CHAP. he who sweareth by the temple, XXIII. sweareth not only by it, but also by Bect of weighty matters; 22 him who dwelleth in it. And he who sweareth by heaven, sweareth not only by the throne of God, but also by him who sitteth upon it. 23 "Alas! for you scribes and heir neg- Pharisees! hypocrites! for ye pay tithe even of mint, anniseed, and cummin; but ye omit the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness: now these things ye ought to do, and not leave the 94 other undone. Ye blind guides! who strain out the gnat, but 25 swallow down the camel. Alas! for you, scribes and Pharisees ! hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, whilst they are filled within by ra26 pine and injustice. Thou blind Pharisee! first make clean the inside of the cup and the dish, and then their outside also will be clean. ss of art; 27 29 "Alas! for you, scribes and Phaeir bad-risees! hypocrites! for ye are like whited sepulchres, which appear indeed clean without, but within are full of dead men's bones, and 28 of all uncleanness. In the same manner ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. " Alas! for you, scribes and Pharisees! hypocrites! for ye of the build the sepulchres of the proDus tem- phets, and adorn the tombs of the as their righteous, and say, If we had fathers; been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them of the blood of the pro31 phets. So that ye bear witness of yourselves, that ye are sons of those who murdered the prophets; ir be me mur cated. 1 By God to whom the temple was dedi* A proverb taken from the practice of filtering liquors. 3 By murdering me, and persecuting my apostles. and ye will fill up the measure CHAP. of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye ΧΧιν. brood of vipers! how can ye escape 33 the punishment of hell? will ment. "Wherefore behold! I send you teachers, and wise men, and scribes, 34 and some ye will kill and crucify, and deand some ye will scourge in your nounces synagogues, and persecute from punishcity to city; SO that upon you come all the righteous blood shed 35 upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily 36 I say unto you, all this blood will come upon this generation. "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! that 37 killest the prophets, and stonest Pathetic them who are sent unto thee; address to how often would I have gathered city. thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings! but ye would not. Be-38 hold! your city shall be left by you desolate. For I say unto you, such heavy judgments shall fall upon your nation after I have left you, that you shall see me no more from that time until ye shall 39 say, 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord'." And Jesus went out of the tem- CHAP. lem ple, and was going away, when his XXIV. disciples came near to show him Destruction the buildings of the temple. And of JerusaJesus said unto them, "Do ye preceded gaze with admiration on all these at some distance by things? Verily I say unto you, warfa one stone will not be left here upon mines, &c. another, that will not be thrown down." And as he was sitting on 3 the mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us when these things will be, and what will be the sign of thy XXIV. CHAP. appearance and of the end of the age?" Then Jesus answered, "Take 5 heed that no one deceive you, for many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ;' and will deceive 6 many. And ye will hear of wars, and rumours of wars, but see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the 7o end will not be yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and * kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in many 8 places. All these things are but the beginning of sorrows. his clothes with him. But alas! CHAP. ciples ho "Then if any one say unto you, 23 'Lo! here is Christ, or there, believe Cautions him not: for false Christs and false to the dis prophets will rise, and will propose to procee great signs and wonders, so as to 24 draw after them, if they can, even the elect. Behold I have forewarn-25 9 "Then will ye be delivered up to more near- affliction, and some of you will be ly by se- killed, and ye will be hated by all cution of nations for my name's sake. And ed you. Wherefore, if men say to 26 disciples; vere perse Christ's then many will fall off and deliver you, Behold! Christ is in the deup one another, and hate one ano- sert, go not forth, Behold! he is 11 ther. And many false prophets in a secret chamber,' believe them will arise and deceive many, and 12 because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many of my disciples 13 will become cold. But he who endureth to the end shall be safe, 14 And these glad tidings of my kingdom will be published in many parts of the world, for a testimony to all nations; and then will the end come. not; for as the lightning issueth 27 put to the "Now immediately after the af- 29 fliction of those days, the sun will An entire be darkened, and the moon will end to be not give her light, the stars will Jewish g fall from heaven, and the firma-vernmen ment of the heavens will be shaken. And then will appear the sign of 30 the son of man in heaven, and then will all the tribes of the land lament, and will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. And he will send his 10 messengers 31 with a great sound of a trumpet, CHAP. and they will gather together his of the event; 32 36 known to end of heaven to the other. "Learn a comparison from the Certainty fig-tree. When its branch is now tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: so 33 likewise know, when ye see all these things, that the son of man is 34 near, even at the door. Verily I say unto you, this very generation will not pass away till all these 35 things be done. The heaven and the earth will sooner pass away, than these my words shall pass away. "But the very day and hour no but its pre- one knoweth, not even the angels >cise time of heaven: but my Father only. God only. For as the days of Noah were, so 37 will this coming of the son of man 38 likewise be. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day of 39 Noah's entrance into the ark; and were not aware of the flood that was coming to destroy them, so will this coming of the son of man 40 likewise be. Then of two men in the field, one will be taken and the 41 other left. Of two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken, 42 and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not at what hour 43 your master cometh. But this ye know, that if the master of the faınily had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have suffered his 44 house to be broken into. Wherefore be ye also ready; for in an hour when ye are not expecting him, the son of man will come. 45 give him the charge of all his sub- CHAP. XXV. rable of the "Then will the kingdom of hea- CHAP. ven be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet Illustrated the bridegroom. And five of them by the pawere prudent, and five were foolish: virgins. the foolish took their lamps, but no 3 oil with them; but the prudent took 4 oil in their vessels together with their lamps. And as the bride-5 groom was long in coming, they all grew heavy and slept. And at 6 midnight there was a cry, 'Behold! the bridegroom is coming, go forth to meet him.' Then all those vir-7 gins arose and set their lamps in order: And the foolish said unto 8 the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out' The prudent answered, There 9 will not be enough for us and you; go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.' And while they 10 were gone to buy, the bridegroom came, and they who were ready went in with him to the marriage supper, and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other vir- 11 gins, saying, Sir, Sir, open the door for us.' But he answered, Verily 12 I say unto you, I know you not.' Watch therefore, for ye know nei- 13 ther the day nor hour. "Who then is that faithful and Duty and prudent servant, whom his master reward of hath set over his household to give vigilance, and danger them food in due season? Happy "The son of man is like one go-14 of the op- is that servant whom his master at ing into another country, who callposite vice. his coming shall find thus employ-ed his servants, and delivered to them what he had, giving five ta ed. Verily I say unto you, he will As a supply in case it should be wanted. • Talents are put here indefinitely for any considerable sum of money. F 19 money. "After some time, the master of those servants cometh to reckon with 20 them. Then he who had received the five talents came, and brought to him five talents more, saying, 'Sir, thou deliveredst unto me five talents, behold! I have gained be21 sides them five talents more.' And his master said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant! thou hast been faithful in a little; I will set thee over much; enter thou into the joy of thy master.' 22 "He also that had received the two talents came and said, 'Sir, thou deliveredst unto me two talents, behold! I have gained be23 sides them two talents more.' His master said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant! thou hast been faithful in a little, I will set thee over much; enter into the joy of thy master.' 24 "He also who had received the one talent caine, and said, 'Sir, I knew thee to be a hard man, erpecting to reap where thou didst not sow, and to gather where thou didst not scatter, so I was afraid; 25 and went and hid thy talent in the ground; behold! thou hast thine 26 own again.' His master answered, Wicked and slothful servant! didst thou know, that I expect to The joyful banquet, or illuminated guest-chamber, in opposition to which the outer darkness is mentioned, v. 30. ceived. By his own proper use of what he reBy not improving what he had. XXV. reap where I did not sow, and to CHAP. gather where I did not scatter ? Thou oughtest therefore to have put 27 my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own with interest. Take there- 28 fore the talent from him, and give it unto him who hath ten talents. For to every one that hath 2 much, 29 abundance will be given, but from him who hath little, even that little shall be taken.' And cast 30 forth this unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' gard will " When the son of man com-31 eth in his glory, and all the holy Great re angels with him, then he will sit on be paid to the throne of his glory. And be- actions of fore him will be gathered all na- beneficence tions, and he will separate them at the last, one from another, as a shepherd 32 separateth the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his 33 right hand, and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to 34 them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father! inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' For I 35 was hungry and ye gave me food: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye entertained 36 me: naked and ye clothed me: sick and ye took care of me: in prison and ye came unto me.' Then will 37 the righteous answer, 'Lord! when did we see thee hungry and gave thee food, or thirsty and gave thee drink? When did we see thee a 38 stranger, and entertain thee, or naked and clothed thee? When did 39 we see thee sick and in prison, and came unto thee?' And the king 40 will answer, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one "Then will he say to them on and neglect his left hand, Depart from me, ye of them cursed! into that long-lasting fire punished. prepared for the devil and his an42 gels. For I was hungry and ye gave me no food: I was thirsty and 43 ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger and ye did not entertain me: naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison and ye took no 44 care of me.' Then will they also answer, Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, 45 and did not relieve thee?' Then he will answer, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my bre46 thren, ye did it not to me." And these will go away into long-lasting punishment, but the righteous into long-enduring life." CHAP. When Jesus had finished all XXVI, these words, he said unto his disci2 ples, "Ye know that in two days will be the passover, when the son of man will be delivered up to be Jesus. 3 crucified." Then the chief priests and Consulta- scribes, and the elders of the people, fion to kill assembled together in the palace of the high priest, whose name was 4 Caiaphas; and consulted how to take Jesus privately and put him to 5 death. But they said, " Not during the festival, lest there be an uproar among the people.". 6 Now while Jesus was in Bethany, He is ho- in the house of Simon, called the won by leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster box of most precious ointment, and poured it out on his head as he was at table. But 8 when his disciples saw it, they had Boured Douring ment pon him. 1 For all evil-doers, and those who have assisted and countenanced them in their evil practices. • Not that Mary knew how soon he would be put to death; but because he knew it, he considers what she did in the same light as the Jews did the embalming indignation, saying, "Why is this CHAP. waste? for this ointment might XXVI. have been sold for a great sum, and given ven to the poor." When Jesus 10 knew this, he said unto them, "Why trouble ye the woman? she hath done a good deed for me. For 11 ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For 12 she poured this ointment on my body to embalm me. Verily I 13 say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this also which she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." gages to Then one of the twelve, named 14 Judas Iscariot, went to the chief Judas enpriests, and said, "What are ye ser willing to give me for delivering him up. him up to you?" And they pro-16 mised to pay him thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought a convenient opportunity to deliver Jesus up. prepared. Now on the first day of the feast 17 of unleavened bread, the disciples Paschal came to Jesus, saying, " Where supper wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover." And he said, 18 "Go into the city to such a man, and tell him, The master saith, my time is near, I will keep the passover at thine house with my disciples!" And the disciples did 19 as Jesus had commanded them, and made ready the passover. covers his Now when evening was come, he 20 placed himself at table with the Jesus distwelve. And as they were eating, knowledge he said, " Verily I say unto you, of Judas's that one of you will deliver me up. " intention. And they were very sorrowful, and 22 began each of them to say unto him, "Master, is it I?" And he 23 answered, "He who is * dipping 1 |