Bible Verse Lookup

The Twelve

Jesus called his Twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the Twelve apostles: first, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew;

James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray him.

Mission of the Twelve

Jesus sent these Twelve on a mission with the instructions: “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town.

Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.

Go and proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Do not carry any gold, silver, or money in your purses.

Do not bring a travel bag, an extra shirt, sandals, or a walking stick: workers deserve compensation.

When you arrive in a town or village, seek out a worthy person, and remain there until you leave.

When you enter the house, wish it peace.

If the people are worthy, your peace will rest on them; if they are not, your blessing will come back to you.

And if you are not welcomed, and your words are not listened to, leave that house or that town, and shake the dust off your feet.

I assure you, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah will have an easier time on the day of judgment than the people of that town.

Warning of Persecution

See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. You must be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Be cautious around people, for they will turn you over to their courts and flog you in their synagogues.

You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a witness to them and to the pagans.

But when you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what to say.

For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will give his brother over to death, and a father to his child; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.

Everyone will hate you because of me, but anyone who stays firm until the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, escape to the next. I assure you, you won’t have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

A student should be content to become like his teacher and the slave like his master. If the head of the household has been called Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!

Exhortation to Courage

So, do not be afraid of them. Nothing hidden will remain secret. Everything concealed will eventually be revealed.

What I tell you in secret, you must speak openly; what you hear in private, proclaim from the rooftops.

Do not fear those who can only kill the body, but cannot harm the soul. Instead, fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.

For just a few cents, you can buy two sparrows. Yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing.

As for you, every hair on your head has been counted.

Don’t be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows!

Choice for Jesus

Whoever acknowledges me in front of others, I will acknowledge them before my Father in heaven.

Whoever rejects me in front of others, I will reject them before my Father in heaven.

Radical Discipleship

Don’t think I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

Each one will have enemies from their own family.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes him who sent me.

Whoever welcomes a prophet will receive the reward of a prophet; the one who welcomes a just man, because he is a just man, will receive the reward of a just man.

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is my disciple, I assure you, he will not lose his reward.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

So, you should do and follow everything they say; but do not imitate their actions, for they do not do what they preach.

They burden people with heavy loads and load them onto their shoulders, but they themselves won’t lift a finger to move them.

They do everything to be noticed by others: wearing large bands of the law around their foreheads and robes with oversized tassels.

They enjoy the front seats at banquets and the best spots in the synagogues,

and they love being greeted in the marketplace and called ‘Master’ by others.

But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters.

Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father—he who is in heaven.

You should not be called Master, because you have but one master, the Messiah.

Let the greatest among you be the servant of all.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

But woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You, yourselves, do not enter, nor do you allow others to do so.

[[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You consume widows’ property, and in public, you pray lengthy prayers! Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.]]

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel across sea and land to make a single convert; yet, once he is converted, you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves!

Woe to you, blind guides! You say: To swear by the temple is not binding, but to swear by the gold of the temple is binding.

Foolish men! Blind men! Which is more valuable: the gold inside the temple, or the temple itself, which makes the gold a sacred treasure? You say:

Swearing by the altar isn’t binding, but swearing by the offering on the altar is binding.

How blind you are! Which is more valuable: the offering on the altar or the altar itself, which makes the offering sacred?

Whoever swears by the altar is also swearing by everything on it.

Whoever swears by the temple is also swearing by God, who dwells in the temple.

Whoever swears by heaven is swearing by God’s throne and by Him who sits on it.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You carefully avoid neglecting the mint, anise, and cumin seeds when you demand the tenth of everything, but then, you forget what is most fundamental in the law: justice, mercy, and faith! You should have practiced these things without neglecting the others.

Blind guides! You remove a mosquito but swallow a camel.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You fill the plate and the cup with theft and violence, then pronounce a blessing over them.

Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside first, and then the outside will be clean as well.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside, there are only dead bones and uncleanness.

Similarly, you seem religious to others, but inside you’re full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

You say: Had we lived in the time of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

So, you yourselves confess to being descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

And now, complete what your ancestors started!

Serpents, race of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to Gehenna?

Therefore, I am sending prophets, wise men, and teachers to you; but some of them you will murder and crucify, some you will flog in your synagogues, and others you will drive from one city to the next.

Because of this, you will be held responsible for all the innocent blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the altar and the Sanctuary.

Truly I tell you: the current generation will pay for all of this.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone those sent to you by God. How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you refused!

Look! Your house will be left to you, deserted!

I tell you that you will no longer see me until you say:

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord!