"Leave the room, for the girl is not dead; she is sleeping." They laughed at him. But after the crowd had been turned out, he went in and took hold of her hand and the girl rose up. The report of this spread through all that country.

As Jesus was going along from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have pity on us, Son of David." After he had entered the house, these blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" They said, "Yes, Sir." Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith be it to you." And their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly commanded them, "Be sure and let no one know of this." But they went out and spread his fame through all that country.

As they were going out, a dumb man who was also a demoniac was brought to him. After the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke. The crowd wondered and said, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "Through the Chief of the demons he casts out the demons."

Jesus made a circuit through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. Seeing the crowds, he was touched with compassion for them, for they were torn and flung down like sheep that have no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Pray to the Master of the harvest to rush out laborers into his harvest."

X

THEN, calling to him his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over impure spirits to cast them out, and power to cure every disease and every infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles are these: Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphæus and Thaddæus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out and directed them:

"Do not go into any way of the Gentiles. Do not enter into any city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go proclaim, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal sick men, raise dead men, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without being paid. Provide no gold nor silver nor copper in your belts, no bag for the road, nor two tunics nor shoes nor stick, for the workman has a right to his food. Whatever city or village you go into, inquire who in it is worthy and stay with him until you leave the place. When you enter the house, salute it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If any one does not receive you or hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city shake off the dust of your feet. I tell you truly it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. See, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be as wise as serpents and as pure as doves. Be on your guard against men. For they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry how or what you are to speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks within you. Brother will betray brother to death, and father will betray child, and children will rise up against parents and put them to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. He who endures to the end, that one will be saved.

"When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. I tell you truly, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. The scholar is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his master. It is sufficient for the scholar to fare like his teacher and for the servant to fare like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household. Do not be afraid of them; for there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor secret which will not be known. What I say to

you in darkness speak in the light, and what is whispered into your ear proclaim on the housetops. Do not fear before those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet one of them will not fall on the ground without your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You are worth more than many sparrows. Every one who shall confess me before men I too will confess before my Father in heaven. Every one who shall disown me before men I too will disown before my Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him that sent me. He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will get a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will get a righteous man's reward. Whoever gives merely a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple, I tell you truly he will not lose his reward."

XI

WHEN Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and preach in the towns.

John had heard in prison of the doings of the Christ, and he sent by some of his disciples to ask, "Are you 'the Coming One' or are we to expect some other?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see. Blind men recover sight, lame men walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf men hear, dead men

are raised, and poor men have the good news proclaimed to them. Blessed is he who does not mistake regarding me!"

As these men went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Those who wear soft clothes are in kings' palaces. But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one of whom it was written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who will prepare thy way before thee.' I tell you truly there has not arisen among those born of women a greater than John the Baptist. But any inferior in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence and violent men have been seizing it. For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. If you are willing to believe it, he is Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let him hear. "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places who call to the others, 'We played the flute to you and you did not dance; we mourned and you did not beat your breasts.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'See a glutton and a wine-drinker; a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' Yet wisdom is proved to be in the right by her works."

Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his miracles had been done, because they had not repented: "Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon the miracles had been done which were done in you, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum! No, you will not be exalted to heaven. You will be abased to Hades. Because if those miracles which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."

At that time Jesus said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of

heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, I thank thee that such was thy good pleasure.

"All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does any one know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son may choose to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

XII

AT that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain to eat. When the Pharisees saw it they said, "See, your disciples are doing what is not allowable on the Sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he and his men were hungry? how he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread which it was not allowable either for him to eat or for his men, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you that something greater than the Temple is here. If you had understood this, 'I desire kindness and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

Passing over from there, he came into their synagogue. A man was there with a withered hand. They asked Jesus, "Is it allowable to heal on the Sabbath?" so that they might have something to accuse him of. He said to them, "What man is there of you who, if he has one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out? But how much more is a man worth than a sheep! So it is allowable to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and it was restored as sound as the other. The Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they could destroy him.