For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”

“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.”

For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name.

“So when you see the abomination of desolation – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

and declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way.

Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.

But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.

For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God?

And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them short.

“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.’”