Samuel’s Farewell Address

1 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have ^vobeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have ^wmade a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, ^xmy sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. ^yWhose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a ^zbribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me¹ and I will restore it to you.” 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5 And he said to them, “The Lord is ^awitness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything ^bin my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness,² who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 ^cWhen Jacob went into Egypt, and ^dthe Egyptians oppressed them,³ then ^eyour fathers cried out to the Lord and ^fthe Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them ^ginto the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,⁴ and ^hinto the hand of the Philistines, and ⁱinto the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 And ^jthey cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now ^kdeliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11 And the Lord sent ^lJerubbaal and ^mBarak⁵ and ⁿJephthah and ^oSamuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived ^pin safety. 12 And ^qwhen you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, ^ryou ^ssaid to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when ^tthe Lord your God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But ^uif you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.⁶ 16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 ^vIs it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, ^wwhich you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, ^xand all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

19 And all the people said to Samuel, ^y“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not ^zturn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot ^aprofit or deliver, for they are ^bempty. 22 For the Lord will not ^cforsake his people, ^dfor his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to ^emake you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

The Parable of the Sower

1 ^zThat same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in ^aparables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the ^bsun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a ^chundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ^dears,¹ let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

10 ^eThen the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, ^f“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For ^gto the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 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. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

16 But ⁱblessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people ^jlonged 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 ^k“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the ^levil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or ^mpersecution arises on account of the word, immediately he ⁿfalls away.² 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the ^ocares of the world and the ^pdeceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed ^qbears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, ^r“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds³ among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants⁴ of the master of the house came and said to him, ^s‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^t“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

31 ^uHe put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, ^vso that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 ^wHe told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

34 ^xAll these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was ^yto fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:⁵

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us ^athe parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the ^bsons of the ^cevil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The ^dharvest is the ^eend of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the ^ffiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the ^grighteous will ^hshine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like ⁱtreasure 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.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one ^jpearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a ^knet that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and ^lseparate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

53 ^mAnd when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his ⁿhometown he ^otaught them in their synagogue, so that they were ^pastonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 ^qIs not this ^rthe carpenter’s⁶ son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they ^stook offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ^t“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

The Death of John the Baptist

1 ^uAt that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2 and he said to his servants, ^v“This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,⁷ 4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not ^wlawful for you to have her.” 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a ^xprophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 And ^ythe king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 ^zNow when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had ^acompassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ^bate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

22 ^cImmediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, ^dhe went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat by this time was a long way⁸ from the land,⁹ beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night¹⁰ he came to them, ^ewalking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ^fghost!” and they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; ^git is I. Do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind,¹¹ he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, ^hwhy did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ⁱceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the ^jSon of God.”

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

34 ^kAnd when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only ^ltouch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Traditions and Commandments

1 ^mThen Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the ⁿtradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ^o‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^p‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”¹² 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word¹³ of God. 7 You hypocrites! ^qWell did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

What Defiles a Person

10 ^tAnd he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 ^uit is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, ^vbut what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every ^wplant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be ^xrooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are ^yblind guides.¹⁴ And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, ^z“Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?¹⁵ 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 ^aFor out of the ^bheart come evil thoughts, ^cmurder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”