Matthew 25–27

CHAPTER 25

Parable of Ten Virgins

¹“Then ^athe kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins, who took their ^blamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

²“Now five of them were foolish, and five were ^aprudent.

³“For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,

⁴but the ^aprudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

⁵“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.

⁶“But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

⁷“Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.

⁸“And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

⁹“But the ^aprudent answered, saying, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ^aready went in with him to ^bthe wedding feast; and ^cthe door was shut.

¹¹“And later the other virgins also ^*came, saying, ‘^aLord, lord, open up for us.’

¹²“But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

¹³“^aTherefore, stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

Parable of the Talents

¹⁴“^aFor it is just like a man ^babout to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and handed over his possessions to them.

¹⁵“And to one he gave five ^1atalents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he ^bwent on his journey.

¹⁶“Immediately the one who had received the five ^atalents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.

¹⁷“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.

¹⁸“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his ¹master’s money.

¹⁹“Now after a long time the master of those slaves ^*came and ^*asettled accounts with them.

²⁰“And the one who had received the five ^atalents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed five talents over to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’

²¹“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^afaithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will ^bput you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your ¹master.’

²²“Also the one who had received the two ^atalents came up and said, ‘Master, you handed two talents over to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’

²³“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^afaithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

²⁴“And the one also who had received the one ^atalent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

²⁵‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

²⁷‘Therefore, you ought to have put my money ¹in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

²⁸‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹“^aFor to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

³⁰“And throw out the worthless slave into ^athe outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Final Judgment

³¹“But when ^athe Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then ^bHe will sit on His glorious throne.

³²“And all the nations will be ^agathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, ^bas the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

³³and He will put the sheep ^aon His right, and the goats ^bon the left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, ^ainherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you ^bfrom the foundation of the world.

³⁵‘For ^aI was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; ^bI was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

^36anaked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you ^bvisited Me; ^cI was in prison, and you came to Me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

³⁸‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

³⁹‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

⁴⁰“^aAnd the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, ^bto the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

⁴¹“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘^aDepart from Me, accursed ones, into the ^beternal fire which has been prepared for ^cthe devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

⁴³I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴“Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ¹take care of You?’

⁴⁵“Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

⁴⁶“And these will go away into ^aeternal punishment, but the righteous into ^beternal life.”

CHAPTER 26

The Plot to Kill Jesus

^11aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples,

²“^aYou know that after two days ^bthe Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be ^cdelivered over for crucifixion.”

^3aThen the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in ^bthe court of the high priest, named ^cCaiaphas;

⁴and they ^aplotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

⁵But they were saying, “Not during the festival, ^alest a riot occur among the people.”

The Costly Perfume

^6aNow when Jesus was in ^bBethany, at the home of Simon the leper,

^7aa woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.

⁸But when the disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?

⁹“For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good work to Me.

¹¹“For you always have ^athe poor with you; but you do not always have Me.

¹²“For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it ^ato prepare Me for burial.

¹³“Truly I say to you, ^awherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

Judas Looks to Betray Jesus

^14aThen one of the twelve, named ^bJudas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and said, “What are you willing to give me ¹to ^adeliver Him to you?” And ^bthey weighed out ²thirty pieces of silver to him.

¹⁶And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to ¹betray ²Jesus.

The Passover Meal

^17aNow on the first day of ^bUnleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸And He said, “Go into the city to ^aa certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “^bMy time is near; I am keeping the Passover at your house with My disciples.” ’ ”

¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

^20aNow when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples.

²¹And as they were eating, He said, “^aTruly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.”

²²And being deeply grieved, they ¹each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord?”

²³And He answered and said, “^aHe who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.

²⁴“The Son of Man is going, ^ajust as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! ^bIt would have been good ¹for that man if he had not been born.”

²⁵And ^aJudas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Surely not I, ^bRabbi?” Jesus ^*said to him, “^cYou yourself said it.”

The Lord’s Supper

^26aNow while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and ^1bafter a blessing, He broke it. And giving it to the disciples, He said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

²⁷And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;

²⁸for ^athis is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for ^bmany for forgiveness of sins.

²⁹“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

^30aAnd after singing a hymn, they went out to ^bthe Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus ^*said to them, “You will all ^1afall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘^bI will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be ^cscattered.’

³²“But after I have been raised, ^aI will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

³³But Peter answered and said to Him, “Even though all may ¹fall away because of You, I will never fall away.”

³⁴Jesus said to him, “^aTruly I say to you that ^bthis very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

³⁵Peter ^*said to Him, “^aEven if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

^36aThen Jesus ^*came with them to a place called ^bGethsemane, and ^*said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷And He took with Him ^aPeter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

³⁸Then He ^*said to them, “^aMy soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and ^bkeep watch with Me.”

³⁹And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let ^athis cup pass from Me; ^byet not as I will, but…