1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so many that they were stepping on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples: "Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, or hidden that will not be made known.
3 So whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in private rooms will be shouted from the rooftops.
4 "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more.
5 I will point out to you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight.
7 Why, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.
8 "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before people, the Son of Man too will acknowledge before the angels of God;
9 but whoever disowns me before people will be disowned before the angels of God.
10 Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 "When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say;
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you must say."
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
14 But he said to him, "Man, who appointed me judge or divider over the two of you?"
15 Then he said to them, "Watch out, and guard yourselves against greed, because a person's life is not made up of the abundance of his possessions."
16 And he told them a parable: "A rich man's land yielded an abundant harvest.
17 He thought to himself, 'What am I to do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18 Then he said, 'Here is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I will gather into them all my grain and my goods.
19 Then I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have plenty of goods stored away for many years. Relax; eat, drink, enjoy yourself."'
20 But God said to him, 'Foolish man! This very night your soul is being demanded from you; and the things you have made ready, whose will they be?'
21 That is how it is with one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God."
22 He said to his disciples, "For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
24 Look at the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more are you worth than the birds!
25 Which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his stature?
26 So if you cannot do even something so small, why worry about the rest?
27 Look at the lilies and how they grow: they neither labor nor spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of them.
28 If God clothes in this way the grass that is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith!
29 So do not be bent on what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not be in suspense.
30 For it is all these things that the nations of the world chase after, and your Father knows that you need them.
31 Rather, seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.
32 "Stop being afraid, little flock, because your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell what you own and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth ruins.
34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be as well.
35 "Keep your belts fastened around your waists and your lamps burning.
36 Be like people waiting for their master to come back from the wedding feast, so that when he arrives and knocks they may open the door for him at once.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will fasten his belt, have them recline at the table, and come and wait on them.
38 Whether he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them so, blessed are those servants.
39 But understand this: if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
40 You too, then, be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not think he will."
41 Peter said to him, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?"
42 The Lord said, "Who, then, is the faithful and sensible steward whom the master will put in charge of his household staff, to give them their ration of grain at the proper time?
43 Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing so when he comes.
44 I tell you in truth, he will put him in charge of all he owns.
45 But suppose that servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time to come,' and starts beating the menservants and maidservants, and eating and drinking and getting drunk;
46 the master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
47 That servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to it will receive many lashes.
48 But the one who did not know, and did things that deserve lashes, will receive few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, they will ask all the more.
49 "I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!
50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how hard pressed I am until it is completed!
51 Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division instead.
52 From now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three.
53 They 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 mother-in-law."
54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say at once, 'Rain is on the way,' and so it does.
55 And when a south wind blows, you say, 'It will be hot,' and it is.
56 Hypocrites! You know how to read the face of the sky and the earth; so how is it that you do not read this present time?
57 And why do you not decide for yourselves what is right?
58 When you are going with your opponent before a ruler, on the way do your best to settle with him, so that he does not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid back even the last lepton."