1 I n the meanwhile, when so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were trampling on one another, Jesus commenced by saying primarily to His disciples, Be on your guard against the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

At which time the myriads of the multitude having been gathered together, so as to tread upon one another, he began to say unto his disciples, first, `Take heed to yourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy;

2 N othing is covered up that it will not be revealed, or hidden that it will not be known.

and there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known;

3 W hatever you have spoken in the darkness shall be heard and listened to in the light, and what you have whispered in ears and behind closed doors will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

because whatever in the darkness ye said, in the light shall be heard: and what to the ear ye spake in the inner-chambers, shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops.

4 I tell you, My friends, do not dread and be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

`And I say to you, my friends, be not afraid of those killing the body, and after these things are not having anything over to do;

5 B ut I will warn you whom you should fear: fear Him Who, after killing, has power to hurl into hell (Gehenna); yes, I say to you, fear Him!

but I will show to you, whom ye may fear; Fear him who, after the killing, is having authority to cast to the gehenna; yes, I say to you, Fear ye Him.

6 A re not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten or uncared for in the presence of God.

`Are not five sparrows sold for two assars? and one of them is not forgotten before God,

7 B ut the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm; you are of greater worth than many of sparrows.

but even the hairs of your head have been all numbered; therefore fear ye not, than many sparrows ye are of more value.

8 A nd I tell you, Whoever declares openly and confesses that he is My worshiper and acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will declare and confess and acknowledge him before the angels of God.

`And I say to you, Every one -- whoever may confess with me before men, the Son of Man also shall confess with him before the messengers of God,

9 B ut he who disowns and denies and rejects and refuses to acknowledge Me before men will be disowned and denied and rejected and refused acknowledgement in the presence of the angels of God.

and he who hath denied me before men, shall be denied before the messengers of God,

10 A nd everyone who makes a statement or speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit '> intentionally comes short of the reverence due the Holy Spirit], it will not be forgiven him.

and every one whoever shall say a word to the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven to him, but to him who to the Holy Spirit did speak evil, it shall not be forgiven.

11 A nd when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious how you shall reply in defense or what you are to say.

`And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what ye may reply, or what ye may say,

12 F or the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and moment what ought to say.

for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that hour what it behoveth to say.'

13 S omeone from the crowd said to Him, Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me.

And a certain one said to him, out of the multitude, `Teacher, say to my brother to divide with me the inheritance.'

14 B ut He told him, Man, who has appointed Me a judge or umpire and divider over you?

And he said to him, `Man, who set me a judge or a divider over you?'

15 A nd He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs.

And he said unto them, `Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.'

16 T hen He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.

And he spake a simile unto them, saying, `Of a certain rich man the field brought forth well;

17 A nd he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place to gather together my harvest.

and he was reasoning within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where I shall gather together my fruits?

18 A nd he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain or produce and my goods.

and he said, This I will do, I will take down my storehouses, and greater ones I will build, and I will gather together there all my products and my good things,

19 A nd I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.

and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years, be resting, eat, drink, be merry.

20 B ut God said to him, You fool! This very night they will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?

`And God said to him, Unthinking one! this night thy soul they shall require from thee, and what things thou didst prepare -- to whom shall they be?

21 S o it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich to God.

so he who is treasuring up to himself, and is not rich toward God.'

22 A nd said to His disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious and troubled about your life, as to what you will eat; or about your body, as to what you will wear.

And he said unto his disciples, `Because of this, to you I say, Be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat; nor for the body, what ye may put on;

23 F or life is more than food, and the body than clothes.

the life is more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing.

24 O bserve and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds!

`Consider the ravens, that they sow not, nor reap, to which there is no barn nor storehouse, and God doth nourish them; how much better are ye than the fowls?

25 A nd which of you by being overly anxious and troubled with cares can add a cubit to his stature or a moment of time to his age ?

and who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?

26 I f then you are not able to do such a little thing as that, why are you anxious and troubled with cares about the rest?

If, then, ye are not able for the least -- why for the rest are ye anxious?

27 C onsider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these.

`Consider the lilies, how do they grow? they labour not, nor do they spin, and I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these;

28 B ut if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

and if the herbage in the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow into an oven is cast, God doth so clothe, how much more you -- ye of little faith?

29 A nd you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind '> unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense];

`And ye -- seek not what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, and be not in suspense,

30 F or all the pagan world is seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father hath known that ye have need of these things;

31 O nly aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.

but, seek ye the reign of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

32 D o not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom!

`Fear not, little flock, because your Father did delight to give you the reign;

33 S ell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

sell your goods, and give alms, make to yourselves bags that become not old, a treasure unfailing in the heavens, where thief doth not come near, nor moth destroy;

34 F or where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.

35 K eep your loins girded and your lamps burning,

`Let your loins be girded, and the lamps burning,

36 A nd be like men who are waiting for their master to return home from the marriage feast, so that when he returns from the wedding and comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.

and ye like to men waiting for their lord, when he shall return out of the wedding feasts, that he having come and knocked, immediately they may open to him.

37 B lessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!

`Happy those servants, whom the lord, having come, shall find watching; verily I say to you, that he will gird himself, and will cause them to recline (at meat), and having come near, will minister to them;

38 I f he comes in the second watch (before midnight) or the third watch (after midnight), and finds them so, blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants!

and if he may come in the second watch, and in the third watch he may come, and may find so, happy are those servants.

39 B ut of this be assured: if the householder had known at what time the burglar was coming, he would have been awake and alert and watching and would not have permitted his house to be dug through and broken into.

`And this know, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief doth come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through;

40 Y ou also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when you do not anticipate it.

and ye, then, become ye ready, because at the hour ye think not, the Son of Man doth come.'

41 P eter said, Lord, are You telling this parable for us, or for all alike?

And Peter said to him, `Sir, unto us this simile dost thou speak, or also unto all?'

42 A nd the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward, the wise man whom his master will set over those in his household service to supply them their allowance of food at the appointed time?

And the Lord said, `Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the lord shall set over his household, to give in season the wheat measure?

43 B lessed (happy and to be envied) is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he arrives.

Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so;

44 T ruly I tell you, he will set him in charge over all his possessions.

truly I say to you, that over all his goods he will set him.

45 B ut if that servant says in his heart, My master is late in coming, and begins to strike the menservants and the maids and to eat and drink and get drunk,

`And if that servant may say in his heart, My lord doth delay to come, and may begin to beat the men-servants and the maid-servants, to eat also, and to drink, and to be drunken;

46 T he master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he does not know, and will punish him and cut him off and assign his lot with the unfaithful.

the lord of that servant will come in a day in which he doth not look for, and in an hour that he doth not know, and will cut him off, and his portion with the unfaithful he will appoint.

47 A nd that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act as he would wish him to act shall be beaten with many.

`And that servant, who having known his lord's will, and not having prepared, nor having gone according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes,

48 B ut he who did not know and did things worthy of a beating shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more.

and he who, not having known, and having done things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few; and to every one to whom much was given, much shall be required from him; and to whom they did commit much, more abundantly they will ask of him.

49 I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled!

`Fire I came to cast to the earth, and what will I if already it was kindled?

50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and how greatly and sorely I am urged on (impelled, constrained) until it is accomplished!

but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I pressed till it may be completed!

51 D o you suppose that I have come to give peace upon earth? No, I say to you, but rather division;

`Think ye that peace I came to give in the earth? no, I say to you, but rather division;

52 F or from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.

for there shall be henceforth five in one house divided -- three against two, and two against three;

53 T hey will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

a father shall be divided against a son, and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter, and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'

54 H e also said to the crowds of people, When you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, It is going to rain! And so it does.

And he said also to the multitudes, `When ye may see the cloud rising from the west, immediately ye say, A shower doth come, and it is so;

55 A nd when a south wind is blowing, you say, There will be severe heat! And it occurs.

and when -- a south wind blowing, ye say, that there will be heat, and it is;

56 Y ou playactors (hypocrites)! You know how to discern and interpret and prove the looks of the earth and sky; but how is it that you do not know how to discern and interpret and apply the proof to this present time?

hypocrites! the face of the earth and of the heaven ye have known to make proof of, but this time -- how do ye not make proof of ?

57 A nd why do you not judge what is just and personally decide what is right?

`And why, also, of yourselves, judge ye not what is righteous?

58 T hen as you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make a diligent effort to settle and be quit (free) of him, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.

for, as thou art going away with thy opponent to the ruler, in the way give diligence to be released from him, lest he may drag thee unto the judge, and the judge may deliver thee to the officer, and the officer may cast thee into prison;

59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last cent.

I say to thee, thou mayest not come forth thence till even the last mite thou mayest give back.'