The New Testament: A Translation

by David Bentley Hart

7Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all the things taking place, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again.

25For what profit is there for a man gaining the whole cosmos but losing—or being deprived of—himself?

he said to someone else, “Follow me.” And he said, “[Lord,] Allow me first to go bury my father.” 60But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go announce the Kingdom of God.” 61And another also said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first permit me to bid farewell to those at my house.” But Jesus said, “No one putting his hand to the plow and then looking to the things behind him is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

16Whoever hears you hears me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one having sent me forth.”

“Be wary and guard against all greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions.”

25And who among you can by being anxious add a cubit to the span of his life? 26If, therefore, you are incapable of the least of things, why are you anxious concerning the rest?

Make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasury in the heavens, near which no thief comes and which no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

And to everyone to whom much was given, from him much will be demanded, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted they will request far more.

When you are invited by someone to wedding festivities, do not recline at the best place at the table, in case someone more honored than you has been invited by him, 9and the one who invited both you and him will come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and you then will proceed in humiliation to take the last place. 10Rather, when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes he will say to you, ‘Friend, go up to a higher place’; then there will be glory for you before everyone reclining at table with you. 11For everyone exalting himself will be humbled, and the one humbling himself will be exalted.”

“When you prepare a luncheon or dinner, do not call to your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, lest they invite you in return and it becomes a recompense for you. 13Rather, when you prepare a celebration invite the destitute, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you shall be blissful, for they have nothing to repay you with; for it will be repaid you in the resurrection of the just.”

33So, therefore, no one of you who does not bid farewell to all his own possessions can be my disciple. 34Salt is a good thing, then; but if salt too becomes insipid, with what will it be seasoned? 35It is fit neither for soil nor for manure; they throw it outside. Whoever has ears to hear, let him listen.”

If your brother sins [against you], admonish him, and if he changes his heart, forgive him. 4And if he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times turns back to you saying, ‘I change my heart,’ you shall forgive him.”

Two men went up to the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector. 11The Pharisee stood up straight and prayed these things about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of mankind—rapacious, unjust, adulterous—or even like this tax-collector; 12I fast twice a week and tithe from everything whatsoever that I earn.’ 13But the tax-collector, standing a good distance off, would not lift his eyes to heaven, but beat upon his breast, saying, ‘God, grant mercy to me, a sinner.’ 14I tell you, the latter rather than the former went down to his house vindicated; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

18And a certain ruler inquired of him, “Good teacher, by doing what may I inherit life in the Age?” 19And Jesus said to him, “Why do you say I am good? No one is good except one—God.

“One thing is still lacking in you; sell everything, whatever you have, and distribute it to the destitute, and you will have a treasury in the heavens, and come follow me.” 23And he, hearing these things, became very morose, for he was extremely rich. 24And, seeing him [grow morose], Jesus said, “How hard for those possessing wealth to enter the Kingdom of God, 25for it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”

37And, as he drew near to the path descending from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began joyfully to praise God in a loud voice on account of all the deeds of power they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest places.”

17And taking a cup and having given thanks he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves, 18for I tell you, I most surely will not drink from the yield of the vine from now until the Kingdom of God comes.” 19And taking a loaf of bread, having given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is being offered for you; do this in my memory.” 20And after supping he did likewise with the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is being shed for you.

“Father, it if is your will, take this cup away from me; yet let not my will, but yours, come to pass.”

8And Herod, on seeing Jesus, was overjoyed; for he had been wishing to see him for a long time, since he had heard about him and hoped to see some prodigy performed by him.

28But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children, 29for see: Days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed.’ 30Then ‘They will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall down upon us,” and to the hills, “Cover us over,”’ 31For if they do these things when the tree is full of sap, what will happen when it is dry?”

13And look: On that very day two of them were journeying to a village sixty stadia away from Jerusalem, the name of which was Emmaus, 14and they were talking with each other about all these events. 15And it happened that, as they talked and debated, Jesus himself approached and journeyed along with them; 16but their eyes were constrained so as not to recognize him.

30And it happened that, as he reclined at table with them, he took the loaf and blessed it and, having broken it, he shared it with them; 31and their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32And they said to one another, “Was not our heart burning within us while he spoke to us on the road, as he opened up the scriptures to us?” 33And, rising up in that same hour, they returned to Jerusalem and found the Eleven gathered together, along with those who were with them, 34saying: “The Lord truly has been raised and appeared to Simon.”

“Thus it has been written [and so must it be] that the Anointed will suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, 47and in his name transformation of the heart and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

49And see: I send forth the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50And he led them out as far as Bethany and, raising his hands, he blessed them. 51And it happened that while he was blessing them he withdrew from them, and was taken up into the sky. 52And they prostrated themselves to him and returned to Jerusalem wit...

3All things came to be through him, and without him came to be not a single thing that has come to be. 4In him was life, and this life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not conquer it.

10He was in the cosmos, and through him the cosmos came to be, and the cosmos did not recognize him.

16For God so loved the cosmos as to give the Son, the only one, so that everyone having faith in him might not perish, but have the life of the Age. 17For God sent the Son into the cosmos not that he might pass judgment on the cosmos, but that the cosmos might be saved through him. 18Whoever has faith in him is not judged; whoever has not had faith has already been judged because he has not had faith in the name of the only Son of God.

that the light has come into the cosmos, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were wicked. 20For everyone who does evil things hates the light and does not approach the light, for fear his deeds will be exposed; 21but whoever acts in truth approaches the light, so that his deeds might be made manifest—that they have been worked in God.”

36He who has faith in the Son has the life of that Age; and the one rejecting the Son will not see life, but God’s ire rests upon him.”

“Trust me, madam, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You people worship what you do not know, we worship what we know; because salvation is from the Judaeans; 23but an hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for indeed the Father looks for those worshipping him so; 24God is spirit, and it is necessary that those worshipping worship in spirit and truth.”

18On account of this, therefore, the Judaeans sought all the more to kill him, for not only did he break the Sabbath, but he had also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. 19So Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you, the Son can do nothing from himself, except what he sees the Father doing; for whatever things that one does, these same things the Son likewise also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all the things he does, and will show him works greater than these, that you may be amazed.

21For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so the Son makes alive those whom he will; 22for the Father does not judge anyone, but has given the judgment of all to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who has sent him. 24Amen, amen, I tell you that whoever hears my word and has faith in the one who has sent me has life in the Age, and does not come to judgment, but rather has crossed out of death into life. 25Amen, amen, I tell you that an hour is coming—and now is—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, he also granted it to the Son to have life in himself. 27And he gave him power to pass judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28Do not be amazed at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice, 29and those who have done good things will come forth into a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil things into a resurrection of judgment.

30Of myself I can do nothing; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my will, but rather the will of the onel who has sent me. 31If I testify concerning myself, my testimony is not true; 32there is another testifying concernin...

43I have come in my Father’s name and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, that one you will receive. 44How are you able to have faith, receiving glory from one another, yet you do not receive the glory coming from the one God?

35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me most assuredly does not hunger, and whoever has faith in me most assuredly does not thirst—forever. 36But I have told you that, though you have seen, you do not have faith. 37All whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I most certainly will not cast out. 38Because I have descended from heaven so that I might do not my will, but rather the will of the one having sent me.

41So the Judaeans murmured about him because he had said, “I am the bread that has descended out of heaven”; 42and they said, “Is this man not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say that ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 43Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not murmur with one another.

47Amen, amen, I tell you, the one who has faith has life in the Age. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and died; 50this is the bread descending out of heaven so that one might eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that has descended out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live unto the Age; and the bread I shall give for the life of the cosmos is my flesh.”

“How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you. 54Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks of my blood has life in the Age, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sends me forth and I live through the Father, whoever also feeds upon me, that very one will live through me. 58This is the bread that has descended out of heaven, not [the manna] such as the fathers ate and then died; whoever feeds upon this bread will live unto the Age.”

64Yet there are some of you who do not have faith.” For Jesus had known from the outset which are those not having faith and which is the one betraying him. 65And he said, “Thus I have told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”

“You both know me and know where I come from; and I have not come on my own behalf; but he who sent me, whom you do not know, is true; 29I know him, because I am from him, and that one sent me.”

39Now he said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who had faith in him were about to receive; for as yet there was no [Holy] Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

“This man is the Anointed.” Yet others said, “Could the Anointed then come out of Galilee? 42Has not the scripture said that the Anointed comes out of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David dwelt?”

16But, even if I judge, my judgment is valid because it is not only I, but rather I and the Father who has sent me. 17And in your Law it has been written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18I am the one testifying concerning myself, and the Father, who has sent me, testifies concerning me.”

“You are from that which is below, I am from that which is above; you are from this cosmos, I am not from this cosmos. 24Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not have faith that I AM,s you will die in your sins.”

I do nothing from myself; but, just as the Father taught me, I speak these things. 29And the one who has sent me is with me; het did not leave me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

The prophets died too. Who are you making yourself out to be?” 54Jesus answered, “If I give myself glory, my glory is nothing. It is my Father—of whom you say, ‘He is our God’—who gives me glory; 55and you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him I shall be a liar like you; rather, I know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham was eager to see my day, and he saw and rejoiced.”

6Having said these things he spat on the ground and made clay from the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam,”—which means, when interpreted, “Sent Forth.” So he went and washed and came back with sight.

Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself.” 22The parents said these things because they feared the Judaeans; for the Judaeans had agreed that anyone who might acknowledge him to be the Anointed would be expelled from the synagogue. 23For this reason his parents had said: “He is of age; question him.”

11I am the good shepherd. The shepherd, the one who is good, lays down his soul for the sake of the sheep. 12He who is the hireling and not the shepherd, to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—and the wolf seizes and scatters them—13because he is a hireling and the sheep are no concern of his. 14I am the shepherd who is good, and I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my soul for the sake of the sheep.