Matthew
Chapter 10
1 When he gathered his twelve followers, he gave them authority over evil spirits, to drive them out, and to cure every kind of illness and disease.
2 The twelve apostles’ names are: The first is Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, Zebedee’s son, and his brother John.
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, also called Thaddaeus.
4 Simon from Canaan, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 Jesus sent out these twelve and told them, “Do not go to the Gentile areas or enter any Samaritan city.
6 Go instead to the lost sheep of Israel’s family.
7 As you go, tell others, “God’s kingdom is near.”
8 Cure sick people, make lepers clean, bring dead back to life, throw out demons: you got it for free, give it for free.
9 Don’t carry gold, silver, or coins in your wallets.
10 Don’t take a bag for your trip, or two coats, or shoes, or a walking stick: because a worker deserves his food.
11 When you enter a city or town, find out who is good there and stay with them until you leave.
12 When you enter a house, greet it.
13 If the home is good, let your peace rest on it; if not, let your peace come back to you.
14 If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust from your feet.
15 I truly tell you, on Judgment Day, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah will have an easier time than that city.
16 I send you out like sheep among wolves: so be as smart as snakes and as kind as doves.
17 Be careful of people: they will hand you over to councils and whip you in their places of worship.
18 You will stand before rulers and kings because of me, to witness to them and the nations.
19 When they arrest you, don’t worry about what to say, because you will be told what to say at that time.
20 It’s not you speaking, but your Father’s Spirit speaking through you.
21 A brother will turn in his brother to be killed, and a father will turn in his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them killed.
22 Everyone will hate you because of me, but if you keep going to the end, you will be saved.
23 If people chase you away from one town, run to another. Truly, I tell you, you won’t finish visiting the towns of Israel before the Son of Man arrives.
24 A student is not greater than their teacher, nor is a servant greater than their master.
25 A student should be like their teacher, and a servant like their boss. If people have called the head of the house Beelzebub, they will call the others in the house even worse names.
26 Do not be afraid of them: because nothing is hidden that will not be shown; and nothing is secret that will not become known.
27 What I say to you in secret, you must say in public; and what you hear whispered, you must announce from the rooftops.
28 Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of God who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a small coin? And none of them will fall to the ground without God knowing.
30 Every hair on your head is counted.
31 Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
32 If anyone tells others about me, I will tell my Father in heaven about them.
33 Whoever denies me before others, I will also deny them before my God in heaven.
34 Don’t think that I came to bring peace on earth: I didn’t come to bring peace, but to bring a sword.
35 I have come to cause disagreement between a man and his father, between a daughter and her mother, and between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law.
36 A person’s enemies will be the members of their own family.
37 If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not good enough to be my follower. And if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not good enough to be my follower.
38 Anyone who does not take up their cross and follow me is not good enough for me.
39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for me will find it.
40 Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
41 If you welcome a prophet because he is a prophet, you will get the same reward as a prophet; and if you welcome a good person because he is good, you will get the same reward as a good person.
42 Anyone who gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because they are my follower will truly not lose their reward.