Gospel according to Matthew 10

¹ He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.

² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the one who was to betray him.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: ‘Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town;

⁶ go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

⁷ And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

⁸ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.

⁹ Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses,

¹⁰ with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.

¹¹ ‘Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave.

¹² As you enter his house, salute it,

¹³ and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you.

¹⁴ And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet.

¹⁵ I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.

¹⁶ Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.

¹⁷ ‘Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues.

¹⁸ You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans.

¹⁹ But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes;

²⁰ because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.

²¹ ‘Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.

²² You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved.

²³ If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another. I tell you solemnly, you will not have gone the round of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ ‘The disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor the slave to his master.

²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he should grow to be like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, what will they not say of his household?

²⁶ ‘Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.

²⁷ What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.

²⁸ ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

²⁹ Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing.

³⁰ Why, every hair on your head has been counted.

³¹ So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.

³² ‘So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven.

³³ But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.

³⁴ ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword.

³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶ A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.[*b]

³⁷ ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me.

³⁸ Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me.

³⁹ Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰ Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.

⁴¹ Anyone who welcomes a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.

⁴² ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’