Matthew (RSV)
Excerpts from the Original Electronic Text at the web site of the Bible Gateway.
Chapter 3

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In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

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"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

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For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

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Now John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

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Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan,

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and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

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But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sad'ducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

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Bear fruit that befits repentance,

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and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

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Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

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"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

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His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

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Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

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John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

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But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness." Then he consented.

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And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;

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and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Chapter 4

1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

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And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.

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And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."

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But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

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Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,

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and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

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Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

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Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;

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and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."

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Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

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Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

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Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee;

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and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper'na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb'ulun and Naph'tali,

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that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

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"The land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--

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the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

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From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

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As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

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And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

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Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

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And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zeb'edee and John his brother, in the boat with Zeb'edee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

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Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

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And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.

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So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.

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And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decap'olis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 6
(from the Sermon on the Mount)

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"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal,

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but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light;

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but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

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"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

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"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Chapter 8

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That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.

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And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.

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And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"

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Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them.

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And the demons begged him, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine."

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And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters.

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The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs.

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And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

Chapter 9

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As they were going away, behold, a dumb demoniac was brought to him.

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And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel."

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But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."

Chapter 10

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And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.

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The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zeb'edee, and John his brother;

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Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

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Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

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These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans,

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but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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And preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

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Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. . . .

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"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

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Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues,

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and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles.

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When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour;

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for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

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Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;

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and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

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When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

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"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master;

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it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Be-el'zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. . . .

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"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

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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;

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and a man's foes will be those of his own household.

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He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

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and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. . . .

Chapter 12

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Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

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And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?"

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But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons."

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Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand;

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and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

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And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

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But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

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Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

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He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

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Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

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And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Chapter 13

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Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;

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but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

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So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

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And the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?'

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He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'

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But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

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Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

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Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field;

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it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

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He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

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All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable.

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This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."

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Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."

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He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man;

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the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one,

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and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.

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Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age.

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The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,

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and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

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Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Chapter 24

3

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?"

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And Jesus answered them, "Take heed that no one leads you astray.

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For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray.

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And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

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For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places:

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all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs.

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"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

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And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another.

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And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

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And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold.

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But he who endures to the end will be saved.

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And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. . . .

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"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

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then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;

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and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Chapter 25

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"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

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Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,

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and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

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Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

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for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, . . .

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Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;

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for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, . . .

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And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

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