The Life of Jesus

and he shall say, I say to you, I have not known you whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of the unrighteousness.

`There shall be there the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth, when ye may see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the reign of God, and yourselves being cast out without;

and they shall come from east and west, and from north and south, and shall recline in the reign of God,

and lo, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last.'

On that day there came near certain Pharisees, saying to him, `Go forth, and be going on hence, for Herod doth wish to kill thee;'

and he said to them, `Having gone, say to this fox, Lo, I cast forth demons, and perfect cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am being perfected;

but it behoveth me to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following, to go on, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish out of Jerusalem.

`Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that is killing the prophets, and stoning those sent unto her, how often did I will to gather together thy children, as a hen her brood under the wings, and ye did not will.

`Lo, your house is being left to you desolate, and verily I say to you--ye may not see me, till it may come, when ye may say, Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord.'

And it came to pass, on his going into the house of a certain one of the chiefs of the Pharisees, on a sabbath, to eat bread, that they were watching him,

and lo, there was a certain dropsical man before him;

and Jesus answering spake to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, `Is it lawful on the sabbath-day to heal?'

and they were silent, and having taken hold of him , he healed him, and let him go;

and answering them he said, `Of which of you shall an ass or ox fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw it up on the sabbath-day?'

and they were not able to answer him again unto these things.

And he spake a simile unto those called, marking how they were choosing out the first couches, saying unto them,

`When thou mayest be called by any one to marriage-feasts, thou mayest not recline on the first couch, lest a more honourable than thou may have been called by him,

and he who did call thee and him having come shall say to thee, Give to this one place, and then thou mayest begin with shame to occupy the last place.

`But, when thou mayest be called, having gone on, recline in the last place, that when he who called thee may come, he may say to thee, Friend, come up higher; then thou shalt have glory before those reclining with thee;

because every one who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.'

And he said also to him who did call him, `When thou mayest make a dinner or a supper, be not calling thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kindred, nor rich neighbours, lest they may also call thee again, and a recompense may come to thee;

but when thou mayest make a feast, be calling poor, maimed, lame, blind,

and happy thou shalt be, because they have not to recompense thee, for it shall be recompensed to thee in the rising again of the righteous.'

And one of those reclining with him, having heard these things, said to him, `Happy is he who shall eat bread in the reign of God;'

and he said to him, `A certain man made a great supper, and called many,