Matthew 25–27

¹‘Then shall the reign of the heavens be likened to ten virgins, who, having taken their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom; ²and five of them were prudent, and five foolish; ³they who were foolish having taken their lamps, did not take with themselves oil; ⁴and the prudent took oil in their vessels, with their lamps.

⁵‘And the bridegroom tarrying, they all nodded and were sleeping, ⁶and in the middle of the night a cry was made, Lo, the bridegroom doth come; go ye forth to meet him.

⁷‘Then rose all those virgins, and trimmed their lamps, ⁸and the foolish said to the prudent, Give us of your oil, because our lamps are going out; ⁹and the prudent answered, saying—Lest there may not be sufficient for us and you, go ye rather unto those selling, and buy for yourselves.

¹⁰‘And while they are going away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those ready went in with him to the marriage-feasts, and the door was shut; ¹¹and afterwards come also do the rest of the virgins, saying, Sir, sir, open to us; ¹²and he answering said, Verily I say to you, I have not known you.

¹³‘Watch therefore, for ye have not known the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man doth come.

¹⁴‘For—as a man going abroad did call his own servants, and did deliver to them his substance, ¹⁵and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his several ability, went abroad immediately.

¹⁶‘And he who did receive the five talents, having gone, wrought with them, and made other five talents; ¹⁷in like manner also he who received the two, he gained, also he, other two; ¹⁸and he who did receive the one, having gone away, digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

¹⁹‘And after a long time cometh the lord of those servants, and taketh reckoning with them; ²⁰and he who did receive the five talents having come, brought other five talents, saying, ‘Sir, five talents thou didst deliver to me; lo, other five talents did I gain besides them.

²¹‘And his lord said to him, Well done, servant, good and faithful, over a few things thou wast faithful, over many things I will set thee; enter into the joy of thy lord.

²²‘And he who also did receive the two talents having come, said, Sir, two talents thou didst deliver to me; lo, other two talents I did gain besides them.

²³‘His lord said to him, Well done, servant, good and faithful, over a few things thou wast faithful, over many things I will set thee; enter into the joy of thy lord.

²⁴‘And he also who hath received the one talent having come, said, Sir, I knew thee, that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering from whence thou didst not scatter; ²⁵and having been afraid, having gone away, I hid thy talent in the earth; lo, thou hast thine own!

²⁶‘And his lord answering said to him, Evil servant, and slothful, thou hadst known that I reap where I did not sow, and I gather whence I did not scatter! ²⁷it behoved thee then to put my money to the money-lenders, and having come I had received mine own with increase.

²⁸‘Take therefore from him the talent, and give to him having the ten talents, ²⁹for to every one having shall be given, and he shall have overabundance, and from him who is not having, even that which he hath shall be taken from him; ³⁰and the unprofitable servant cast ye forth to the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.

³¹‘And whenever the Son of Man may come in his glory, and all the holy messengers with him, then he shall sit upon a throne of his glory; ³²and gathered together before him shall be all the nations, and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd doth separate the sheep from the goats, ³³and he shall set the sheep indeed on his right hand, and the goats on the left.

³⁴‘Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I did hunger, and ye gave me to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye received me; ³⁶naked, and ye put around me; I was infirm, and ye looked after me; in prison I was, and ye came unto me.

³⁷‘Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, and we nourished? or thirsting, and we gave to drink? ³⁸and when did we see thee a stranger, and we received? or naked, and we put around? ³⁹and when did we see thee infirm, or in prison, and we came unto thee?

⁴⁰‘And the king answering, shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of these my brethren—the least—to me ye did it. ⁴¹Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers; ⁴²for I did hunger, and ye gave me not to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me not to drink; ⁴³a stranger I was, and ye did not receive me; naked, and ye put not around me; infirm, and in prison, and ye did not look after me.

⁴⁴‘Then shall they answer, they also, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in prison, and we did not minister to thee?

⁴⁵‘Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these, the least, ye did it not to me. ⁴⁶And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.’

Chapter 26

¹And it came to pass, when Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples, ²‘Ye have known that after two days the passover cometh, and the Son of Man is delivered up to be crucified.’ ³Then were gathered together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, to the court of the chief priest who was called Caiaphas; ⁴and they consulted together that they might take Jesus by guile, and kill him, ⁵and they said, ‘Not in the feast, that there may not be a tumult among the people.’

⁶And Jesus having been in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, ⁷there came to him a woman having an alabaster box of ointment, very precious, and she poured on his head as he is reclining (at meat). ⁸And having seen it, his disciples were much displeased, saying, ‘To what purpose is this waste? ⁹for this ointment could have been sold for much, and given to the poor.’ ¹⁰And Jesus having known, said to them, ‘Why do ye give trouble to the woman? for a good work she wrought for me; ¹¹for the poor always ye have with you, and me ye have not always; ¹²for she having put this ointment on my body—for my burial she did it. ¹³Verily I say to you, Wherever this good news may be proclaimed in the whole world, what this one did shall also be spoken of—for a memorial of her.’

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, who is called Judas Iscariot, having gone unto the chief priests, said, ¹⁵‘What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him up to you?’ and they weighed out to him thirty silverlings, ¹⁶and from that time he was seeking a convenient season to deliver him up.

¹⁷And on the first day of the unleavened food came the disciples near to Jesus, saying to him, ‘Where wilt thou that we may prepare for thee to eat the passover?’ ¹⁸and he said, ‘Go away to the city, unto such a one, and say to him, The Teacher saith, My time is nigh; near thee I keep the passover, with my disciples;’ ¹⁹and the disciples did as Jesus appointed them, and prepared the passover. ²⁰And evening having come, he was reclining (at meat) with the twelve, ²¹and while they are eating, he said, ‘Verily I say to you, that one of you shall deliver me up.’ ²²And being grieved exceedingly, they began to say to him, each of them, ‘Is it I, Sir?’ ²³And he answering said, ‘He who did dip with me the hand in the dish, he will deliver me up; ²⁴the Son of Man doth indeed go, as it hath been written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up! good it were for him if that man had not been born.’ ²⁵And Judas—he who delivered him up—answering said, ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He saith to him, ‘Thou hast said.’

²⁶And while they were eating, Jesus having taken the bread, and having blessed, did brake, and was giving to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body;’ ²⁷and having taken the cup, and having given thanks, he gave to them, saying, ‘Drink ye of it—all; ²⁸for this is my blood of the new covenant, that for many is being poured out—to remission of sins; ²⁹and I say to you, that I may not drink henceforth on this produce of the vine, till that day when I may drink it with you new in the reign of my Father.’ ³⁰And having sung a hymn, they went forth to the mount of the Olives.

³¹Then saith Jesus to them, ‘All ye shall be stumbled at me this night; for it hath been written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad; ³²but, after my having risen, I will go before you to Galilee.’ ³³And Peter answering said to him, ‘Even if all shall be stumbled at thee, I will never be stumbled.’ ³⁴Jesus said to him, ‘Verily I say to thee, that, this night, before cock-crowing, thrice thou wilt deny me.’ ³⁵Peter saith to him, ‘Even if it may be necessary for me to die with thee, I will not deny thee;’ in like manner also said all the disciples.

³⁶Then come with them doth Jesus to a place called Gethsemane, and he saith to the disciples, ‘Sit ye here, till having gone away, I shall pray yonder.’ ³⁷And having taken Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful, and to be very heavy; ³⁸then saith he to them, ‘Exceedingly sorrowful is my soul—unto death; abide ye here, and watch with me.’ ³⁹And having gone forward a little, he fell on his face, praying, and saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou.’ ⁴⁰And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and he saith to Peter, ‘So! ye were not able one hour to watch with me! ⁴¹watch, and pray, that ye may not enter into temptation: the spirit indeed is forward, but the flesh weak.’ ⁴²…