New Testament Plan

¹Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

²And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

³ Give us each day our daily bread,

⁴and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

⁵And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,

⁶for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

⁷and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?

⁸I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

⁹And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;

¹²or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

¹⁴Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”

¹⁶while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.

¹⁸And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁰But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;

²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.

²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

²⁵And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

²⁷As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

²⁸But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

²⁹When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³ “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵ Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

³⁷While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.

³⁸The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.

³⁹And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰ You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.”

⁴⁶And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things,

⁵⁴lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

¹In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

² Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

³Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

⁷Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,

⁹but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹ And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,

¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,

¹⁷and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’

¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

²¹So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²²And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

²⁶If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

²⁹And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.

³⁰For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

³² “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

³³ Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

³⁴ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

³⁵ “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,

³⁶and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

³⁸If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!

³⁹ But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”

⁴²And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?

⁴³ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

⁴⁶the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.

⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

⁴⁹ “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!

⁵⁰ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

⁵¹ Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

⁵²For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.

⁵³They 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.”

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.

⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.

⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

⁵⁷“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸ As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

²And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?

³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

⁷And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’

⁸And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.

⁹Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

¹⁰Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

¹³And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

¹⁴But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?

¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

¹⁸He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

²⁰And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹ It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

²²He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

²³And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them,

²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

²⁵ When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’

²⁸ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

²⁹And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

³⁰And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

³³Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

³⁵Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”