Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean spirits — to drive them out, and to heal every sickness and every disease.
2 These are the names of the twelve messengers: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot — the one who handed him over.[1]
5 Jesus sent these twelve out with these orders: “Don’t go off into Gentile territory, and don’t enter any Samaritan town.[2] 6 Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. You received without paying — give without paying.
9 “Don’t stockpile gold or silver or copper in your money belts. 10 Don’t take a bag for the road, or a second tunic, or sandals, or a staff — a worker deserves his food.
11 “Whenever you enter a town or village, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 When you go into the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace rest on it. But if it isn’t worthy, let your peace come back to you. 14 And if anyone won’t welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or that town.[3] 15 Amen, I tell you: it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
16 “Look — I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.
17 “Watch out for people. They’ll hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 You’ll be dragged before governors and kings because of me — as a witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what to say. What you need to say will be given to you at that moment. 20 It won’t be you speaking — it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 “Brother will hand brother over to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You’ll be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who holds on to the end will be saved.
23 “When they persecute you in one town, run to the next. Amen, I tell you: you won’t finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24 “A student isn’t above his teacher, and a slave isn’t above his master. 25 It’s enough for a student to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If they’ve called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household?[4]
26 “So don’t be afraid of them. Nothing is covered that won’t be uncovered, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear whispered in your ear, shout from the rooftops.
28 “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.[5]
29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father.[6] 30 And even the hairs on your head are all counted. 31 So don’t be afraid — you’re worth more than many sparrows.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before people, I’ll acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before people, I’ll deny him before my Father in heaven.
34 “Don’t think I came to bring peace to the earth. I didn’t come to bring peace — I came to bring a sword. 35 I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — 36 a person’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me isn’t worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38 And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet because he’s a prophet will get a prophet’s reward. Whoever welcomes an upright person because he’s upright will get an upright person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he’s a disciple — Amen, I tell you, he won’t lose his reward.”
Notes
Note 1. Here the Greek actually reads “Simon the Cananaean” (Kananaios), from an Aramaic word meaning “zealous”; Luke translates the same nickname into Greek as “the Zealot.” By the Jewish revolt of the 60s AD, “Zealots” named an organized revolutionary faction, but in Jesus’s day the label more likely marked a man simply fierce for the law and for God. The wording leaves it open. ↩
Note 2. Jews and Samaritans shared much of the same scripture and ancestry but had split bitterly. A central grievance was worship itself: the Samaritans maintained their own temple on Mount Gerizim as a rival to Jerusalem, a claim Jews rejected. Many Jewish travelers went around Samaria rather than through it. ↩
Note 3. Devout Jews were known to shake off dust picked up in Gentile territory before re-entering the land, treating that soil as unclean. ↩
Note 4. The Greek here is “Beelzebul,” not quite the Old Testament “Baal-zebub” (“lord of the flies”), the god of Ekron mocked in 2 Kings. “Baal-zebul” would mean something like “Baal the prince” or “lord of the exalted dwelling,” and the exact sense is still debated. By this period the name had become a slur for the ruler of the demons. ↩
Note 5. “Gehenna” comes from the Valley of Hinnom, a ravine just south of Jerusalem remembered as a site of child sacrifice in Israel’s darker past. That grim history turned the name into a stock image for divine judgment. ↩
Note 6. The “penny” is an assarion, a small bronze coin worth a sixteenth of a denarius — a denarius being about a day’s wage for a laborer. Sparrows were among the cheapest food sold. ↩