Knox Bible

1

And now great multitudes had gathered round him, so that they trod one another down; and he addressed himself first to his disciples; Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, he said, it is all hypocrisy.

2

What is veiled will all be revealed, what is hidden will all be known;

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what you have said in darkness, will be repeated in the light of day, what you have whispered in secret chambers, will be proclaimed on the house-tops.

4

And I say this to you who are my friends, Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, and after that can do no more.

5

I will tell you who it is you must fear; fear him who has power not only to kill but to cast a man into hell; him you must fear indeed.

6

Are not sparrows sold five for two pence? And yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.

7

As for you, he takes every hair of your head into his reckoning; do not be afraid, then; you count for more than a host of sparrows.

8

And I tell you this; whoever acknowledges me before men, will be acknowledged by the Son of Man in the presence of God’s angels;

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he who disowns me before men, will be disowned before God’s angels.

10

There is no one who speaks a word against the Son of Man but may find forgiveness; there will be no forgiveness for the man who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.✻

11

When they bring you to trial before synagogues, and magistrates, and officers, do not consider anxiously what you are to say, what defence to make or how to make it;

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the Holy Spirit will instruct you when the time comes, what words to use.✻

13

One of the multitude said to him, Master, bid my brother give me a share of our inheritance.

14

And he answered, Why, man, who has appointed me a judge to make awards between you?

15

Then he said to them, Look well and keep yourselves clear of all covetousness. A man’s life does not consist in having more possessions than he needs.

16

And he told them a parable, There was a rich man whose lands yielded a heavy crop:

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and he debated in his mind, What am I to do, with no room to store my crops in?

18

Then he said, This is what I will do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater ones, and there I shall be able to store all my harvest and all the goods that are mine;

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and then I will say to my soul, Come, soul, thou hast goods in plenty laid up for many years to come; take thy rest now, eat, drink, and make merry.

20

And God said, Thou fool, this night thou must render up thy soul; and who will be master now of all thou hast laid by?

21

Thus it is with the man who lays up treasure for himself, and has no credit with God.

22

Then he said to his disciples, I say to you, then, do not fret over your life, how to support it with food, over your body, how to keep it clothed.

23

Life is a greater gift than food, the body than clothing;

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see how the ravens never sow or reap, have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them; have you not an excellence far beyond theirs?

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Can any of you, for all his fretting, add a cubit’s growth to his height?

26

And if you are powerless to do so small a thing, why do you fret about your other needs?

27

See how the lilies grow; they do not toil, or spin, and yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28

If God, then, so clothes the grasses which live to-day in the fields and will feed the oven to-morrow, will he not be much more ready to clothe you, men of little faith?

29

You should not be asking, then, what you are to eat or drink, and living in suspense of mind;

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it is for the heathen world to busy itself over such things; your Father knows well that you need them.

31

No, make it your first care to find the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be yours without the asking.✻

32

Do not be afraid, you, my little flock. Your Father has determined to give you his kingdom.

33

Sell what you have, and give alms, so providing yourselves with a purse that time cannot wear holes in, an inexhaustible treasure laid up in heaven, where no thief comes near, no moth consumes.

34

Where your treasure-house is, there your heart is too.

35

Your loins must be girt, and your lamps burning,

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and you yourselves like men awaiting their master’s return from a wedding feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks at the door.

37

Blessed are those servants, whom their master will find watching when he comes; I promise you, he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and minister to them.

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Whether he comes in the second quarter of the night or in the third, blessed are those servants if he finds them alert.

39

Be sure of this; if the master of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch, and not allowed his house to be broken open.

40

You too, then, must stand ready; the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.

41

Hereupon Peter said to him, Lord, dost thou address this parable to us, or to all men?

42

And the Lord answered, Who, then, is a faithful and wise steward, one whom his master will entrust with the care of the household, to give them their allowance of food at the appointed time?

43

Blessed is that servant who is found doing this when his lord comes;

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I promise you, he will give him charge of all his goods.

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But if that servant says in his heart, My lord is long in coming, and falls to beating the men and the maids, eating and drinking himself drunk;

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then on some day when he expects nothing, at an hour when he is all unaware, his lord will come, and will cut him off, and assign him his portion with the unfaithful.✻

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Yet it is the servant who knew his Lord’s will, and did not make ready for him, or do his will, that will have many strokes of the lash;

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he who did not know of it, yet earned a beating, will have only a few. Much will be asked of the man to whom much has been given; more will be expected of him, because he was entrusted with more.

49

It is fire that I have come to spread over the earth, and what better wish can I have than that it should be kindled?

50

There is a baptism I must needs be baptized with, and how impatient am I for its accomplishment!

51

Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? No, believe me, I have come to bring dissension.

52

Henceforward five in the same house will be found at variance, three against two and two against three;

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the father will be at variance with his son, and the son with his father, the mother against her daughter, and the daughter against her mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.✻

54

And he said to the multitudes, When you find a cloud rising out of the west, you say at once, There is rain coming, and so it does;

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when you find the south-west wind blowing, you say, It will be hot, and so it is.

56

Poor fools, you know well enough how to interpret the face of land and sky; can you not interpret the times you live in?✻

57

Does not your own experience teach you to make the right decision?✻

58

If one has a claim against thee, and thou art going with him to the magistrate, then do thy utmost, while thou art still on the road, to be quit of his claim; or it may be he will drag thee into the presence of the judge, and the judge will hand thee over to his officer, and the officer will cast thee into prison.

59

Be sure of this, thou wilt find no discharge from it until thou hast paid the last farthing.