Matthew 10:14–40

¹⁴And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷But beware of men, for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues. ¹⁸On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. ²⁰For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. ²²You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul,^f how much more the members of his household!

²⁶So do not be afraid of them. For there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.^g

²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?^h Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. ³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³²Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. ³³But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.

³⁴Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to turn

‘a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶A man’s enemies will be the members

of his own household.’ⁱ

³⁷Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; ³⁸and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

⁴⁰He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.