Matthew 10
1. Yeshua called his twelve talmidim and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every kind of disease and weakness.
2. These are the names of the twelve emissaries: 2 First, Shim‘on, called Kefa, and Andrew his brother, 2 Ya‘akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan his brother,
3. Philip and Bar-Talmai, 3 T’oma and Mattityahu the tax-collector, 3 Ya‘akov Bar-Halfai and Taddai,
4. Shim‘on the Zealot, and Y’hudah from K’riot, who betrayed him.
5. These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following instructions: “Don’t go into the territory of the Goyim, and don’t enter any town in Shomron,
6. but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.
7. As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’
8. heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons. You have received without paying, so give without asking payment.
9. Don’t take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper;
10. and for the trip don’t take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick — a worker should be given what he needs.
11. “When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave.
12. When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’
13. If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you.
14. But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet!
15. Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!
16. “Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves.
17. Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues.
18. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim.
19. But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say.
20. For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.
21. “A brother will betray his brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.
22. Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever holds out till the end will be preserved from harm.
23. When you are persecuted in one town, run away to another. Yes indeed; I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Isra’el before the Son of Man comes.
24. “A talmid is not greater than his rabbi, a slave is not greater than his master.
25. It is enough for a talmid that he become like his rabbi, and a slave like his master. Now if people have called the head of the house Ba‘al-Zibbul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!
26. So do not fear them; for there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, or hidden that will not be known.
27. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.
28. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are powerless to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gei-Hinnom.
29. Aren’t sparrows sold for next to nothing, two for an assarion? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s consent.
30. As for you, every hair on your head has been counted.
31. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.
32. “Whoever acknowledges me in the presence of others I will also acknowledge in the presence of my Father in heaven.
33. But whoever disowns me before others I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34. “Don’t suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Land. It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword!
35. For I have come to set
36. a man against his father, 36 a daughter against her mother, 36 a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 36 so that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.[a]
37. Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy of me.
38. And anyone who does not take up his execution-stake and follow me is not worthy of me.
39. Whoever finds his own life will lose it, but the person who loses his life for my sake will find it.
40. “Whoever receives you is receiving me, and whoever receives me is receiving the One who sent me.
41. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive the reward a prophet gets, and anyone who receives a tzaddik because he is a tzaddik will receive the reward a tzaddik gets.
42. Indeed, if someone gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my talmid — yes! — I tell you, he will certainly not lose his reward!”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 10:36: Micah 7:6