New Testament Plan

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,

²“The kingdom of heavenis likea king whoheld a wedding feast for his son.

³And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!” ’

⁵But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his ownfarm, another to his business,

⁶and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them.

⁷Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

⁸Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’

¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled withdinner guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,

¹²and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless.

¹³Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’

¹⁴For many arecalled, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.

¹⁶And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and do not care what anyone thinks; for You are not partial to anyone.

¹⁷Tell us then, what do You think? Is it permissible to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.

²⁰And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

²¹They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

²²And hearing this, they were amazed; and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,

²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; and the first married and died, and having no children, he left his wife to his brother.

²⁶It was the same also with the second brother, and the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage.”

²⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, since you do notunderstand the Scriptures nor the power of God.

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

³¹But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:

³²‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

³⁵And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him:

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

³⁷And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

³⁸This is the great andforemost commandment.

³⁹The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

⁴⁰Upon these two commandmentshang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

⁴²“What do you think about theChrist? Whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “The son of David.”

⁴³He *said to them, “Thenhow does Davidin the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁴‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES UNDER YOUR FEET” ’?

⁴⁵Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”

⁴⁶No one was able to offer Him a word in answer, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him any more questions.

¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,

²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

³Therefore, whatever they tell you, do andcomply with it all, but do not doas they do; for they say things and do not do them.

⁴And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.

⁵And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden theirphylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

⁶And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues,

⁷and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being calledRabbi by the people.

⁸But as for you, do not be calledRabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.

⁹And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

¹⁰And do not be calledleaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

¹¹But the greatest of you shall be your servant.

¹²Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter it yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

¹⁴

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

¹⁷You fools and blind men! Which ismore important, the gold or thetemple that sanctified the gold?

¹⁸And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing; but whoever swears by theoffering that is on it is obligated.’

¹⁹You blind men, which ismore important, theoffering or the altar that sanctifies theoffering?

²⁰Therefore, the one who swears by the altar, swears both bythe altar and by everything on it.

²¹And the one who swears by thetemple, swears both bythe temple and by Him who dwells in it.

²²And the one who swears byheaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

²⁴You blind guides, whostrain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

²⁶You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that theoutside of it may also become clean.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

²⁸So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

³⁰and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

³¹So you testify against yourselves, that you aresons of those who murdered the prophets.

³²Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

³³You snakes, youoffspring of vipers, howwill you escape thesentence ofhell?

³⁴“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,

³⁵so that upon you will fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between thetemple and the altar.

³⁶Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

³⁸Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!

³⁹For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”

¹Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

²But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no onemisleads you.

⁵For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am theChrist,’ and they willmislead many people.

⁶And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

⁸But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

¹⁰And at that time many willfall away, and they willbetray one another and hate one another.

¹¹And many false prophets will rise up andmislead many people.

¹²And because lawlessness is increased,most people’s love will become cold.

¹³But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.

¹⁴This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the wholeworld as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place— let the reader understand—

¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁷Whoever is on thehousetop must not go down to get things out of his house.

¹⁸Andwhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁹But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

²⁰Moreover, pray thatwhen you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

²¹For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.

²²And if those days had not been cut short, nolife would have been saved; but for the sake of theelect those days will be cut short.

²³Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is theChrist,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him.

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide greatsigns and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even theelect.

²⁵Behold, I have told you in advance.

²⁶So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.

²⁷For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Manbe.

²⁸Wherever the corpse is, there thevultures will gather.

²⁹“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

³¹And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER Hiselect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near;

³³so you too, when you see all these things,recognize thatHe is near, right at thedoor.

³⁴Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³⁷Forthe coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

³⁹and they did notunderstand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰At that time there will be two men in the field; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding at themill; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴²“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

⁴³Butbe sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁴For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom hismaster finds so doing when he comes.

⁴⁷Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁸But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘Mymasteris not coming for a long time,’

⁴⁹and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with those habitually drunk;

⁵⁰then themaster of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know,

⁵¹and he willcut him in two and assignhim a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.