, and to come to his end in the deep sea.

A curse is on the earth because of trouble! for it is necessary for trouble to come; but unhappy is that man through whom the trouble comes.

And if your hand or your foot is a cause of trouble, let it be cut off and put it away from you: it is better for you to go into life with the loss of a hand or a foot than, having two hands or two feet, to go into the eternal fire.

And if your eye is a cause of trouble to you, take it out, and put it away from you: it is better for you to go into life with one eye than, having two eyes, to go into the hell of fire.

Let it not seem to you that one of these little ones is of no value; for I say to you that in heaven their angels see at all times the face of my Father in heaven.

What would you say now? if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone wandering away, will he not let the ninety-nine be, and go to the mountains in search of the wandering one?

And if he comes across it, truly I say to you, he has more joy over it than over the ninety-nine which have not gone out of the way.

Even so it is not the pleasure of your Father in heaven for one of these little ones to come to destruction.

And if your brother does wrong to you, go, make clear to him his error between you and him in private: if he gives ear to you, you have got your brother back again.

But if he will not give ear to you, take with you one or two more, that by the lips of two or three witnesses every word may be made certain.

And if he will not give ear to them, let it come to the hearing of the church: and if he will not give ear to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-farmer.

Truly I say to you, Whatever things are fixed by you on earth will be fixed in heaven: and whatever you make free on earth will be made free in heaven.

Again, I say to you, that if two of you are in agreement on earth about anything for which they will make a request, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three are come together in my name, there am I among them.

Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, what number of times may my brother do wrong against me, and I give him forgiveness? till seven times?

Jesus says to him, I say not to you, Till seven times; but, Till seventy times seven.

For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king, who went over his accounts with his servants.

And at the start, one came to him who was in his debt for ten thousand talents.

And because he was not able to make payment, his lord gave orders for him, and his wife, and his sons and daughters, and all he had, to be given for money, and payment to be made.

So the servant went down on his face and gave him worship, saying, Lord, give me time to make payment and I will give you all.

And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go, and made him free of the debt.

But that servant went out, and meeting one of the other servants, who was in debt to him for one hundred pence, he took him by the throat, saying, Make payment of your debt.

So that servant went down on his face, requesting him and saying, Give me time and I will make payment to you.

And he would not: but went and put him into prison till he had made payment of the debt.

So when the other servants saw what was done they were very sad, and came and gave word to their lord of what had been done.

Then his lord sent for him and said, You evil servant; I made you free of all that debt, because of your request to me:

Was it not right for you to have mercy on the other servant, even as I had mercy on you?

And his lord was very angry, and put him in the hands of those who would give him punishment till he made payment of all the debt.

So will my Father in heaven do to you, if you do not everyone, from your hearts, give forgiveness to his brother.

Chapter 19

And it came about that after saying these words, Jesus went away from Galilee, and came into the parts of Judaea on the other side of Jordan.

And a great number went after him; and he made them well there.

And certain Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, Is it right for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

And he said in answer, Have you not seen in the Writings, that he who made them at the first made them male and female, and said,

For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two will become one flesh?

So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Then let not that which has been joined by God be parted by man.

They say to him, Why then did Moses give orders that a husband might give her a statement in writing and be free from her?

He says to them, Moses, because of your hard hearts, let you put away your wives: but it has not been so from the first.

And I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife for any other cause than the loss of her virtue, and takes another, is a false husband: and he who takes her as his wife when she is put away, is no true husband to her.

The disciples say to him, If this is the position of a man in relation to his wife, it is better not to be married.

But he said to them, Not all men are able to take in this saying, but only those to whom it is given.

For there are men who, from birth, were without sex: and there are some who were made so by men: and there are others who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to take it, let him take it.

Then some people took little children to him, so that he might put his hands on them in blessing: and the disciples said sharp words to them.

But Jesus said, Let the little ones come to me, and do not keep them away: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

And he put his hands on them, and went away.

And one came to him and said, Master, what good thing have I to do, so that I may have eternal life?

And he said to him, Why are you questioning me about what is good? One there is who is good: but if you have a desire to go into life, keep the rules of the law.

He says to him, Which? And Jesus said, Do not put anyone to death, Do not be untrue in married life, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness,

Give honour to your father and your mother: and, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself.

The young man says to him, All these things have I done: what more is there?

Jesus said to him, If you have a desire to be complete, go, get money for your property, and give it to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven: and come after me.

But hearing these words the young man went away sorrowing: for he had much property.

And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, It is hard for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say to you, It is simpler for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of God.

And the disciples, hearing this, were greatly surprised, saying, Who then may have salvation?

And Jesus, looking at them, said, With men this is not possible; but with God all things are possible.

Then Peter said to him, See, we have given up everything and have come after you; what then will we have?

And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that in the time when all things are made new, and the Son of man is seated in his glory, you who have come after me will be seated on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has given up houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or child, or land, for my name, will be given a hundred times as much, and have eternal life.

But a great number who are first will be last, and some who are last will be first.

Chapter 20

For the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house, who went out early in the morning to get workers into his vine-garden.

And when he had made an agreement with the workmen for a penny a day, he sent them into his vine-garden.

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others in the market-place doing nothing;

And he said to them, Go into the vine-garden with the others, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went to work.

Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same.

And about the eleventh hour he went out and saw others doing nothing; and he says to them, Why are you here all the day doing nothing?

They say to him, Because no man has given us work. He says to them, Go in with the rest, into the vine-garden.

And when evening came, the lord of the vine-garden said to his manager, Let the workers come, and give them their payment, from the last to the first.

And when those men came who had gone to work at the eleventh hour, they were given every man a penny.

Then those who came first had the idea that they would get more; and they, like the rest, were given a penny.

And when they got it, they made a protest against the master of the house,

Saying, These last have done only one hour’s work, and you have made them equal to us, who have undergone the hard work of the day and the burning heat.

But he in answer said to one of them, Friend, I do you no wrong: did you not make an agreement with me for a penny?

Take what is yours, and go away; it is my pleasure to give to this last, even as to you.

Have I not the right to do as seems good to me in my house? or is your eye evil, because I am good?

So the last will be first, and the first last.

And when Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples on one side, and said to them,

See, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be given into the hands of the chief priests and scribes; and they will give orders for him to be put to death,

And will give him up to the Gentiles to be made sport of and to be whipped and to be put to death on the cross: and the third day he will come back again from the dead.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, giving him worship and making a request of him.

And he said to her, What is your desire? She says to him, Let my two sons be seated, the one at your right hand, and the other at your left, in your kingdom.

But Jesus made answer and said, You have no idea what you are requesting. Are you able to take of the cup which I am about to take?

They say to him, We are able. He says to them, Truly, you will take of my cup: but to be seated at my right hand and at my left is not for me to give, but it is for those for whom my Father has made it ready.

And when it came to the ears of the ten, they were angry with the two brothers.

But Jesus said to them, You see that the rulers of the Gentiles are lords over them, and their great ones have authority over them.

Let it not be so among you: but if anyone has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant;

And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place:

Even as the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

And when they were going out from Jericho, a great number went after him.

And two blind men seated by the wayside, when they had the news that Jesus was going by, gave a loud cry, saying, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.

And the people gave them orders to be quiet; but they went on crying even louder, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.

And Jesus, stopping, sent for them, and said, What would you have me do to you?

They say to him, Lord, that our eyes may be open.

And Jesus, being moved with pity, put his fingers on their eyes: and straight away they were able to see, and went after him.