Matthew 10

₁Jesus called his 12 disciples and He gave them power to chase_evil_spirits_out of people and to heal all the sick people. ₂The 12 apostles were: Simon, whose other name was Peter, his brother, Andrew, and also James and John, the 2 sons of Zebedee. ₃Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the tax-collector, James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus were also apostles. ₄The other apostles were Simon the patriot and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.

₅Jesus sent these 12 disciples out to go and preach. He told them: ‘Do not go to the Gentiles and do not go to the towns of the Samaritans. ₆But go to the Israelites. They are like sheep that are lost. ₇Go and preach to them and tell them: “The time is near when you will know that God in heaven rules over all.” ₈You must heal sick people and make dead people rise and live again. You must heal lepers and you must chase_demons out of people. You did not pay for this power, so do not ask people to pay you any money when you help them. ₉Do not take money with you when you go, no gold or silver or other money. ₁₀Do not take a bag with you or extra clothes or extra sandals or a staff. When a person works, he must get the things that he needs for his work.

₁₁When you go into a town or city, you must find out who will welcome you to stay in their home. Stay there until you go away from that town. ₁₂When you go into a house, greet the people and ask God to give his peace to the people in that house. ₁₃If people say you are welcome, ask that God's peace stays in that house. But if they say you are not welcome, then you must not pray that God's peace will stay there. ₁₄If you go into a house or town where the people do not welcome you and they do not want to listen to you, then you must go out of that house or town. Clean the sand and dust from that town off your feet. Shake it off. ₁₅I tell you this and it is sure: Those people will suffer very badly on the day when God judges everyone. It will be better for the people from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah than for the people from that town.’

₁₆Jesus said: ‘I am sending you to the people in the world and you will be like sheep that go to dangerous wolves. That is why you must be careful like snakes and honest like doves. ₁₇You must be careful because people will arrest you and take you to court. They will beat you with whips in the synagogues. ₁₈The people will take you to court and you will stand in front of rulers and kings because you belong to Me. Then you can tell the kings, and the people who do not believe, who I am. ₁₉But if they arrest you and take you to court, then you must not worry about what you have to say, because God will tell you what you must say. ₂₀It will not be you who speak. It will be the Spirit of your Father who will tell you what you must say. ₂₁Brothers and sisters will betray each other and ask the people in court to punish and kill their brothers. Fathers will take their children to court and children will rebel_against their parents and they will ask the people to kill their parents. ₂₂Everyone will hate you because you believe in Me. But if you keep following Me to the end, God will save you. ₂₃If the people in a town do bad things to you, then you must flee to another town. I tell you this and it is sure: You will not finish the work that I give you in all the towns of Israel before I, the Son of man, come. ₂₄A disciple is not more important than his teacher. A slave is not more important than his master. ₂₅A disciple must be happy when the same things happen to him that happened to his teacher. A slave must be happy when the same things happen to him that happened to his master. If the people say to the head of a house that he is Beelzebul, then they will also say it to the people in his house. They will say even worse things to them.’

₂₆Jesus said: ‘Do not be afraid of people. God in heaven rules over all and no one can hide this secret. Everyone will see it and they will know it. ₂₇Everything that I tell you in secret, you must go and tell everyone. There are a lot of things that I have said to you only, but you must go and tell it to everyone. Tell it from the roofs of the houses.

₂₈Do not be afraid of people. If they kill you, then it is only your body that dies, not your soul. No, you must be afraid only of God. He can destroy your body and your soul in hell, then you will really be dead.

₂₉You can buy 2 little birds for one copper_coin. They are very cheap. But not one of them will fall dead on the ground if your Father does not want it to. _30-31You are more important to God than many birds. God knows how many hairs are on every person's head. That is why you must not be afraid of people.’

₃₂Jesus said: ‘If you tell other people that you belong to Me, then I will also tell my Father in heaven that you belong to Me. ₃₃But if you are afraid to tell people that you belong to Me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you don't belong to Me.

₃₄Don't think that I came to bring peace on earth. I came, but there will be no peace among people. They will be enemies of each other. ₃₅I came and now a man will be against his father, a daughter will be against her mother and daughters-in-law will be against their mothers-in-law. ₃₆Yes, your own family in your house will be your enemies. ₃₇If a person loves his father or his mother more than he loves Me, then he can not be my disciple. If a person loves his son or his daughter more than he loves Me, then he can not be my disciple. ₃₈If you want to follow Me, then you must live like someone who knows that he will hang on a cross and die. Then you can be my disciple. ₃₉If you want to save your life, you will lose it. But if you say your life is not important, because you serve Me, then you will have eternal_life.’

₄₀‘If a person says you are welcome in his home, then I am also welcome there. And if I am welcome, then my Father who sent Me is also welcome there. ₄₁Any person who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet of God will get the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person because he is good will get the same reward as a good person.

₄₂If a person gives you a cup of water because you belong to Me, then God will reward him. This is sure.’