Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
(Matthew 6.9–13; 7.7–11)
1 One day Jesus was praying in
a certain place. When he had
finished, one of his disciples said to
him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as
John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said to them, “When you
pray, say this:
‘Father:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come.
3
Give us day by day the food we need. note
4
Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
And do not bring us to hard testing.’”
5 And Jesus said to his disciples,
“Suppose one of you should go to a
friend's house at midnight and say
to him, ‘Friend, let me borrow three
loaves of bread.
6 A friend of mine
who is on a trip has just come to my
house, and I don't have any food for
him!’
7 And suppose your friend
should answer from inside, ‘Don't
bother me! The door is already
locked, and my children and I are in
bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’
8 Well, what then? I tell you
that even if he will not get up and
give you the bread because you are
his friend, yet he will get up and give
you everything you need because
you are not ashamed to keep on asking.
9 And so I say to you: Ask, and
-- --
you will receive; seek, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be
opened to you.
10 For everyone who
asks will receive, and he who seeks
will find, and the door will be opened
to anyone who knocks.
11 Would any
of you who are fathers give your son
a snake when he asks for fish?
12 Or
would you give him a scorpion when
he asks for an egg?
13 As bad as you
are, you know how to give good
things to your children. How much
more, then, will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him!”
Jesus and Beelzebul
(Matthew 12.22–30; Mark 3.20–27)
14 Jesus was driving out a demon
that could not talk; and when the demon
went out, the man began to
talk. The crowds were amazed,
15 but
some of the people said, “It is Beelzebul,
the chief of the demons, who
gives him the power to drive them
out.” note
16 Others wanted to trap Jesus, so
they asked him to perform a miracle
to show that God approved of him. note
17 But Jesus knew what they were
thinking, so he said to them, “Any
country that divides itself into
groups which fight each other will
not last very long; a family divided
against itself falls apart.
18 So if Satan's
kingdom has groups fighting
each other, how can it last? You say
that I drive out demons because Beelzebul
gives me the power to do so.
19 If this is how I drive them out, how
do your followers drive them out?
Your own followers prove that you
are wrong!
20 No, it is rather by
means of God's power that I drive
out demons, and this proves that the
Kingdom of God has already come
to you.
21 “When a strong man, with all his
weapons ready, guards his own
house, all his belongings are safe.
22 But when a stronger man attacks
him and defeats him, he carries
away all the weapons the owner was
depending on and divides up what
he stole.
23 “Anyone who is not for me is
really against me; anyone who does
not help me gather is really scattering. note
The Return of the Evil Spirit
(Matthew 12.43–45)
24 “When an evil spirit goes out of
a person, it travels over dry country
looking for a place to rest. If it can't
find one, it says to itself, ‘I will go
back to my house.’
25 So it goes back
and finds the house clean and all
fixed up.
26 Then it goes out and
brings seven other spirits even
worse than itself, and they come and
live there. So when it is all over, that
person is in worse shape than he
was at the beginning.”
True Happiness
27 When Jesus had said this, a
woman spoke up from the crowd
and said to him, “How happy is the
woman who bore you and nursed
you!”
28 But Jesus answered, “Rather,
how happy are those who hear the
word of God and obey it!”
The Demand for a Miracle
(Matthew 12.38–42)
29 As the people crowded around
Jesus, he went on to say, “How evil
are the people of this day! They ask
for a miracle, but none will be given
them except the miracle of Jonah. note
30 In the same way that the prophet
Jonah was a sign for the people of
Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a
sign for the people of this day. note
31 On
the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba
will stand up and accuse the people
of today, because she traveled all
the way from her country to listen to
King Solomon's wise teaching; and
there is something here, I tell you,
greater than Solomon. note
32 On the
Judgment Day the people of Nineveh
will stand up and accuse you,
because they turned from their sins
when they heard Jonah preach; and I
-- --
assure you that there is something
here greater than Jonah! note
The Light of the Body
(Matthew 5.15; 6.22–23)
33 “No one lights a lamp and then
hides it or puts it under a bowl; note instead,
he puts it on the lampstand,
so that people may see the light as
they come in. note
34 Your eyes are like a
lamp for the body. When your eyes
are sound, your whole body is full of
light; but when your eyes are no
good, your whole body will be in
darkness.
35 Make certain, then, that
the light in you is not darkness.
36 If
your whole body is full of light, with
no part of it in darkness, it will be
bright all over, as when a lamp
shines on you with its brightness.”
Jesus Accuses the Pharisees and the
Teachers of the Law
(Matthew 23.1–36; Mark 12.38–40)
37 When Jesus finished speaking, a
Pharisee invited him to eat with him;
so he went in and sat down to eat.
38 The Pharisee was surprised when
he noticed that Jesus had not
washed before eating.
39 So the Lord
said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees
clean the outside of your cup
and plate, but inside you are full of
violence and evil.
40 Fools! Did not
God, who made the outside, also
make the inside?
41 But give what is
in your cups and plates to the poor,
and everything will be ritually clean
for you.
42 “How terrible for you Pharisees!
You give to God one tenth of the
seasoning herbs, such as mint and
rue and all the other herbs, but you
neglect justice and love for God.
These you should practice, without
neglecting the others. note
43 “How terrible for you Pharisees!
You love the reserved seats in the
synagogues and to be greeted with
respect in the marketplaces.
44 How
terrible for you! You are like unmarked
graves which people walk
on without knowing it.”
45 One of the teachers of the Law
said to him, “Teacher, when you say
this, you insult us too!”
46 Jesus answered, “How terrible
also for you teachers of the Law!
You put onto people's backs loads
which are hard to carry, but you
yourselves will not stretch out a finger
to help them carry those loads.
47 How terrible for you! You make
fine tombs for the prophets—the
very prophets your ancestors murdered.
48 You yourselves admit, then,
that you approve of what your ancestors
did; they murdered the
prophets, and you build their tombs.
49 For this reason the Wisdom of God
said, ‘I will send them prophets and
messengers; they will kill some of
them and persecute others.’
50 So the
people of this time will be punished
for the murder of all the prophets
killed since the creation of the
world,
51 from the murder of Abel to
the murder of Zechariah, who was
killed between the altar and the
Holy Place. Yes, I tell you, the people
of this time will be punished for
them all! note
52 “How terrible for you teachers
of the Law! You have kept the key
that opens the door to the house of
knowledge; you yourselves will not
go in, and you stop those who are
trying to go in!”
53 When Jesus left that place, the
teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
began to criticize him bitterly
and ask him questions about many
things,
54 trying to lay traps for him
and catch him saying something
wrong.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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