Future Persecutions^(A)

¹⁶ “Pay attention, now! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Watch out for people who will hand you over to the local councils and whip you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings because of me, to testify to them and to unbelievers.^{[a] 19} When they hand you over, don’t worry about how you are to speak^[b] or what you are to say, because in that hour what you are to say will be given to you. ²⁰ It won’t be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through^[c] you.

²¹ “Brother will hand brother over for execution, and a father his child. Children will rebel against parents and have them put to death. ²² You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ So when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, because I tell all of you^[d] with certainty that you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, and a slave is not above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul,^[e] how much more will they do the same to^[f] those of his household!”