²² Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

²³ All the multitudes were amazed, and said, "Can this be the son of David?"

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."

²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶ If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

²⁷ If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁸ But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹ Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.

³⁰ "He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn't gather with me, scatters.

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

³² Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come.

³³ "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴ You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

³⁵ The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.

³⁶ I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

³⁸ Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

³⁹ But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.

⁴² The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³ But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn't find it.

⁴⁴ Then he says, 'I will return into my house from which I came out,' and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

⁴⁵ Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation."

⁴⁶ While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.

⁴⁷ One said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you."

⁴⁸ But he answered him who spoke to him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

⁴⁹ He stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!

⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."

¹ On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

² Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

³ He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, "Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

⁴ As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵ Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn't have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

⁶ When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷ Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸ Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹⁰ The disciples came, and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"

¹¹ He answered them, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

¹² For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn't have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing, they don't hear, neither do they understand.

¹⁴ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, 'By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

¹⁵ for this people's heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and should turn again; and I would heal them.'

¹⁶ "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

¹⁷ For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn't see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn't hear them.

¹⁸ "Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

²⁰ What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

²² What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

²³ What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and brings forth, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty."

²⁴ He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

²⁵ but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶ But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

²⁷ The servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?'

²⁸ "He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?'

²⁹ "But he said, 'No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, "First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

³¹ He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

³² which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches."

³³ He spoke another parable to them. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened."

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn't speak to them,

³⁵ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field."

³⁷ He answered them, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸ the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰ As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴⁴ "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵ "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶ who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷ "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

⁴⁸ which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

⁴⁹ So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come forth, and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

⁵⁰ and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."

⁵¹ Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?" They answered him, "Yes, Lord."

⁵² He said to them, "Therefore, every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things."

⁵³ It happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

⁵⁴ Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?

⁵⁵ Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶ Aren't all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?"

⁵⁷ They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house."

⁵⁸ He didn't do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

¹ At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,

² and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him."

³ For Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.

⁴ For John said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

⁵ When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod.

⁷ Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.

⁸ She, being prompted by her mother, said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer."

⁹ The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given,

¹⁰ and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.

¹¹ His head was brought on a platter, and given to the young lady: and she brought it to her mother.

¹² His disciples came, and took the body, and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.