Matthew 10:16-25

GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁶ “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as snakes but as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Watch out for people who will hand you over to the Jewish courts and whip you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ Because of me you will even be brought in front of governors and kings to testify to them and to everyone in the world. ¹⁹ When they hand you over ⌞to the authorities⌟, don’t worry about what to say or how to say it. When the time comes, you will be given what to say. ²⁰ Indeed, you’re not the ones who will be speaking. The Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.

²¹ “Brother will hand over brother to death; a father will hand over his child. Children will rebel against their parents and kill them. ²² Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who patiently endures to the end will be saved. ²³ So when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. I can guarantee this truth: Before you have gone through every city in Israel, the Son of Man will come.

²⁴ “A student is not better than his teacher. Nor is a slave better than his owner. ²⁵ It is enough for a student to become like his teacher and a slave like his owner. If they have called the owner of the house Beelzebul,^[a] they will certainly call the family members the same name.