rsv Matthew:12-13 SEEK
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At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath ;
his disciples were hungry ,
and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat .
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But when the Pharisees saw it ,
they said to him , "
Look ,
your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath ."
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He said to them , "
Have you not read what David did ,
when he was hungry ,
and those who were with him :
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how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence ,
which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him ,
but only for the priests ?
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Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath ,
and are guiltless ?
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I tell you ,
something greater than the temple is here .
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And if you had known what this means , `
I desire mercy ,
and not sacrifice ,'
you would not have condemned the guiltless .
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For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath ."
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And he went on from there ,
and entered their synagogue .
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And behold ,
there was a man with a withered hand .
And they asked him , "
Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath ?"
so that they might accuse him .
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He said to them , "
What man of you ,
if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath ,
will not lay hold of it and lift it out ?
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Of how much more value is a man than a sheep !
So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath ."
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Then he said to the man , "
Stretch out your hand ."
And the man stretched it out ,
and it was restored ,
whole like the other .
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But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him ,
how to destroy him .
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Jesus ,
aware of this ,
withdrew from there .
And many followed him ,
and he healed them all ,
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and ordered them not to make him known .
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This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah :
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Behold ,
my servant whom I have chosen ,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased .
I will put my Spirit upon him ,
and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles .
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He will not wrangle or cry aloud ,
nor will any one hear his voice in the streets ;
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he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick ,
till he brings justice to victory ;
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and in his name will the Gentiles hope ."
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Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him ,
and he healed him ,
so that the dumb man spoke and saw .
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And all the people were amazed ,
and said , "
Can this be the Son of David ?"
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But when the Pharisees heard it they said , "
It is only by Be-el '
zebul ,
the prince of demons ,
that this man casts out demons ."
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Knowing their thoughts ,
he said to them , "
Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste ,
and no city or house divided against itself will stand ;
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and if Satan casts out Satan ,
he is divided against himself ;
how then will his kingdom stand ?
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And if I cast out demons by Be-el '
zebul ,
by whom do your sons cast them out ?
Therefore they shall be your judges .
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But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons ,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you .
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Or how can one enter a strong man '
s house and plunder his goods ,
unless he first binds the strong man ?
Then indeed he may plunder his house .
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He who is not with me is against me ,
and he who does not gather with me scatters .
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Therefore I tell you ,
every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men ,
but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven .
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And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven ;
but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven ,
either in this age or in the age to come .
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Either make the tree good ,
and its fruit good ;
or make the tree bad ,
and its fruit bad ;
for the tree is known by its fruit .
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You brood of vipers !
how can you speak good ,
when you are evil ?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks .
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The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good ,
and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil .
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I tell you ,
on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter ;
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for by your words you will be justified ,
and by your words you will be condemned ."
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Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him , "
Teacher ,
we wish to see a sign from you ."
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But he answered them , "
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign ;
but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah .
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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 .
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The men of Nin '
eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it ;
for they repented at the preaching of Jonah ,
and behold ,
something greater than Jonah is here .
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The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it ;
for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ,
and behold ,
something greater than Solomon is here .
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When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man ,
he passes through waterless places seeking rest ,
but he finds none .
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Then he says , `
I will return to my house from which I came .'
And when he comes he finds it empty ,
swept ,
and put in order .
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Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself ,
and they enter and dwell there ;
and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first .
So shall it be also with this evil generation ."
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While he was still speaking to the people ,
behold ,
his mother and his brothers stood outside ,
asking to speak to him .
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But he replied to the man who told him , "
Who is my mother ,
and who are my brothers ?"
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And stretching out his hand toward his disciples ,
he said , "
Here are my mother and my brothers !
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For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother ,
and sister ,
and mother ."
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That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea .
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And great crowds gathered about him ,
so that he got into a boat and sat there ;
and the whole crowd stood on the beach .
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And he told them many things in parables ,
saying : "
A sower went out to sow .
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And as he sowed ,
some seeds fell along the path ,
and the birds came and devoured them .
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Other seeds fell on rocky ground ,
where they had not much soil ,
and immediately they sprang up ,
since they had no depth of soil ,
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but when the sun rose they were scorched ;
and since they had no root they withered away .
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Other seeds fell upon thorns ,
and the thorns grew up and choked them .
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Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain ,
some a hundredfold ,
some sixty ,
some thirty .
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He who has ears ,
let him hear ."
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Then the disciples came and said to him , "
Why do you speak to them in parables ?"
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And he answered them , "
To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven ,
but to them it has not been given .
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For to him who has will more be given ,
and he will have abundance ;
but from him who has not ,
even what he has will be taken away .
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This is why I speak to them in parables ,
because seeing they do not see ,
and hearing they do not hear ,
nor do they understand .
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With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says : `
You shall indeed hear but never understand ,
and you shall indeed see but never perceive .
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For this people '
s heart has grown dull ,
and their ears are heavy of hearing ,
and their eyes they have closed ,
lest they should perceive with their eyes ,
and hear with their ears ,
and understand with their heart ,
and turn for me to heal them .'
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But blessed are your eyes ,
for they see ,
and your ears ,
for they hear .
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Truly ,
I say to you ,
many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see ,
and did not see it ,
and to hear what you hear ,
and did not hear it .
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Hear then the parable of the sower .
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When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it ,
the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart ;
this is what was sown along the path .
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As for what was sown on rocky ground ,
this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy ;
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yet he has no root in himself ,
but endures for a while ,
and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word ,
immediately he falls away .
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As for what was sown among thorns ,
this is he who hears the word ,
but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word ,
and it proves unfruitful .
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As for what was sown on good soil ,
this is he who hears the word and understands it ;
he indeed bears fruit ,
and yields ,
in one case a hundredfold ,
in another sixty ,
and in another thirty ."
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Another parable he put before them ,
saying , "
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field ;
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but while men were sleeping ,
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat ,
and went away .
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So when the plants came up and bore grain ,
then the weeds appeared also .
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And the servants of the householder came and said to him , `
Sir ,
did you not sow good seed in your field ?
How then has it weeds ?'
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He said to them , `
An enemy has done this .'
The servants said to him , `
Then do you want us to go and gather them ?'
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But he said , `
No ;
lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them .
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Let both grow together until the harvest ;
and at harvest time I will tell the reapers ,
Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned ,
but gather the wheat into my barn .'"
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Another parable he put before them ,
saying , "
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field ;
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it is the smallest of all seeds ,
but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree ,
so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches ."
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He told them another parable . "
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour ,
till it was all leavened ."
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All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables ;
indeed he said nothing to them without a parable .
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This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet : "
I will open my mouth in parables ,
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world ."
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Then he left the crowds and went into the house .
And his disciples came to him ,
saying , "
Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field ."
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He answered , "
He who sows the good seed is the Son of man ;
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the field is the world ,
and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom ;
the weeds are the sons of the evil one ,
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and the enemy who sowed them is the devil ;
the harvest is the close of the age ,
and the reapers are angels .
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Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire ,
so will it be at the close of the age .
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The Son of man will send his angels ,
and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers ,
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and throw them into the furnace of fire ;
there men will weep and gnash their teeth .
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Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father .
He who has ears ,
let him hear .
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The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field ,
which a man found and covered up ;
then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field .
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Again ,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls ,
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who ,
on finding one pearl of great value ,
went and sold all that he had and bought it .
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Again ,
the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind ;
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when it was full ,
men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad .
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So it will be at the close of the age .
The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous ,
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and throw them into the furnace of fire ;
there men will weep and gnash their teeth .
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Have you understood all this ?"
They said to him , "
Yes ."
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And he said to them , "
Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old ."
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And when Jesus had finished these parables ,
he went away from there ,
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and coming to 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 ?
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Is not this the carpenter '
s son ?
Is not his mother called Mary ?
And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas ?
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And are not all his sisters with us ?
Where then did this man get all this ?"
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And they took offense at him .
But Jesus said to them , "
A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house ."
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And he did not do many mighty works there ,
because of their unbelief .
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At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus ;