- katapi - New Study Bible ... by URL bible references -
| DB1 | New English Bible
31 ABOUT THIS TIME John the Baptist appeared as a preacher in the Judaean wilderness; 2 his theme was: 'Repent; for the kingdom of Heaven is upon you!' 3 It is of him that the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them: 'You vipers' brood! Who warned you to escape from the coming retribution? 8 Then prove your repentance by the fruit it bears; 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father." I tell you that God can make children for Abraham out of these stones here. 10 Already the axe is laid to the roots of the trees; and every tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. 11 I baptize you with water, for repentance; but the one who comes after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to take off his shoes;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His shovel is ready in his hand and he will winnow his threshing-floor; the wheat he will gather into his granary, but he will burn the chaff on a fire that can never go out.'
13 Then Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Galilee, and came to John to be baptized by him. 14 John tried to dissuade him. 'Do you come to me?' he said; 'I need rather to be baptized by you.' 15 Jesus replied, 'Let it be so for the present; we do well to conform in this way with all that God requires.' John then allowed him to come. 16 After baptism Jesus came up out of the water at once, and at that moment heaven opened; he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove to alight upon him; 17 and a voice from heaven was heard saying, 'This is my Son, my Beloved, on whom my favour rests.'
41 JESUS WAS THEN led away by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.
2 For forty days and nights he fasted, and at the end of them he was famished. 3 The tempter approached him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.' 4 Jesus answered, 'Scripture says,
8 Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. 9 'All these', he said, 'I will give you, if you will only fall down and do me homage.' 10 But Jesus said, 'Begone, Satan; Scripture says,
12 When he heard that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew to Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth he went and settled at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, in the district of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was in fulfilment of the passage in the prophet Isaiah which tells of 15 'the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphrali, the road by the sea, the land beyond Jordan, heathen Galilee', and says:
18 JESUS WAS WALKING by the Sea of Galilee when is he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the lake; for they were fishermen. 19 Jesus said to them, 'Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men.' 20 They left their nets at once and followed him.
21 He went on, and saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in the boat with their father Zebedee, overhauling their nets. He called them, 22 and at once they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
23 He went round the whole of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and curing whatever illness or infirmity there was among the people. 24 His fame reached the whole of Syria; and sufferers from every kind of illness, racked with pain, possessed by devils, epileptic, or Plysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them. 25 Great crowds also followed him, from Galilee and the Ten Towns, from Jerusalem and Judaea, and from Trans-jordan.
13 You are salt to the world. And if salt becomes tasteless, how is its saltness to be restored? It is now good for nothing but to be thrown away and trodden underfoot.'
14 You are light for all the world. A town that stands on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 When a lamp is lit, it is not put under the meal-tub, but on the lamp-stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 And you, like the lamp, must shed light among your fellows, so that, when they see the good you do, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.
17 DO NOT SUPPOSE that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete.
18 I tell you this: so long as heaven and is earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has happened.
19 If any man therefore sets aside even the least of the Law's demands, and teaches others to do the same, he will have the lowest place in the kingdom of Heaven, whereas anyone who keeps the Law and teaches others so will stand high in the kingdom of Heaven.
20 I tell you, unless you show yourselves far better men than the Pharisees and the doctors of the law, you can never enter the kingdom of Heaven.
21 You have learned that our forefathers were told, "Do not commit murder; anyone who commits murder must be brought to judgement." 22 But what I tell you is this: Anyone who nurses anger against his brother must be brought to judgement. If he abuses his brother he must answer for it to the court; if he sneers at him he will have to answer for it in the fires of hell.'
23 If, when you are bringing your gift to the altar, you suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you, 24 leave your gift where it is before the altar. First go and make your peace with your brother, and only then come back and offer your gift.
25 'If someone sues you, come to terms with him promptly while you are both on your way to court; otherwise he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the constable, and you will be put in jail. 26 I tell you, once you are there you will not be let out till you have paid the last farthing.
27 'You have learned that they were told, "Do not commit adultery." 28 But what I tell you is this: If a man looks on a woman with a lustful eye he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 'If your right eye leads you astray, tear it out and fling it away; it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole of it to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand is your undoing, cut it off and fling it away; it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole of it to go to hell.
31 'They were told, "A man who divorces his wife must give her a note of dismissal." 32 But what I tell you is this: If a man divorces his wife for any cause other than unchastity he involves her in adultery; and anyone who marries a woman so divorced commits adultery.
33 'Again, you have learned that they were told, "Do not break your oath", and, "Oaths sworn to the Lord must be kept." 34 But what I tell you is this: You are not to swear at all - not by heaven, for it is God's throne, 35 nor by earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King, 36 nor by your own head, because you cannot turn one hair of it white or black. 37 Plain "Yes" or "No" is all you need to say; anything beyond that comes from the devil.
38 'You have learned that they were told, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 39 But what I tell you is this: Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left. 40 If a man wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 If a man in authority makes you go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give when you are asked to give; and do not turn your back on a man who wants to borrow.
43 'You have learned that they were told, "Love your neighbour, hate your enemy." 44 But what I tell you is this: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; 45 only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the honest and the dishonest. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect? Surely the tax-gatherers do as much as that. 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what is there extraordinary about that? Even the heathen do as much. 48 You must therefore be all goodness, just as your heavenly Father is all good.
61 'BE CAREFUL not to make a show of your religion before men; if you do, no reward awaits you in your Father's house in heaven.
2 'Thus, when you do some act of charity, do not announce it with a flourish of trumpets, as the hypocrites do in synagogue and in the streets to win admiration from men. I tell you this: they have their reward already. 3 No; when you do some act of charity, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing; 4 your good deed must be secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
5 'Again, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; they love to say their prayers standing up in synagogue and at the street-corners, for everyone to see them. I tell you this: they have their reward already. 6 But when you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place; and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.
7 'In your prayers do not go babbling on like the heathen, who imagine that the more they say the more likely they are to be heard. 8 Do not imitate them. Your Father knows what your needs are before you ask him.
9 'This is how you should pray:
16 'So too when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites: they make their faces unsightly so that other people may see that they are fasting. I tell you this: they have their reward already. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that men may not see that you are fasting, but only your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees what is secret will give you your reward.
19 'DO NOT STORE UP for yourselves treasure on earth, where it grows rusty and moth-eaten, and thieves break in to steal it. 20 Store up treasure in heaven, where there is no moth and no rust to spoil it, no thieves to break in and steal. 21 For where your wealth is, there will your heart be also.
22 'The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eyes are sound, you will have light for your whole body; 23 if the eyes are bad, your whole body will be in darkness. If then the only light you have is darkness, the darkness is doubly dark.
24 'No servant can be slave to two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing of the second. You cannot serve God and Money.
25 'Therefore I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food and drink to keep you alive, and clothes to cover your body. Surely life is more than food, the body more than clothes. 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow and reap and store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are worth more than the birds! 27 Is there a man of you who by anxious thought can add a foot to his height? 28 And why be anxious about clothes? Consider how the lilies grow in the fields; they do not work, they do not spin; 29 and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendour was not attired like one of these.
30 But if that is how God clothes the grass in the fields, which is there today, and tomorrow is thrown on the stove, will he not all the more clothe you? 31 No, do not ask anxiously, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What shall we wear?" 32 All these are things for the heathen to run after, not for you, because your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice before everything else, and all the rest will come to you as well. 34 So do not be anxious about tomorrow; tomorrow will look after itself. Each day has troubles enough of its own.
71 'PASS NO JUDGEMENT, and you will not be judged. 2 For as you judge others, so you will yourselves be judged, and whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, with never a thought for the great plank in your own? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye", when all the time there is that plank in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's.
6 'Do not give dogs what is holy; do not feed your pearls to pigs: they will only trample on them, and turn and tear you to pieces.
7 'Ask, and you will receive, seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. 8 For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 'Is there a man among you who will offer his son a stone when he asks for bread, 10 or a snake when he asks for fish? 11 If you, then, bad as you are, know how to give your children what is good for them, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!
12 'Always treat others as you would like them to treat you: that is the Law and the prophets.
15 'Beware of false prophets, men who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are savage is wolves. 16 You will recognize them by the fruits they bear. Can grapes be picked from briars, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, a good tree always yields is good fruit, and a poor tree bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit. 19 And when a tree does not yield good fruit it is cut down and burnt. 20 That is why I say you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 'Not everyone who calls me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my heavenly Father. 22 When that day comes, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out devils in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?" 23 Then I will tell them to their face, "I never knew you: out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!"
24 'What then of the man who hears these words of mine and acts upon them? He is like a man who had the sense to build his house on rock. 25 The rain came down, the floods rose, the wind blew, and beat upon that house; but it did not fall, because its foundations were on rock 26 But what of the man who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them? He is like a man who was foolish enough to build his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the floods rose, the wind blew, and beat upon that house; down it fell with a great crash.'
28 When Jesus had finished this discourse the people as were astounded at his teaching; 29 unlike their own teachers he taught with a note of authority.