Matthew 12:38-15:20

^12:38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

³⁹ But he answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The people of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah; and look, something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, someone greater than Solomon is here. ⁴³ But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the person, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that person becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”

⁴⁶ While he was yet speaking to the crowds, look, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Then one said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

⁴⁸ But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ And he stretched out his hand towards his talmidim, and said, “Look, my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

^13:1 On that day Yeshua went out of the house, and sat by the seaside. ² And large crowds gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Look, a farmer went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ And others fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Still others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹⁰ Then the talmidim came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

¹¹ And answering, he said to them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it is not given to them. ¹² For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever does not have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing, they do not hear, neither do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘In hearing you will hear, but will not understand, and seeing you will see, but not perceive.
¹⁵ For the heart of this people has grown dull, and their ears are sluggish in hearing, and they have closed their eyes,
otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn back, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you that many prophets and righteous people desired to see the things which you see, and did not see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.

18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. ²⁰ And what was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² And what was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ And what was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who truly bears fruit, and brings forth, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

²⁴ He set another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while everyone slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also. ²⁷ So the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did these tares come from?’

²⁸ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“And the servants asked him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them up?’

²⁹ “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

³¹ He set another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; ³² which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

³³ He spoke another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

³⁴ Yeshua spoke all these things in parables to the crowds; and without a parable, he did not speak to them, ³⁵ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the beginning of the world.”

³⁶ Then Yeshua sent the crowds away, and went into the house. His talmidim came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.”

³⁷ And he answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, ³⁸ and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the tares are the children of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, ⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the grinding of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind, ⁴⁸ which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹ So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come forth, and separate the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the grinding of teeth. ⁵¹ Have you understood all these things?”

They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

⁵² And he said to them, “Therefore, every scribe who has been made a talmid in the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

⁵³ And it happened that when Yeshua had finished these parables, he departed from there. ⁵⁴ And coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Miriam, and his brothers, Jacob and Joseph and Simon and Judah? ⁵⁶ And are not all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?” ⁵⁷ And they were offended by him.

But Yeshua said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

^14:1 At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Yeshua, ² and said to his servants, “This is John the Immerser. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.” ³ For Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴ For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ And though he wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd because they regarded him as a prophet. ⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod. ⁷ Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. ⁸ And she, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Immerser.”

⁹ And the king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given, ¹⁰ and he sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter, and given to the young woman: and she brought it to her mother. ¹² Then his talmidim came, and took the dead body, and buried him; and they went and told Yeshua. ¹³ Now when Yeshua heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a secluded place to be alone. When the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.

¹⁴ And he went out, and he saw a large crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵ Now when evening had come, the talmidim came to him, saying, “This place is desolate, and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Yeshua said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸ So he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, broke and gave the loaves to the talmidim, and the talmidim gave to the crowds. ²⁰ And they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of that which remained left over from the broken pieces. ²¹ Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²² And immediately he made the talmidim get into the boat and to go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away. ²³ And after he had sent the crowds away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone. ²⁴ But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, battered by the waves, for the wind was against it. ²⁵ And in the watch between three and six in the morning, he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when the talmidim saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost.” and they screamed with fear. ²⁷ But immediately Yeshua spoke to them, saying “Cheer up. It is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”

²⁹ He said, “Come.”

Peter stepped down from the boat, and walked on the water and went toward Yeshua. ³⁰ But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he yelled, saying, “Lord, save me.”

³¹ Immediately Yeshua stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God.”

³⁴ When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵ When the people of that place recognized him, they sent into all that surrounding region, and brought to him all who were sick, ³⁶ and they begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. And all who touched it were healed.

^15:1 Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Yeshua from Jerusalem, saying, ² “Why do your talmidim disobey the Tradition of the Elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³ And he answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ You have made the word of God void because of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips;
but their heart is far from me.
⁹ And in vain do they worship me,
teaching instructions that are the commandments of humans.'”

¹⁰ He summoned the crowd, and said to them, “Hear, and understand. ¹¹ That which enters into the mouth does not defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the talmidim came, and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?”

¹³ But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵ And answering, Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶ So he said, “Do you also still not understand? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”