When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he left that place to teach and preach in their towns.
2 Now John, while he was in prison, heard about the works of the Anointed One. He sent word through his own disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And fortunate is anyone who does not stumble over me.”
7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 No? Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Look — those who wear soft clothes are in kings’ houses. 9 So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
‘Look — I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’[1]
11 Amen, I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has arisen. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been pressing forward with force, and forceful people seize it.[2] 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah — the one who was to come.[3] 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
16 “To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, calling out to the others, 17 saying:
‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song, and you didn’t mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look — a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her works.”
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where most of his miracles had been done, because they had not turned from their ways. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Because if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have turned long ago, in sackcloth and ashes.[4] 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum — will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. Because if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.[5] 24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was pleasing in your sight.”
27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son — and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and weighed down, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.[6] 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Notes
Note 1. The quoted line is a blend, not a single verse. It draws on Malachi 3:1 — where God promises a messenger to prepare his way — but shifts the wording to the second person (“your way,” “before you”), echoing the language of Exodus 23:20, where God sends an angel ahead of Israel. Matthew applies this composite to John. ↩
Note 2. The Greek verb here, biazetai, is genuinely ambiguous and has divided readers for centuries. It can be middle voice — the kingdom “forces its way” or advances powerfully — or passive — the kingdom “suffers violence,” is under attack. The following clause about “forceful people” who “seize it” can be read either as eager seekers pressing in or as violent opponents; the translation you’re reading leans toward the first. ↩
Note 3. This draws on Malachi 4:5, where God promises to send the prophet Elijah “before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Many first-century Jews expected Elijah to return as a herald of the coming deliverance — an expectation still marked at the Passover seder, where a cup is poured for Elijah and the door opened for him. ↩
Note 4. These two Phoenician port cities were long-standing symbols of judgment in Jewish scripture, targeted by extended oracles of doom in Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 26–28. ↩
Note 5. The Greek word here is Hades, the general realm of the dead, not Gehenna, the term the New Testament elsewhere uses for a place of fiery punishment. The line plays on height and depth — “lifted up to heaven” versus brought down to Hades — echoing an oracle against Babylon in Isaiah 14. ↩
Note 6. In first-century Judaism the “yoke” was a common image for accepting a body of teaching — the “yoke of the Torah,” or a particular rabbi’s interpretation of how to live it. Every teacher had a “yoke” his students took on. ↩