“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:  be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.  But beware of men:  for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you; yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak:  for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak.  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.  And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child:  and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.  And ye shall be hated of all men, for my name’s sake:  but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.  But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next:  for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household?  Fear them not therefore:  for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.  What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the house-tops.  And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:  but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father:  but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not therefore:  ye are of more value than many sparrows.  Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if it is already kindled?  But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

“Think not that I came to send peace on the earth:  I came not to send peace, but a sword.  For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.  For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law:  and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.  He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.