Sacred Texts Christianity Early Church Fathers Index Previous Next
p. 59 Section X.
[1] [Arabic, p. 38] 753 No man can serve two masters; and that because it is necessary that he hate one of them and love the other, and honour one of them and despise the [2] other. 754 Ye cannot serve God and possessions. And because of this I say unto you, Be not anxious for yourselves, 755 what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink; neither for your bodies, what ye shall put on. Is not the life better than the food, and the body [3] than the raiment? 756 Consider the birds of the heaven, which sow not, nor reap, nor store in barns; and yet your Father which is in heaven feedeth them. Are not ye [4] better than they? 757 Who of you when he trieth is able to add to his stature one [5] cubit? 758 If then ye are not able for a small thing, why are ye anxious about the [6, 7] rest? 759 Consider the wild lily, how it grows, although it toils not, nor spins; 760 and I say unto you that Solomon in the greatness of his glory was not clothed like one of [8] them. 761 And if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow [9] is cast 762 into the oven, how much more shall be unto you, O ye of little faith! 763 Be not anxious, so as to say, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With [10] what shall we be clothed? 764 Neither let your minds be perplexed in this: 765 all these things the nations of the world seek; and your Father which is in heaven knoweth [11] your need of all these things. 766 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; [12] [Arabic, p. 39] and all these shall come to you as something additional for you. 767 Be not anxious for the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious for what belongs to it. Sufficient unto the day is its evil.
[13] 768 Judge not, that ye be not judged: 769 condemn 770 not, that ye be not condemned: [14] 771 forgive, and it shall be forgiven you: release, and ye shall be released: give, that ye may be given unto; with good measure, abundant, full, they shall thrust 772 into your [15] bosoms. 773 With what measure ye measure it shall be measured to you. See to it what ye hear: with what measure ye measure it shall be measured to you; and ye [16] shall be given more. 774 I say unto those that hear, He that hath shall be given unto; and he that hath not, that which he regards 775 as his shall be taken from him.
[17] 776 And he spake unto them a parable, Can a blind man haply guide a blind man? [18] shall 777 they not both fall into a hollow? 778 A disciple is not better than his master; [19] every perfect man shall be as his master. 779 Why lookest thou at the mote which is in the eye of thy brother, but considerest not the column that is in thine own eye? [20] 780 Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, I will take out the mote from thine eye; and the column which is in thine eye thou seest not? Thou hypocrite, take out first the column from thine eye; and then shalt thou see to take out the mote from the eye of thy brother.
[21] 781 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and return and wound you.
[22] 782 And he said unto them, Who of you, that hath a friend, goeth to him at midnight, [23] and saith unto him, My friend, lend me three loaves; 783 for a friend hath come [24] to me from a journey, and I have nothing to offer to him: 784 and that friend shall [Arabic, p. 40] answer him from within, and say unto him, Trouble me not; for the door is shut, and my children are with me in bed, and I cannot rise and give thee? [25] 785 And verily I say unto you, If he will not give him because of friendship, yet because [26] of his importunity he will rise and give him what he seeketh. 786 And I also say unto you, Ask, and ye shall be given unto; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be [27] opened unto you. 787 Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and [28] he that knocketh, it shall be opened to him. 788 What father of you, shall his son ask for bread—will he, think you, give him a stone? 789 and if he ask of him a fish, will he, [29] think you, 790 instead of the fish give him a serpent? and if he ask him for an egg, will p. 60 [30] he, think you, extend to him a scorpion? 791 If ye then, although being evil, know the gifts which are good, and give them to your children, how much more shall your [31] Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? 792 Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: this is the law and the prophets.
[32] 793 Enter 794 ye by the narrow gate; for the wide gate and the broad way lead to destruction, [33] and many they be which go therein. 795 How narrow is the gate and straitened the way leading to life! and few be they that find it.
[34] 796 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s 797 clothing, while within [35] they are ravening wolves. 798 But by their fruits ye shall know them. 799 For every tree is known by its fruit. For figs are not gathered 800 of thorns, neither are grapes plucked of [36] briers. 801 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but the evil tree bringeth [37] [Arabic, p. 41] forth evil fruit. 802 The good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can the [38] evil tree bring forth good fruit. 803 The good man from the good treasures that are in his heart bringeth forth good things; and the evil man from the evil treasures that are in his heart bringeth forth evil things: and from the overflowings of the [39] heart the lips speak. 804 Every tree that beareth not good fruit is cut down and cast [40, 41] into the fire. 805 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 806 Not all that say unto me, My Lord, my Lord, shall enter the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth [42] the will of my Father which is in heaven. 807 Many shall say unto me in that day, My Lord, my Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and in thy name cast out [43] devils, and in thy name do many powers? 808 Then shall I say unto them, I never [44] knew you: depart from me, ye servants of iniquity. 809 Every man that cometh unto [45] me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to what he is like: 810 he is like the wise man which built a house, and digged and went deep, and laid the [46] foundations on a rock: 811 and the rain came down, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and shook that house, and it fell not: for its foundation was laid on [47] rocks. 812 And every one that heareth these my words, and doeth them not, is like [48] the foolish man which built his house on sand, without foundation: 813 and the rain descended, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house, and it fell: and the fall of it was great.
Or, your souls; or, your lives.
59:756 59:757 59:758 59:759 59:760 59:761 59:762 59:763 59:764 59:765 59:766 59:767 59:768 59:769 59:770The word means to contend successfully, but is used throughout by our translator in the sense of condemn.
59:771 59:772This is the reading adopted by Ciasca in his Latin version. The diacritical points in the Arabic text, as he has printed it (perhaps a misprint), give second person plural passive instead of third plural active.
59:773 59:774 59:775cf. Luke viii. 18b. Our translator uses the same word in § 50, 5=Luke xxiii. 8b; and in both cases it represents the same word in the Syriac versions.
59:776 59:777 59:778 59:779 59:780 59:781 59:782 59:783 59:784 59:785 59:786 59:787 59:788 59:789The Arabic might also be rendered, What father of you whom his son asketh for bread, will (think you) give him a stone? But as the Peshitta preserves the confused construction of the Greek, it is probably better to render as above.
59:790 60:791 60:792 60:793 60:794There is nothing about striving. The verb is walaga, which means enter (cf. § 11, 48).
60:795 60:796 60:797 60:798 60:799 60:800The verbs might be singular active, but not plural as in Syriac versions (cf., however, § 38, 43, note, end). In the Borg. ms. the nouns are in the accusative.
60:801 60:802 60:803 60:804 60:805 60:806 60:807 60:808 60:809 60:810 60:811 60:812 60:813