Twentieth Century New Testament - 05 - Matthew, Chapters 5-10

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Gospel of Matthew, chapters five through ten, from the
twentieth century New Testament. This is a LibriVox recording. All
LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by J. A.

(00:23):
Carter www dot authentic light dot org. The twentieth century
New Testament by a company of about twenty scholars, The
Gospel of Matthew, chapters five through ten. Chapter five, On
seeing the crowds of people, Jesus went up the hill,

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and when he had taken his seat, his disciples came
up to him, and he began to teach them as follows.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven. Blest are the mourners, for they shall
be comforted. Blest are the gentle, for they shall inherit
the earth. Blest are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

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for they shall be satisfied. Blest are the merciful, for
they shall find mercy. Blest are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Blest are the peace makers,
for they shall be called sons of God. Blest are
those who have been persecuted in the cause of righteousness,

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For theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blest are you
when people taunt you and persecute you, and say everything
evil about you untruly on my account, be glad and rejoice,
because your reward in heaven will be great. For so
men persecuted the prophets who live before you. It is

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you who are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt should lose its strength, what will you use
to restore its saltness? It is no longer good for anything,
but is thrown away and trampled under foot. It is
you who are the light of the world. A town
that stands on a hill cannot be hidden. Men do
not light a lamp and put it under the corn measure,

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but on the lamp stand where it gives light to
every one in the house. Let your light so shine
before the eyes of your fellow men, that seeing your
good actions, they may praise your father, who is in heaven.
Do not think that I have come to do away
with the Law or the prophets. I have not come
to do away with them, but to complete them. For

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I tell you, until the heavens and the earth disappear,
not even the smallest letter, nor one stroke of a letter,
shall disappear from the law until all is done. Whoever
therefore breaks one of these commandments, even the least of them,
and teaches others to do so, will be the least
esteemed in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps them

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and teaches others to do so, will be esteemed great
in the Kingdom of heaven. Indeed, I tell you that
unless your religion is above that of the teachers of
the Law and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. You have heard that to our ancestors it
was said, thou shalt not commit murder, and whoever commits

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murder shall be liable to answer for it to the court. I, however,
say to you that any one who cherishes anger against
his brother shall be liable to answer for it to
the court, and whoever pours contempt upon his brother shall
be liable to answer for it to the High Council.
While whoever calls down curses upon him shall be liable
to answer for it in the fiery pit. Therefore, when

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presenting your gift at the altar, if even there you
remember that your brother has some grievance against you. Leave
your gift there before the altar. Go and be reconciled
to your brother first, then come and present your gift.
Be ready to make friends with your opponent, even when
you meet him on your way to the court, for
fear that he should hand you over to the judge,

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and the judge to his officer, and you shall be
thrown into prison. I tell you will not come out
until you have paid the last penny. You have heard
that it was said thou shalt not commit adultery. I, however,
say to you that any one who looks at a
woman with an impure intention has already committed adultery with

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her in his heart. If your right eye is a
snare to you, take it out and throw it away,
it would be best for you to lose one part
of your body, and not to have the whole of
it thrown into the pit. And if your right hand
is a snare to you, cut it off and throw
it away, it would be best for you to lose
one part of your body, and not to have the
whole of it go down to the pit. It was

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also said, let any one who divorces his wife serve
her with a notice of separation. I, however, say to
you that any one who divorces his wife except on
the ground of her unchastity, leads to her committing adultery,
while any one who marries her after her divorce is
guilty of adultery. Again, you have heard that to our

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ancestors it was said, thou shalt not break an oath,
but thou shalt keep thine oaths as a debt do
to the Lord. I, however, say to you that you
must not swear at all, either by Heaven, since it
is God's throne, or by the earth, since that is
his footstool, or by Jerusalem, since that is the city
of the Great King. Nor should you swear by your head,

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since you cannot make a single hair, either white or black.
Let your words be simply yes or no. Anything beyond
this comes from what is wrong. You have heard that
it was said an eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth. I, however, say to you that
you must not resist wrong. But if any one strikes

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you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.
And when any one wants to go to law with you,
to take your coat, let him, have your cloak as well.
And if any one compels you to go one mile,
go two miles with him. Give to him who asks
of you, and from him who wants to borrow from you.
Do not turn away. You have heard that it was said,

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thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. I, however,
say to you love your enemies, and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may become sons of your father,
who is in heaven. For he causes his son to
rise upon bad and good alike, and sends rain upon
the righteous and upon the unrighteous. For if you love
only those who love you, what reward will you have?

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Even the tax gatherers do this. And if you show
courtesy to your brothers only, what are you doing more
than others? Even the gentiles do this. You then must
become perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. Chapter six.
Take care not to perform your religious duties in public
in order to be seen by others. If you do,

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your father, who is in heaven, has no reward for you. Therefore,
when you do acts of charity, do not have a
trumpet blown in front of you, as hypocrites do. In
the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be
praised by others. There, I tell you, is their reward.
But when you do acts of charity, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

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so that your charity may be secret, and your father,
who sees what is in secret, will recompense you. And
when you pray, you are not to behave as hypocrites
do They like to pray standing in the synagogues and
at the corners of the streets, that they may be
seen by men. There, I tell you is their reward.
But when one of you prays, let him go into

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his own room, shut the door and pray to his father,
who dwells in secret, and his father, who sees what
is secret, will recompense him. When praying, do not repeat
the same words over and over again, as is done
by the gentiles, who think that by using many words
they will obtain a hearing. Do not imitate them. For God,

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your father knows what you need before you act. Ask him.
You therefore should pray. Thus, our Father, who art in heaven,
may your name be held, Holy Thy Kingdom. Come, Thy
will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us
to day the bread that we shall need. And forgive

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us our wrong doings, as we have forgiven those who
have wronged us. And take us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their offenses,
your heavenly father will forgive you also. But if you
do not forgive others their offenses, not even your father

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will forgive your offenses. And when you fast, do not
put on gloomy looks, as hypocrites do, who disfigure their faces,
that they may be seen by men to be fasting.
That I tell you is their reward. But when one
of you fasts, let him anoint his head and wash
his face, that he may not be seen by men
to be fasting by his father, who dwells in secret.

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And his father, who sees what is secret, will recompense him.
Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break
in or steal. For where your treasure is there will

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your heart be also. The lamp of the body is
the eye. If your eye is unclouded, your whole body
will be lit up. But if your eye is diseased,
your whole body will be darkened. And if the inner
light is darkness, how intense must that darkness be. No

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one can serve two masters, for either he will hate
one and love the other, or else he will attach
himself to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
both God and money. That is why I say to you,
do not be anxious about your life. Here what you
can get to eat or drink, nor yet about your
body what you can get to wear. Is not life

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more than food, and the body more than its clothing.
Look at the wild birds. They neither sow, nor reap,
nor gather into barns, And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more precious than they? But which of you,
by being anxious can prolong his life a single moment?
And why be anxious about clothing? Study the wild lilies

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and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet
I tell you that even Solomon, in all his splendor,
was not robed like one of these. If God so
clothes even the grass of the field, which is living
to day and tomorrow will be thrown into the oven.
Will not he much more clothe you, o, men of
little faith? Do not then ask anxiously what can we

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get to eat? Or what can we get to drink?
Or what can we get to wear? All these are
the things for which the nation are seeking, And your
heavenly father knows that you need them all. But first
seek his kingdom and the righteousness that he requires, and
then all these things will be added for you. Therefore,

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do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring
its own anxieties. Every day has trouble enough of its own.
Chapter seven. Do not judge that you may not be judged,
For just as you judge others, you will yourselves be judged,
and the measure that you meet will be meted out

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to you. And why do you look at the straw
in your brother's eye, while you pay no attention at
all to the beam and yours. How will you say
to your brother, let me take out the straw from
your eye, when all the time there is a beam
in your own, hypocrite, take out the beam from your
own eye first, and then you will see clearly how

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to take out the straw from your brother's. Do not
give what is sake grid to dogs, Nor yet throw
your pearls before pigs, lest they should trample them under
their feet, and then turn and attack you. Ask and
your prayer shall be granted. Search and you shall find. Knock,
and the door shall be open to you. For he

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that asks receives, he that searches finds, And to him
that knocks, the door shall be opened. Who among you,
when his son asks him for a loaf, will give
him a stone, or when he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake. If you, then wicked, though
you are, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your father, who is in heaven,

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give what is good to those that ask him. Do
to others whatever you would wish them to do to you,
For that is the teaching of both the Law and
the prophets. Go in by the small gate. Broad and
spacious is the road that leads to destruction, and those
who go in by it are For small is the gate,

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and narrow the road that leads to life, and those
that find it are few. Beware of false teachers, men
who come to you in the guise of sheep, but
at heart they are ravenous wolves. By the fruit of
their lives you will know them. Do people gather grapes
from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, So too, every

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sound tree bears good fruit, while a worthless tree bears
bad fruit. A sound tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor
can a worthless tree bear good fruit. Every tree that
fails to bear good fruit is cut down and thrown
into the fire. Hence, it is by the fruit of
their lives that you will know such men. Not every

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one who says to me master or master will enter
the Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the
will of my Father, who is in heaven. On that day,
many will say to me, Master, Master, was it not
in your name that we taught and in your name
that we drove out demons, and in your name that
we did many miracles? And then I will say to them, plainly,

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I never knew you. Go from my presence, you who
live and sin. Every One therefore that listens to this
teaching of mine and acts upon it, may be compared
to a prudent man who built his house upon the rock.
The rain poured down, the rivers rose, the winds blew
and beat upon that house, but it did not fall,

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for its foundations were upon the rock. And every one
that listens to this teaching of mine and does not
act upon it may be compared to a foolish man
who built his house on the sand. The rain poured down,
the rivers rose, the winds blew and struck against that house,
and it fell, and great was its downfall. By the

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time that Jesus had finished speaking, the crowd was filled
with amazement at his teaching, for he taught them like
one who had authority, and not like the teachers of
the law. Chapter eight. When Jesus said, come down from
the hill, great crowds followed him, and he saw a
leper who came up and bowed to the ground before
him and said, Master, if only you are willing, you

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are able to make me clean. Stretching out his hand.
Jesus touched him, saying, as he did so, I am
willing become clean. Instantly he was made clean from his leprosy.
And then Jesus said to him, be careful not to
say a word to any one, but go and show
yourself to the priest and offer the gift directed by

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Moses as evidence of your cure. After Jesus had entered Capernaum,
a captain in the Roman army came up to him
entreating his help. Sir, he said, my man servant is
lying ill at my house with a stroke of paralysis,
and is suffering terribly. I will come and cure him,
answered Jesus, Sir. The captain went on, I am unworthy

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to receive you under my roof. But only speak, and
my man servant will be cured. For I myself am
a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me.
And if I say to one of them, go, he goes,
and to another come he comes. And to my slave,
do this, and he does it. Jesus was surprised to
hear this, and said to those who were following him,

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never I tell you, in any Israelite have I met
with such faith as this. Yes, and many will come
in from east and west and take their places beside Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the
heirs to the kingdom will be banished into the darkness
outside there there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

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Then Jesus said to the captain, go now, and it
shall be according to your faith, and the man was cured.
That very hour. When Jesus went into Peter's house, he
saw Peter's mother in law prostrated with fever. On his
taking her hand, the fever left her, and she rose
and began to wait upon him. In the evening, the

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people brought to Jesus many who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits with a word and
cured all who were ill. In fulfillment of these words
in the prophet Isaiah, he took our infirmities on himself
and bore the burden of our diseases. Seeing a crowd
round him, Jesus gave orders to go across, and a

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teacher of the law came up to him and said, teacher,
I will follow you wherever you go. Foxes have holes,
answered Jesus, and wild birds their roosting places. But the
son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Master,
said another, who was a disciple, Let me first go
and bury my father. But Jesus answered, follow me, and

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leave the dead to bury their dead. Then he got
into the boat, followed by his disciples. Suddenly, so great
a storm came on upon the sea, that the waves
broke right over the boat. But Jesus was asleep, and
the disciples came and roused him. Master. They cried, save us,
we are lost. Why are you so timid? He said,

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O men of little faith. Then Jesus rose and rebuked
the winds and the sea, and a great calm followed.
The men were amazed and exclaimed, what kind of man
is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
And on getting to the other side the country of
the Gaderines, Jesus met two men who were possessed by

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demons coming out of the tombs. They were so violent
that no one was able to pass that way. Suddenly
they shrieked out, what do you want with us? Son
of God? Have you come here to torment us before
our time? A long way off there was a drove
of many pigs feeding, and the foul spirits began begging Jesus,

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if you drive us out, send us into the drove
of pigs. Go, he said. The spirits came out and
entered the pigs, and the whole drove rushed down the
steep slow into the sea and died in the water.
At this the men who tended them ran away and
went to the town, carrying the news of all that
had occurred and of what had happened to the possessed men.

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At the news, the whole town went out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him, they entreated him to go
away from their neighborhood. Chapter nine. Afterwards, Jesus got into
a boat, and, crossing over, came to his own city,
and there some people brought to him a paralyzed man
on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said

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to the man, courage child, your sins are forgiven. Then
some of the teachers of the law said to themselves,
this man is blaspheming. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus exclaimed, why
do you cherish such wicked thoughts? Which I ask, is
the easier to say your sins are forgiven, or to
say get up and walk about, but that you may

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know that the Son of Man has power on earth
to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralyzed man,
get up, take up your bed, and return to your home.
The man got up and went to his home. When
the crowd saw this, they were awe struck and praised
God for giving such power to men. As Jesus went along,

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he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax
office and said to him, follow me. Matthew got up
and followed him, And later on, when he was at
table in the house, a number of tax gatherers and
outcasts came in and took their places at table with
Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat in

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the company of tax gatherers and outcasts. On hearing this,
Jesus said, it is not those who are in health
that need a doctor, but those who are ill. Go
and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
for I did not come to call the religious, but
the outcast. Then John's disciples came to Jesus and asked,

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why do we in the Pharisees fast while your disciples
do not. Jesus answered, can the bridegroom's friends mourn as
long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days
will come when the bridegroom will be parted from them
and they will fast. Then no man ever puts a
piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for such

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a patch tears away from the garment, and a worse
rent is made. Nor do people put new wine into
old wine skins, for if they do, the skins burst
and the wine runs out, and the skins are lost.
But they put new wine into fresh skins, and so
both are preserved. While Jesus was saying this, a president
of a synagogue came up and bowed to the ground

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before him. My daughter, he said, has just died. But
come and place your hand on her, and she will
be restored to life. So Jesus rose and followed him,
and his disciples went also. But meanwhile, a woman who
had been suffering from hemorrhage for twelve years, came up
behind him and touched the tassel of his cloak. If

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I only touch his cloak, she said to herself, I
shall get well. Turning and seeing her, Jesus said, courage, daughter,
your faith has delivered you. And the woman was delivered
from her malady from that very hour. When Jesus reached
the president's house, seeing the flute players and a number

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of people all in confusion, he said, go away. The
little girl is not dead. She is asleep. They began
to laugh at him, But when the people had been
sent out, Jesus went in and took the little girl's hand,
and she rose. The report of this spread throughout all
that part of the country. As Jesus was passing on

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from there, he was followed by two blind men who
kept calling out, take pity on us, son of David.
When he had gone indoors, the blind men came up
to him, and Jesus asked them, do you believe that
I am able to do this? Yes? Master, they answered.
Upon that, He touched their eyes and said, it shall

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be according to your faith. Then their eyes were opened.
Jesus sternly cautioned them. See that no one knows of it,
he said, But the men went out and spread the
news about him throughout all that part of the country.
Just as they were going out, some people brought up
to Jesus a dumb man who was possessed by a demon,
And as soon as the demon had been driven out,

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the dumb man spoke. The people were astonished at this
and exclaimed, nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.
But the Pharisees said, he drives out the demons by
the help of the chief of the demons. Jesus went
round all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every

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kind of disease and every kind of sickness. But when
the crowds, his heart was moved with compassion for them,
because they were distressed and harassed, like sheep without a shepherd.
And he said to his disciples, the harvest is abundant,
but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the owner

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of the harvest to send laborers to gather in his harvest.
Chapter ten. Calling his twelve disciples to him, Jesus gave
them authority over foul spirits, so that they could drive
them out, as well as the power of curing every
kind of disease and every kind of sickness. The names
of the twelve apostles are these, first Simon also known

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as Peter, and his brother Andrew, James the son of
Zebediah and his brother John, Philip and Bartholomew Thomas and
Matthew the tax gatherer, James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus,
Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed him.

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These twelve Jesus sent out as his messengers after giving
them these instructions. Do not go to the gentiles, nor
enter any Samaritan town, but make your way rather to
the lost sheep of Israel, and on your way proclaim
that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Cure the sick,
raise the dead, make the lepers clean, drive out demons.

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You have received free of cost, give free of cost.
Do not provide yourselves with gold or silver or pence
in your purses, not even with a bag for the journey,
or a change of clothes or sandals, or even a staff,
for the worker is worth his food. Whatever town or
village you visit, find out who is worthy in that place,

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and remain there till you leave. As you enter the house,
greet it. Then. If the house is worthy, let your
blessing rest upon it. But if it is unworthy, let
your blessing return upon yourselves. If no one welcomes you
or listens to what you have to say, as you
leave that house or that town, shake off its dust
from your feet. I tell you the doom of the

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land of Sodom and Gomorah will be more bearable in
the day of judgment than the doom of that town. Remember,
I am sending you out as my messengers, like sheep
among wolves. So be as wise as serpents, and as
blameless as doves. Be on your guard against your fellow men,
for they will betray you to courts of law and

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scourge you in their synagogues. And you will be brought
before governors and kings for my sake, that you may
witness for me before them and the nations. Whenever they
betray you. Do not be anxious as to how you
shall speak or what you shall say, for what you
shall say will be given you at the moment. For
it will not be you who speak, but the spirit
of your father that speaks within you. Brother will betray

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brother to death, and the father his child, and children
will turn against their parents and cause them to be
put to death. And you will be hated by every
one on account of my name. Yet the man that
endures to the end shall be saved. But when they
persecute you in one town, escape to the next. For
I tell you will not have come to the end

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of the towns of Israel before the son of Man comes.
A scholar is not above his teacher, nor a servant
above his master. It is enough for a scholar to
be treated like his teacher, and a servant like his master.
If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub,
how much more the members of his household. Do not

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therefore be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed which
will not be revealed, nor anything hidden which will not
become known. What I tell you in the dark, say again,
and the light, and what is whispered in your ear,
proclaim upon the housetops. And do not be afraid of
those who kill the body but are unable to kill
the soul. Rather be afraid of him who is able

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to destroy both soul and body. In the pit. Are
not two sparrows sold for a halfpenny, Yet not one
of them will fall to the ground without your father's knowledge.
While as for you, the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. Do not therefore be afraid you are
of more value than many sparrows. Every One therefore, who

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shall acknowledge me before his fellow men, I too will
acknowledge before my father, who is in heaven. But if
any one disowns me before his fellow men, I too
will disown him before my father, who is in heaven.
Do not imagine that I have come to bring peace
upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace

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but the sword. For I have come to set a
man against his father, and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter in law against her mother in law.
A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.
He who loves father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me. And he who loves son or

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daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And
the man who does not take his cross and following
my steps is not worthy of me. He who has
found his life will lose it, while he who, for
my sake has lost his life shall find it. He
who welcomes you is welcoming me, and he who welcomes

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me is welcoming him who sent me as his messenger.
He who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet,
shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who welcomes a
good man because he is a good man, shall receive
a good man's reward. And if any one gives but
a cup of cold water to one of these lowly
ones because he is a disciple, I tell you that

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he shall assuredly not lose his reward. End of Chapters
five through ten,