What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ³ 

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ²  the miracles ³  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁴  and Sidon, ⁵  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

And you, Capernaum, ¹  will you be exalted to heaven? ²  No, you will be thrown down to Hades! ³  For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day.

He said to them, “Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out?

“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, ¹  it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ²  hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. ³ 

The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw? ¹  Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet ²  you did not arrest me.

“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.

For the Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, yet ¹  you did not arrest me. But this has happened so that ²  the scriptures would be fulfilled.”

Demons also came out ¹  of many, crying out, ²  “You are the Son of God!” ³  But he rebuked ⁴  them, and would not allow them to speak, ⁵  because they knew that he was the Christ. ⁶ 

The experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees ²  watched ³  Jesus ⁴  closely to see if ⁵  he would heal on the Sabbath, ⁶  so that they could find a reason to accuse him.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, ¹  he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, ²  he would know who and what kind of woman ³  this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

“Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹  Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if ²  the miracles ³  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁴  and Sidon, ⁵  they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

“Which one ¹  of you, if he has a hundred ²  sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture ³  and go look for ⁴  the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ 

It would be better for him to have a millstone ¹  tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea ²  than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³ 

So ¹  the Lord replied, ²  “If ³  you had faith the size of ⁴  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ⁵  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ⁶  and it would obey ⁷  you.

“Would any one of you say ¹  to your slave ²  who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? ³ 

The tax collector, however, stood ¹  far off and would not even look up ²  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ³  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁴