Matthew 12:33-50 ▼

33 |Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, because a tree is known by its fruit.

34 You children of serpents! How can you say anything good when you are evil? The mouth speaks about what overflows from the heart.

35 A good person brings good things out of a good treasure house, and an evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure house.

36 I tell you, on Judgment Day people will give an account for every thoughtless word they have uttered,

37 because by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.|

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, |Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.|

39 But he replied to them, |An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah,

40 because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look—something greater than Jonah is here!

42 The queen of the south will stand up and condemn the people living today, because she came from so far away to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look! Something greater than Solomon is here!|

43 |Whenever an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places looking for a place to rest, but finds none.

44 Then it says, 'I will go back to my home that I left.' When it arrives, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order.

45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and settle there. And so the final condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That's just what will happen to this evil generation!|

46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

47 Someone told him, |Look! Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you.|

48 He asked the man who told him, |Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?|

49 Then pointing with his hand at his disciples, he said, |Here are my mother and my brothers,

50 because whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.|