New Testament Plan

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

²He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’

³And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times.

⁴An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

⁵The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread.

⁶Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?

⁹Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected?

¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected?

¹¹Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?”

¹²Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.

¹⁸And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”

²⁰Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

²¹From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.

²⁶For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done.

²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

¹After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

²He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light.

³Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good for us to be here. I will set up three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown and were terrified.

⁷Jesus came up, touched them, and said, “Get up; don’t be afraid.”

⁸When they looked up they saw no one except Jesus alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

¹⁰So the disciples asked him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹“Elijah is coming and will restore everything,” he replied.

¹²“But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him.

¹⁵“Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”

¹⁷Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”

¹⁸Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.

¹⁹Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁰“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

²¹

²²As they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

²³They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.” And they were deeply distressed.

²⁴When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

²⁵“Yes,” he said. When he went into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tariffs or taxes? From their sons or from strangers?”

²⁶“From strangers,” he said. “Then the sons are free,” Jesus told him.

²⁷“But, so we won’t offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and you.”

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²He called a child and had him stand among them.

³“Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.

⁶“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.

⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

⁹And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire.

¹⁰“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.

¹¹

¹²What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray?

¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

¹⁴In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

¹⁶But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.

¹⁷If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?”

²²“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.

²³“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

²⁴When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.

²⁵Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

²⁶“At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything’

²⁷Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

²⁸“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

²⁹“At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

³⁰But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

³¹When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.

³²Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

³³Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

³⁴And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.

³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”