Matthew 11 - 13 — Legacy Standard Bible

Questions from John the Baptist

11¹^,^aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished ²giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there ^bto teach and ³preach in their cities.

²^aNow when ^bJohn in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³and said to Him, “Are You ^athe One who is to come, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵^athe blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the ^bpoor have the ¹gospel preached to them. ⁶“And blessed is he ¹who ^adoes not ²take offense at Me.”

Jesus’ Tribute to John the Baptist

⁷Now as these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into ^athe wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸“¹But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ ²palaces! ⁹“¹But what did you go out to see? ^aA prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ¹⁰“This is the one about whom it ¹is written, ‘^aBehold, I send My messenger ²ahead of You,Who will prepare Your way before You.’

¹¹“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is ¹least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²“^aAnd from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven ¹suffers violence, and violent men ²take it by force. ¹³“For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is ^aElijah who ¹was to come. ¹⁵“^aHe who has ears to hear, ¹let him hear.

¹⁶“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children, ¹⁷and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not ¹mourn.’ ¹⁸“For John came neither ^aeating nor ^bdrinking, and they say, ‘^cHe has a demon!’ ¹⁹“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ¹drunkard, ^aa friend of tax collectors and ²sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated ³by her deeds.”

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

²⁰Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His ¹^,^amiracles were done, because they did not repent. ²¹“^aWoe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, ^bBethsaida! For if the ¹miracles had occurred in ^cTyre and ^dSidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in ²^,^esackcloth and ashes. ²²“Nevertheless I say to you, ^ait will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in ^bthe day of judgment than for you. ²³“And ^aCapernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will ^bdescend to ^cHades; for if the ¹miracles had occurred in ^dSodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴“Nevertheless I say to you that ^ait will be more tolerable for the land of ^bSodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Come to Me

²⁵^aAt that ¹time Jesus said, “I praise You, ^bFather, Lord of heaven and earth, that ^cYou have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶“Yes, ^aFather, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. ²⁷“^aAll things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father ^bexcept the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

²⁸“^aCome to Me, all ¹who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹“Take My yoke upon you and ^alearn from Me, for I am ¹gentle and humble in heart, and ^byou will find rest for your souls. ³⁰“For ^aMy yoke is ¹easy and My burden is light.”

Lord of the Sabbath

12^aAt that ¹time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to ^bpick the heads of grain and eat. ²But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what ^ais not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” ³But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, ⁴how he entered the house of God, and ^athey ate the ¹consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? ⁵“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ¹break the Sabbath and are innocent? ⁶“But I say to you that something ^agreater than the temple is here. ⁷“But if you had known what this ¹means, ‘^aI desire ²compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸“For ^athe Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath

⁹^aAnd departing from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰And behold, a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned ¹Jesus, saying, “^aIs it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. ¹¹And He said to them, “^aWhat man ¹is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²“^aHow much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do ¹good on the Sabbath.” ¹³Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” ^aHe stretched it out, and it was restored to ¹normal, like the other. ¹⁴But going out, the Pharisees ^atook counsel together against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

¹⁵But Jesus, ¹aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and ^aHe healed them all, ¹⁶and ^awarned them not to make Him known, ¹⁷in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,

¹⁸“^aBehold, My ¹Servant whom I ²have chosen;^bMy Beloved in whom My soul ³is well-pleased;^cI will put My Spirit upon Him,^dAnd He shall proclaim ⁴justice to the ⁵Gentiles.¹⁹“^aHe will not quarrel, nor cry out;Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.²⁰“^aA battered reed He will not break off,And a smoldering wick He will not put out,Until He ¹leads ²justice to victory.²¹“^aAnd in His name the ¹Gentiles will hope.”

A Kingdom Divided

²²^aThen a ^bdemon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to ¹Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. ²³And all the crowds were astounded, and were saying, “Can this man really be the ^aSon of David?” ²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man does not ^acast out demons except by ¹Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

²⁵^aAnd ^bknowing their thoughts He said to them, “¹Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and ²any city or house divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶“And if ^aSatan casts out Satan, he ¹is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷“And if I ^aby ¹Beelzebul cast out demons, ^bby whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. ²⁸“But ^aif I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

³⁰“^aHe who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

³¹“^aTherefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. ³²“^aAnd whoever ¹speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever ²speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in ^bthis age or in the age to come.

The Heart Is Revealed by Words

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for ^athe tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴“^aYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak ¹what is good? ^bFor the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. ³⁵“^aThe good man brings out of his good treasure ¹what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure ²what is evil. ³⁶“But I tell you that every ¹careless word that people ²speak, they shall give an accounting for it in ^athe day of judgment. ³⁷“For ¹by your words you will be justified, and ²by your words you will be condemned.”

The Sign of Jonah

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, ^awe want to see ¹a sign from You.” ³⁹But He answered and said to them, “^aAn evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; ⁴⁰for just as ^aJonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will ^bthe Son of Man be ^cthree days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹“^aThe men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because ^bthey repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, ^csomething greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²“^aThe Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, ^bsomething greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“^aNow when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. ⁴⁴“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and ^athe last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

⁴⁶^aWhile He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His ^bmother and ^cbrothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. ⁴⁷¹Now someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” ⁴⁸But ¹Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” ⁴⁹And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He 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.”

The Parable of the Sower

13On that day Jesus went out of ^athe house and was sitting ^bby the sea. ²And ¹large crowds gathered to Him, so ^aHe got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³And He spoke many things to them in ^aparables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵“And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷“And others fell ¹among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸“And others fell on the good soil and were yielding ¹a crop, some a ^ahundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ⁹“^aHe who has ears, ¹let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹And ¹Jesus answered and said to them, “^aTo you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²“^aFor whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^aseeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴“And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘¹^,^aYou will keep on hearing, ²but will not understand;³You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

¹⁵^aFor the heart of this people has become dull,And with their ears they scarcely hear,And they have closed their eyes,Lest they would see with their eyes,Hear with their ears,And understand with their heart and return,And I would heal them.’

¹⁶“^aBut blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷“For truly I say to you that ^amany prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸“^aHear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹“When anyone hears ^athe word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ^bthe evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ²⁰“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he ¹^,^afalls away. ²²“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of ^athe ¹world and the ^bdeceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some ^aa hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

The Parable of Tares Among Wheat

²⁴He presented another parable to them, saying, “^aThe kingdom of heaven ¹may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵“But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed ¹tares among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶“But when the ¹wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. ²⁷“The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? ¹How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸“And he said to them, ‘An ¹enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹“But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but ^agather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven

³¹He presented another parable to them, saying, “^aThe kingdom of heaven is like ^ba mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; ³²and this is the ¹smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the ²largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that ^athe birds of the ³air come and nest in its branches.”

³³He spoke another parable to them, “^aThe kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in ¹^,^bthree sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

³⁴All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He was not speaking to them ^awithout a parable ³⁵so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “^aI will open My mouth in parables;I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

The Parable of Tares Explained

³⁶Then He left the crowds and went into ^athe house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “^bExplain to us the parable of the ¹tares of the field.” ³⁷And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is ^athe Son of Man, ³⁸and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are ^athe sons of the kingdom; and the tares are ^bthe sons of ^cthe evil one; ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is ^athe ¹end of the age; and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at ^athe ¹end of the age. ⁴¹“^aThe Son of Man ^bwill send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom ¹all ^cstumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, ⁴²and ^awill throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place ^bthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³“^aThen the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ^bHe who has ears, ¹let him hear.

A Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴“^aThe kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and ^bsells all that he has and buys that field.

A Costly Pearl

⁴⁵“Again, ^athe kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, ⁴⁶and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷“Again, ^athe kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; ⁴⁸and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹“So it will be at ^athe ¹end of the age; the angels will come forth and ²take out the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰and ^awill throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place ^bthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” ⁵²And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

⁵³¹^,^aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. ⁵⁴^aAnd He came to ¹His hometown and ^bbegan teaching them in their synagogue, so that ^cthey were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these ²miraculous powers? ⁵⁵“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not ^aHis mother called Mary, and His ^bbrothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶“And ^aHis sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷And they were taking ^aoffense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^bA prophet is not without honor except in his ¹hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸And He did not do many ¹miracles there because of their unbelief.