Matthew 7–9

CHAPTER 7

Judging Others

¹“^aDo not judge, so that you will not be judged.

²“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and ^awith what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

³“And why do you ^alook at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

⁴“^aOr how ¹can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?

⁵“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

⁶“^aDo not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, and It Will Be Given

⁷“^1aAsk, and ^bit will be given to you; ²seek, and you will find; ³knock, and it will be opened to you.

⁸“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

⁹“Or what man is there among you ¹who, when his son asks for a loaf, ²will give him a stone?

¹⁰“Or ¹if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

¹¹“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, ^ahow much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

¹²“^aTherefore, in all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for them, for ^bthis is the Law and the Prophets.

The Narrow Gate

¹³“^aEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

¹⁴“For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵“Beware of the ^afalse prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ^bravenous wolves.

¹⁶“You will ^1aknow them by their fruits. ²Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

¹⁷“Even so, ^aevery good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

¹⁸“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

¹⁹“^aEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

²⁰“So then, you will ¹know them ^aby their fruits.

²¹“^aNot everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

²²“^aMany will say to Me on ^bthat day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many ¹miracles?’

²³“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; ^adepart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Build Your House on the Rock

²⁴“Therefore ^aeveryone who hears these words of Mine and does them, ¹may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

²⁵“And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

²⁶“And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

²⁷“And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

^281aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, ^bthe crowds were astonished at His teaching;

²⁹for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

CHAPTER 8

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

¹Now when ¹Jesus came down from the ²mountain, ³large crowds followed Him.

²And behold, ^aa leper came to Him and ^1bwas bowing down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^aleprosy was cleansed.

⁴And Jesus ^*said to him, “^aSee that you tell no one; but ^bgo, ^cshow yourself to the priest and present the ¹offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵And ^awhen ¹Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,

⁶and saying, “¹Lord, my ²servant is ³lying ^aparalyzed at home, fearfully tormented.”

⁷And Jesus ^*said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

⁸But the centurion said, “¹Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just ²say the word, and my ³servant will be healed.

⁹“For I also am a man under ^aauthority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ¹with anyone in Israel.

¹¹“And I say to you that many ^awill come from east and west, and ¹recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;

¹²but ^athe sons of the kingdom will be cast out into ^bthe outer darkness; in that place ^cthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ¹it shall be done for you ^aas you have believed.” And the ²servant was healed that very ³moment.

Peter’s Mother-In-Law and Many Others Healed

^14aWhen Jesus came into Peter’s ¹home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

¹⁵And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began ¹waiting on Him.

¹⁶Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^awho were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^bhealed all who were ill

¹⁷in order to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “^aHe Himself took our infirmities and ¹carried away our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^aHe gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.

^19aThen a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰And Jesus ^*said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ¹air have ²nests, but ^athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

²¹And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus ^*said to him, “^aFollow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

^23aAnd when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

²⁴And behold, there arose ¹a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was sleeping.

²⁵And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “^aSave us, Lord; we are perishing!”

²⁶And He ^*said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, ^ayou men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ¹it became perfectly calm.

²⁷And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Saves Men from Demons

^28aAnd when He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were ^bdemon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

²⁹And behold, they cried out, saying, “^1aWhat do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the ²time?”

³⁰Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.

³¹And the demons began to plead with Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

³²And He said to them, “Go!” And coming out, they went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.

³³Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ¹including what had happened to the ^ademoniacs.

³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^athey pleaded with Him to leave their region.

CHAPTER 9

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to ^aHis own city.

^2aAnd behold, they brought to Him a ^bparalytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “^cTake courage, ¹son; ^dyour sins are forgiven.”

³And behold, some of the scribes said ¹to themselves, “This man ^ablasphemes.”

⁴And Jesus ^aknowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

⁵“For which is easier, to say, ‘^aYour sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

⁶“But so that you may know that ^athe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He ^*said to the ^bparalytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”

⁷And he got up and ¹went home.

⁸But when the crowds saw this, they were afraid, and ^aglorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew and Sinners Called

^9aAnd as Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^bMatthew, sitting in the tax office; and He ^*said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁰¹Then it happened that as ²Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ³sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^aWhy is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^athose who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³“But go and learn ^1awhat this means: ‘^bI desire ²compassion, ³and not sacrifice,’ for ^cI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then the disciples of John ^*came to Him, ¹asking, “Why do we and ^athe Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Can the ¹attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶“But no one puts ¹a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ²the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

¹⁷“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Miracles of Healing

^18aWhile He was saying these things to them, behold, ¹a synagogue ²official came and ^3bwas bowing down before Him,…