Matthew 7-9
Judging Others
“aDo not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and aby your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you alook at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 aOr how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “aDo not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Prayer and the Golden Rule
7 “aAsk, and bit will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, ahow much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
12 “In everything, atherefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for bthis is the Law and the Prophets.
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “aEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of the afalse prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are bravenous wolves. 16 You will aknow them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So aevery good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 aEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them aby their fruits.
21 “aNot everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 aMany will say to Me on bthat day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; adepart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
The Two Foundations
24 “Therefore aeveryone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
28 aWhen Jesus had finished these words, bthe crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Jesus Cleanses a Leper; The Centurion’s Faith
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And aa leper came to Him and bbowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his aleprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus *said to him, “aSee that you tell no one; but bgo, cshow yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 And awhen Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying aparalyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” 7 Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under aauthority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 I say to you that many awill come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but athe sons of the kingdom will be cast out into bthe outer darkness; in that place cthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you aas you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
Peter’s Mother‑in‑law and Many Others Healed
14 aWhen Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. 16 When evening came, they brought to Him many awho were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and bhealed all who were ill. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “aHe Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”
Discipleship Tested
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, aHe gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 aThen a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus *said to him, “aFollow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
23 aWhen He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “aSave us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26 He *said to them, “Why are you afraid, ayou men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. 27 The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Jesus Casts Out Demons
28 aWhen He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were bdemon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out, saying, “aWhat business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. 33 The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the ademoniacs. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, athey implored Him to leave their region.
A Paralytic Healed
Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to aHis own city.
2 aAnd they brought to Him a bparalytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “cTake courage, son; dyour sins are forgiven.” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow ablasphemes.” 4 And Jesus aknowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 Which is easier, to say, ‘aYour sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that athe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the bparalytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and aglorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Matthew Called
9 aAs Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called bMatthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He *said to him, “cFollow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “aWhy is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not athose who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn awhat this means: ‘bI desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for cI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Question about Fasting
14 Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and athe Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Miracles of Healing
18 aWhile He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bbowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.
20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched athe fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only atouch His garment, I will get well.” 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, atake courage; byour faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.
23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw athe flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, “Leave; for the girl ahas not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. 25 But awhen the crowd had been sent out, He entered and btook her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 aThis news spread throughout all that land.
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, aSon of David!” 28 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you aaccording to your faith.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus asternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” 31 But they went out and aspread the news about Him throughout all that land.
32 As they were going out, aa mute, bdemon-possessed man was brought to Him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “aNothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees were saying, “He acasts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”
35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, ateaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
36 aSeeing the people, He felt compassion for them, bbecause they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He *said to His disciples, “aThe harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
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