The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and ^pproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had ^qcompassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like ^rsheep ^swithout a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ^t“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The Twelve Apostles

1 ^uAnd he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them ^vauthority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

2 and he sent them out to ⁱproclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

2 The names of the ^wtwelve apostles are these: first, ^xSimon, who is called Peter, and ^yAndrew his brother; ^zJames the son of Zebedee, and ^aJohn his brother; 3 ^bPhilip and ^cBartholomew; ^dThomas and ^eMatthew the tax collector; ^fJames the son of Alphaeus, and ^gThaddaeus;¹ 4 ^hSimon the Zealot,² and ⁱJudas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

5 ^jThese twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere ^kamong the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the ^llost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And ^mproclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is ⁿat hand.’³ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,⁴ cast out demons. You received ^owithout paying; give ^pwithout pay. 9 Acquire ^qno gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics⁵ or sandals or a staff, for ^rthe laborer deserves his food. 11 And ^swhatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your ^tpeace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, ^ushake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

15 Truly, I say to you, it will be ^vmore bearable on the day of judgment for ^wthe land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.