²⁷ As Jesus was leaving her home, two blind men followed along behind, shouting, “O Son of King David, have mercy on us.”

²⁸ They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”

“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith it will happen.”

³⁰ And suddenly they could see! Jesus sternly warned them not to tell anyone about it, ³¹ but instead they spread his fame all over the town.^[a]

³² Leaving that place, Jesus met a man who couldn’t speak because a demon was inside him. ³³ So Jesus cast out the demon, and instantly the man could talk. How the crowds marveled! “Never in all our lives have we seen anything like this,” they exclaimed.

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “The reason he can cast out demons is that he is demon-possessed himself—possessed by Satan, the demon king!”

6 Soon afterwards he left that section of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. ^2-3 The next Sabbath he went to the synagogue to teach, and the people were astonished at his wisdom and his miracles because he was just a local man like themselves.

“He’s no better than we are,” they said. “He’s just a carpenter, Mary’s boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” And they were offended!

⁴ Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his relatives and by his own family.” ⁵ And because of their unbelief he couldn’t do any mighty miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶ And he could hardly accept the fact that they wouldn’t believe in him.

Then he went out among the villages, teaching.

^53-54 When Jesus had finished giving these illustrations, he returned to his hometown, Nazareth in Galilee,^[a] and taught there in the synagogue and astonished everyone with his wisdom and his miracles.

⁵⁵ “How is this possible?” the people exclaimed. “He’s just a carpenter’s son, and we know Mary his mother and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. ⁵⁶ And his sisters—they all live here. How can he be so great?” ⁵⁷ And they became angry with him!

Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country, and among his own people!” ⁵⁸ And so he did only a few great miracles there, because of their unbelief.

³⁵ Jesus traveled around through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the Jewish synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went he healed people of every sort of illness. ³⁶ And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷ “The harvest is so great, and the workers are so few,” he told his disciples. ³⁸ “So pray to the one in charge of the harvesting, and ask him to recruit more workers for his harvest fields.”

⁷ And he called his twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two, with power to cast out demons. ^8-9 He told them to take nothing with them except their walking sticks—no food, no knapsack, no money, not even an extra pair of shoes or a change of clothes.

¹⁰ “Stay at one home in each village—don’t shift around from house to house while you are there,” he said. ¹¹ “And whenever a village won’t accept you or listen to you, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave; it is a sign that you have abandoned it to its fate.”

¹² So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to turn from sin. ¹³ And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of sickness and disease.

^2-4 Here are the names of his twelve disciples: Simon (also called Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James (Zebedee’s son), John (James’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (Alphaeus’s son), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of “The Zealots,” a subversive political party), Judas Iscariot (the one who betrayed him).

⁵ Jesus sent them out with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, ⁶ but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. ⁷ Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.^{[a] 8} Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

⁹ “Don’t take any money with you; ¹⁰ don’t even carry a duffle bag with extra clothes and shoes, or even a walking stick; for those you help should feed and care for you. ¹¹ Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a godly man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town. ¹² When you ask permission to stay, be friendly, ¹³ and if it turns out to be a godly home, give it your blessing; if not, keep the blessing. ¹⁴ Any city or home that doesn’t welcome you—shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave. ¹⁵ Truly, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off at Judgment Day than they.

¹⁶ “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as serpents and harmless as doves. ¹⁷ But beware! For you will be arrested and tried, and whipped in the synagogues. ¹⁸ Yes, and you must stand trial before governors and kings for my sake. This will give you the opportunity to tell them about me, yes, to witness to the world.

¹⁹ “When you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say at your trial, for you will be given the right words at the right time. ²⁰ For it won’t be you doing the talking—it will be the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you!

²¹ “Brother shall betray brother to death, and fathers shall betray their own children. And children shall rise against their parents and cause their deaths. ²² Everyone shall hate you because you belong to me. But all of you who endure to the end shall be saved.

²³ “When you are persecuted in one city, flee to the next! I^[b] will return before you have reached them all! ²⁴ A student is not greater than his teacher. A servant is not above his master. ²⁵ The student shares his teacher’s fate. The servant shares his master’s! And since I, the master of the household, have been called ‘Satan,’^[c] how much more will you! ²⁶ But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when the truth will be revealed: their secret plots will become public information.

²⁷ “What I tell you now in the gloom, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, proclaim from the housetops!

²⁸ “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill only your bodies—but can’t touch your souls! Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Not one sparrow (What do they cost? Two for a penny?) can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. ³⁰ And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t worry! You are more valuable to him than many sparrows.

³² “If anyone publicly acknowledges me as his friend, I will openly acknowledge him as my friend before my Father in heaven. ³³ But if anyone publicly denies me, I will openly deny him before my Father in heaven.

³⁴ “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, rather, a sword. ³⁵ I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— ³⁶ a man’s worst enemies will be right in his own home! ³⁷ If you love your father and mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. ³⁸ If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.

³⁹ “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will save it.

⁴⁰ “Those who welcome you are welcoming me. And when they welcome me they are welcoming God who sent me. ⁴¹ If you welcome a prophet because he is a man of God, you will be given the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly men because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs.

⁴² “And if, as my representatives, you give even a cup of cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.”

9 One day Jesus called together his twelve apostles and gave them authority over all demons—power to cast them out—and to heal all diseases. ² Then he sent them away to tell everyone about the coming of the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

³ “Don’t even take along a walking stick,” he instructed them, “nor a beggar’s bag, nor food, nor money. Not even an extra coat. ⁴ Be a guest in only one home at each village.

⁵ “If the people of a town won’t listen to you when you enter it, turn around and leave, demonstrating God’s anger against it^[a] by shaking its dust from your feet as you go.”

⁶ So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.