While he was still speaking, Judas, ¹  one of the twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ¹  tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

Then ¹  they came to Jerusalem. ²  Jesus ³  entered the temple area ⁴  and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. ⁵  He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,

The queen of the South ¹  will rise up at the judgment ²  with the people ³  of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ⁴  something greater ⁵  than Solomon is here!

Meanwhile, ¹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ³  the yeast of the Pharisees, ⁴  which is hypocrisy. ⁵ 

“I ¹  tell you, whoever acknowledges ²  me before men, ³  the Son of Man will also acknowledge ⁴  before God’s angels.

As he approached the road leading down from ¹  the Mount of Olives, ²  the whole crowd of his ³  disciples began to rejoice ⁴  and praise ⁵  God with a loud voice for all the mighty works ⁶  they had seen: ⁷ 

“Beware ¹  of the experts in the law. ²  They ³  like walking around in long robes, and they love elaborate greetings ⁴  in the marketplaces and the best seats ⁵  in the synagogues ⁶  and the places of honor at banquets.

Jesus replied, ¹  “You people ²  are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, ¹  and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. ² 

Now in those ¹  days, when the disciples were growing in number, ²  a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews ³  against the native Hebraic Jews, ⁴  because their widows ⁵  were being overlooked ⁶  in the daily distribution of food. ⁷ 

The word of God continued to spread, ¹  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ²  increased greatly, and a large group ³  of priests became obedient to the faith.

When the meeting of the synagogue ¹  had broken up, ²  many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes ³  followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading ⁴  them ⁵  to continue ⁶  in the grace of God.

Some of them were persuaded ¹  and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group ²  of God-fearing Greeks ³  and quite a few ⁴  prominent women.

By all these things, ¹  I have shown you that by working in this way we must help ²  the weak, ³  and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” ⁴ 

There was a great commotion, ¹  and some experts in the law ²  from the party of the Pharisees stood up ³  and protested strongly, ⁴  “We find nothing wrong ⁵  with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received ¹  from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote ²  against them when they were sentenced to death. ³ 

He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. ¹ 

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” ¹  Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by ²  my works.