Section XIV.
[1] 1012
Verily I say unto
you, There hath not arisen among those whom
women have borne a greater
than John the Baptist; but he that is little now in the
kingdom of
heaven is greater than he.
[2] [Arabic, p. 54] 1013
And all the
people which heard, and the
publicans, justified
1014
| 1014 Syriac. In
Arabic the word ordinarily means believed. |
God, for [3] they had been
baptized with the
baptism of John.
1015
But the
Pharisees
and the
scribes wronged
1016
| 1016 See below, § 20,
28, note. |
the purpose of
God
in themselves, in that they were not
baptized of [4] him.
1017
And from the days of John the Baptist until
now the
kingdom of
heaven is [5]
snatched away by
violence.
1018
The
law and the
prophets were until
John; and after that, the
kingdom of
God is
preached, and all press to
enter it:
1019
and they that exert
themselves [6, 7]
snatch it away.
1020
All
the
prophets and the
law until John prophesied.
1021
And if ye [8] will, then receive
it,
that he is
Elijah, which is to come.
1022
Whosoever hath
ears that hear [9] let him
hear.
1023
Easier is the
perishing of
heaven and
earth, than the passing away of [10] one point
of the
law.
1024
To whom then shall I
liken the people of this generation,
1025
and [11] to
whom are they like?
1026
They are like the
children sitting in the
market, which call to their companions, and
say, We
sang to you, and ye
danced not; we wailed to you, [12] and ye
wept not.
1027
John the Baptist
came neither eating
bread nor drinking
wine; [13] and ye said, He hath
demons:
1028
and the Son of man
came eating and drinking; and ye said, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a
drinker of
wine, and an associate of
publicans [14, 15] and
sinners!
1029
And
wisdom was
justified of all her
children.
1030
And
when he said that, they came to the
house. And there gathered
unto him again multitudes, [16] so that they found not
bread to
eat.
1031
And while he was
casting out a
devil which was
dumb, when he cast out that
devil, that
dumb man spake. And the multitudes [17] [Arabic, p. 55]
marvelled.
1032
And the
Pharisees,
when they heard, said, This
man doth not cast out the
devils,
except by Beelzebul the
chief of the
demons, which is in him.
[18, 19]
1033
And others requested
of him a sign from
heaven, to tempt him.
1034
And
Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them in
parables, Every
kingdom that withstandeth itself shall become
desolate; and every
house
or city that disagreeth with itself shall not [20] stand:
1035
and if a
devil cast out a
devil, he
withstandeth himself; neither shall he be [21] able to stand, but his
end shall be.
1036
Then how now shall
his
kingdom stand? for ye [22] said that I cast out
devils by
Beelzebul.
1037
And if I by
Beelzebul cast out the
devils, then your
children, by what do they cast
them out? And for this cause they shall [23] be judges against
you.
1038
But if I by the
Spirit of
God cast out
devils, then the
kingdom [24] of
God is come
near unto you.
1039
Or how can a man
enter into the
house of a valiant
man, and
seize his
garments,
1040
| 1040 The word used in
the Syriac versions (Pesh. and Cur.) means garments as well as
utensils, and the Arabic translator has chosen the wrong meaning
(cf. § 42, 44). |
if he do not
beforehand
secure himself
1041
| 1041 Certain
derivatives from the same root signify bind, but hardly this
word. |
from [25] that
valiant
man? and then will he
cut off
1042
| 1042 The two Arab.
mss. differ in this word, but the meaning is
about the same. Perhaps both are corrupt. |
his
house.
1043
But when the valiant
man is [26] armed, guarding his
house, his possessions are in
peace.
1044
But if one come who
is more valiant than he, he overcometh him, and taketh his whole
armour, on which [27] he relieth, and divideth his
spoil.
1045
Whosoever is not with me is against me; and
[28] whosoever gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
1046
For this reason I say unto you, [Arabic, p.
56] that all
sins and blasphemies with which men
blaspheme shall be
forgiven [29] them:
1047
but whosoever shall
blaspheme against the
Holy Spirit, there is no [30]
forgiveness for him
for ever, but he is deserving of
eternal punishment:
1048
because they [31] said that he had an
unclean spirit.
1049
And he said also, Every one that speaketh a
word against the Son of man, it shall be
forgiven him; but whosoever
speaketh against the
Holy Spirit, it shall not be
forgiven him, neither
in this
world, nor in the
world to [32] come.
1050
Either ye must make a good
tree1051
and its fruit good; or ye must make an
evil
[33]
tree1052
and its fruit
evil: for the
tree is known by its fruit.
1053
Ye
children of
vipers, how can ye, being
evil, speak good things? from the overflowings of the
heart the mouth
[34] speaketh.
1054
The good man from
the good
treasures which are in his
heart bringeth forth good things;
and the
wicked man from the
evil treasures which are in his [35]
heart
bringeth forth evils.
1055
I say unto you, that
every idle word which men shall [36] speak, they shall give an answer
for in the day of judgement:
1056
for by thy
sayings thou shalt be justified, and by thy sayings thou shalt be
judged.
[37] 1057
And he said to the
multitudes, When ye see the
clouds appear from the west, [38]
straightway ye say that there cometh rain; and so it cometh to
pass.
1058
And when [39] the
south
wind bloweth, ye say that there will be
heat; and it cometh to
pass.
1059
And when the evening
is come, ye say, It
will be fair
weather, for the
heaven has
become [40]
red.
1060
And in the morning
ye say, To-day there will be severe
weather, for the redness [Arabic,
p. 57] of the
heaven is paling.
1061
Ye hypocrites, ye know to
examine the
face of the
heaven and the
earth; but the
signs of this time ye know
not to
discern.
[41] 1062
Then they brought to
him one
possessed of a
demon,
dumb and blind; and he [42]
healed
him, so that the
dumb and
blind began to speak and see.
1063
And all the multitudes wondered, and said, Is
this, think you, the son of
David?
[43] 1064
And the
apostles
returned unto
Jesus, and told him everything that they had [44] done
and
wrought.
1065
| 1065 Wrought
may have arisen from taught by a transcriptional error
(transposition of l and m) within the Arabic
text. As it appears to occur in both mss., they would seem to have a common origin, which,
however, can hardly have been the autograph of the
translator. |
1066
And he said unto them, Come, let us go into
the
desert alone, and
rest ye a little. And many were going and
returning, and they had not
leisure, not even to eat
bread.
[45] 1067
And after that,
there came to
him one of the
Pharisees, and besought him that he
would eat
bread with him. And he entered into the
house of that
Pharisee, and [46] reclined.
1068
And there was
in that city a
woman that was a
sinner; and when she knew that
he was sitting in the
house of that
Pharisee, she took a box of sweet
ointment, [47] and stood behind him,
1069
towards his
feet, weeping, and began to wet
his
feet with her
tears, and to wipe them with the
hair of her head,
and to
kiss his
feet, and [48]
anoint them with the sweet
ointment.
1070
And when
that
1071
| 1071 A comparison with the
Syriac text recommends this rendering. |
Pharisee saw
it, who invited him, he
thought within himself, and said, This
man, if he were a
prophet, would know who she is and what is her history: for the
woman which touched him was a sinner.
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