Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this, the Lord chose seventy-two^[a] others and sent them out in pairs ahead of him into every town and place where he planned to go. ² He said to them, “There are a great many people to harvest, but there are only a few workers. So pray to God, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to help gather his harvest. ³ Go now, but listen! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. ⁴ Don’t carry a purse, a bag, or sandals, and don’t waste time talking with people on the road. ⁵ Before you go into a house, say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ ⁶ If peace-loving people live there, your blessing of peace will stay with them, but if not, then your blessing will come back to you. ⁷ Stay in the same house, eating and drinking what the people there give you. A worker should be given his pay. Don’t move from house to house. ⁸ If you go into a town and the people welcome you, eat what they give you. ⁹ Heal the sick who live there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ ¹⁰ But if you go into a town, and the people don’t welcome you, then go into the streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dirt from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you.^[b] But remember that the kingdom of God is near.’ ¹² I tell you, on the Judgment Day it will be better for the people of Sodom^[c] than for the people of that town.