01 – The Holy Bible

And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'"

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name.

When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: "All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do." And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.

See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, "Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children."

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him.

The LORD also said to me, "I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good?

You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,

See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse- a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, "Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. You are to follow the LORD your God and fear Him. Keep His commandments and listen to His voice; serve Him and hold fast to Him.

It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all the words of this instruction and these statutes.

The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and with all your soul.

Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.' And let all the people say, 'Amen!'

"Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

if you obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,

Assemble the people- men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates- so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.

"Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

But Samuel declared: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king." Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD's commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His ordinances are before me; I have not disregarded His statutes.

But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God.

"Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book."

But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.

Yet they say to God: 'Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: "Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge? Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.

For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.

The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.

Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.

Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Then I said, "Here I am, I have come- it is written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart." I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know. I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation; I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness from the great assembly.

To the wicked, however, God says, "What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips? For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The Lord gives the command; a great company of women proclaim it:

They failed to keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law.

But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me. So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways, how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes! Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.

Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.

In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him.

He sent darkness, and it became dark- yet they defied His words.

because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. He humbled their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.

The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are upheld forever and ever, enacted in truth and uprightness.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!

Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.

Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.

I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth.

Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.

My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.

You rebuke the arrogant- the cursed who stray from Your commandments.

Remove me from the path of deceit and graciously grant me Your law.

I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.

Give me understanding that I may obey Your law, and follow it with all my heart.

I will always obey Your law, forever and ever.

I delight in Your commandments because I love them.

Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.

I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.

It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.

How sweet are Your words to my taste- sweeter than honey in my mouth!

I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes, even to the very end.

Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may obey the commandments of my God.

You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceitfulness is in vain.

It is time for the LORD to act, for they have broken Your law.

My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.

I am lowly and despised, but I do not forget Your precepts.

Your righteousness is everlasting and Your law is true.

My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.

The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.

Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart fears only Your word.

I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.

I long for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight.

I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

"How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD. They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding, if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.

Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. Make level paths for your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.

For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and prove you a liar.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

And He replied: "Go and tell this people, 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever. These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD's instruction. They say to the seers, "Stop seeing visions!" and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!" Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly- in an instant!

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

When you cry out, let your companies of idols deliver you! Yet the wind will carry off all of them, a breath will take them away. But he who seeks refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain."

"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore," says the LORD.

Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being," declares the LORD. " This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight." You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: "Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, 'Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy!' But they will be put to shame."

O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. Then I said, "They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you. Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?

But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart's delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.

Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.

"This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Behold, I am about to bring on this city and on all the villages around it every disaster I have pronounced against them, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.'"

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

"Is not My word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that smashes a rock?"

And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: 'If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.'"

So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them. For they are falsely prophesying to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the LORD."

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt- a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more."

Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against Me.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land- not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

But Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!'

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell- and great was its collapse!"

And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.

He replied, "The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

This is why I speak to them in parables: 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.' In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.' But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Consider, then, the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But the seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and produces a crop- a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold."

But Jesus replied, "Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.

Jesus answered, "You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Jesus declared, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. "The time is fulfilled," He said, "and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!"

He replied, "The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, so that, ' they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.'" Then Jesus said to them, " Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The farmer sows the word. Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop- thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold."

But Jesus overheard their conversation and said to Jairus, "Do not be afraid; just believe."

Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters."

Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."

Jesus said to them, " Aren't you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?

And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed- and a sword will pierce your soul as well."

But Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word of God.'"

They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.

Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell- and great was its destruction!"

He replied, "The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.' Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away. The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature. But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop.

But He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and carry it out."

Then Jesus said to all of them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Then He said to another man, "Follow Me." The man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You, however, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family." Then Jesus declared, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

But He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

"Lord," someone asked Him, "will only a few people be saved?" Jesus answered, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters- yes, even his own life- he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let your brothers listen to them.' 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.' Then Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

Then Jesus said to them, "O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

Jesus said to them, "These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.