1   Then he called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to cure every kind of ailment and disease.

2   These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, also called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3   Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax-gatherer, 4   James son of Alphaeus, Lebbaeus, ^note Simon, a member of the Zealot party, and Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed him.

5   These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not take the road to gentile lands, and do not enter any Samaritan town; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 6    7   And as you go proclaim the message: “The kingdom of Heaven is upon you.” 8   Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out devils. You received without cost; give without charge.

9    10   ‘Provide no gold, silver, or copper to fill your purse, no pack for the road, no second coat, no shoes, no stick; the worker earns his keep.

11   ‘When you come to any town or village, look for some worthy person in it, and make your home there until you leave. 12   Wish the house peace as you enter it, 13   so that, if it is worthy, your peace may

Teaching and healing descend on it; if it is not worthy, your peace can come back to you. 14   If anyone will not receive you or listen to what you say, then as you leave that house or that town shake the dust of it off your feet. 15   I tell you this: on the day of judgement it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

16   ‘Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves; be wary as serpents, innocent as doves.

17   ‘And be on your guard, for men will hand you over to their courts, they will flog you in the synagogues, 18   and you will be brought before governors and kings, for my sake, to testify before them and the heathen. 19   But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say; when the time comes, the words you need will be given you; for it is not you who will be speaking: 20   it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking in you.

21   ‘Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will turn against their parents and send them to their death. 22   All will hate you for your allegiance to me; but the man who holds out to the end will be saved. 23   When you are persecuted in one town, take refuge in another; I tell you this: before you have gone through all the towns of Israel the Son of Man will have come.

24   ‘A pupil does not rank above his teacher, or a servant above his master. 25   The pupil should be content to share his teacher's lot, the servant to share his master's. If the master has been called Beelzebub, how much more his household!

26   ‘So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered, nothing hidden that will not be made known. 27   What I say to you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight; what you hear whispered you must shout from the house-tops. 28   Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Fear him rather who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29   ‘Are not sparrows two a penny? Yet without your Father's leave not one of them can fall to the ground. 30   As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31   So have no fear; you are worth more than any number of sparrows.

32   ‘Whoever then will acknowledge me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven; 33   and whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

34   ‘You must not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35   I have come to set

Teaching and healing a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a son's wife against her mother-in-law; 36   and a man will find his enemies under his own roof.

37   ‘No man is worthy of me who cares more for father or mother than for me; no man is worthy of me who cares more for son or daughter; 38   no man is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and walk in my footsteps. 39   By gaining his life a man will lose it; by losing his life for my sake, he will gain it.

40   ‘To receive you is to receive me, and to receive me is to receive the One who sent me. 41   Whoever receives a prophet as a prophet will be given a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a good man because he is a good man will be given a good man's reward. 42   And if anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is a disciple of mine, I tell you this: that man will assuredly not go unrewarded.’

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