Matthew 11
11
1#Mt 9:35When Jesus finished instructing His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
The Messengers From John the Baptist
Lk 7:18–35
2#Mt 14:3; 4:12Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3#Heb 10:37; Jn 11:27and said to Him, “Are You He who should come, or should we look for another?”
4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5#Lk 4:18; Isa 35:4–6; Mt 5:3The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.#Taken from Isa 35:5–6; 61:1. 6#Isa 8:14–15; Mt 24:10Blessed is he who does not fall away because of Me.”
7#Eph 4:14; Jas 1:6As they departed, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9#Lk 1:76; Mt 14:5Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10#Mal 3:1; Mk 1:2For this is he of whom it is written:
‘Look, I am sending My messenger before Your face,
who will prepare Your way before You.’#Mal 3:1.
11Truly I say to you, among those who are born of women, there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12#Lk 16:16From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has forcefully advanced, and the strong take it by force. 13For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14#Mal 4:5; Mt 17:10–13And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah, who is to come. 15#Mt 13:9; 13:43He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
16“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the markets, calling to their friends, 17saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge to you,
and you did not mourn.’
18#Mt 3:4; Lk 1:15For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19#Mt 9:10–11; Lk 5:29–30The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a gluttonous man, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
Unrepentant Cities
Lk 10:13–15
20#Ps 81:11–13; Isa 1:2–5Then He began to reprimand the cities where most of His mighty works were done, because they did not repent: 21#Mt 15:21; Mk 6:45“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22#Mt 10:15; 11:24But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. 23#Isa 14:13–15; Mt 4:13And you, Capernaum, who is exalted toward heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24#Mt 10:15; 11:22But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.”
Come to Me and Rest
Lk 10:21–22
25#Ps 8:2; Jn 11:41At that time Jesus said, “I thank You, OFather, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to infants. 26Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Your sight.
27#Jn 10:15; Mt 28:18; Jn 1:18“All things are delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son, except the Father. And no one knows the Father, except the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.
28#Jn 7:37; 6:37“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29#Jer 6:16; Jn 13:15Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.#Jer 6:16. 30#1Jn 5:3For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
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Military Bible Association
Matthew 11
11
Jesus talked about John the Baptiser
1Jesus finished talking to his 12 special workers, then he went around the towns in Galilee country. He talked to people and taught them more about God.
2At that time, John the Baptiser was in jail. But people told him about all the things that Jesus was doing. So John sent some of his own followers to ask Jesus some questions. 3They went to Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptiser has sent us to you. He wants us to ask you, ‘Are you the special man that God has sent to us? Or do we have to start looking around for somebody else?’ ”
4Jesus said, “Go back and tell John what you see here. 5Some people were blind, but now they can see. Some people were crippled, but now they can walk. Some people had a bad skin sickness, but now their skin is good again. Some people were deaf, but now they can hear. Some people were dead, but now they are alive again. And tell John that you heard us telling the good news to poor people.#Isaiah 35:5-6; 61:1 6Maybe I’m not the sort of person you thought God would send, but just trust me anyway, and God will make you happy.”
7Then the followers of John went away, and Jesus started to talk to all the people. He talked to them about John. He said, “You know, you went out into the bush to see John. What sort of man did you think you would see? You didn’t go out there to see a man that is weak, like grass that goes any way the wind pushes it. 8And you didn’t go out there to see a man wearing pretty clothes. No, men that wear pretty clothes live in the town, in good big houses. 9Did you go out there to see a man that tells people God’s messages? Yes, John the Baptiser told you God’s message, and he did something even more important than that. 10You see, a long time ago, God got one of his men to write about somebody that will get everything ready. God’s man wrote about John the Baptiser. We can read it in God’s book. This is what it says,
‘God will send a man to get everything ready for God’s special person.
That man will talk about God’s special person, and he will make a way for people to listen to him.’ ”#Malachi 3:1
11Then Jesus said, “Listen. John the Baptiser is a very important man. He is greater than any other man that ever lived. But everyone in God’s family is more important than John the Baptiser. 12You know, John started to teach some time ago, and from that time until now, God’s family has been getting bigger. There are people that really want to be friends with God, and they have been trying hard to get into his family. 13You see, before John came, God told his words and his laws to his men, and they wrote them in God’s book. And you know, that was a long time ago, but they wrote about the things that will happen now, at this time.#Luke 16:16 14Look. Try to believe this. They wrote about John, but they didn’t use that name for him. They called him Elijah.”#Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:10-13; Mark 9:11-13
15And Jesus said, “You’ve got ears, so you have to listen to me properly, and take notice of my words.”
16Then Jesus said, “Now I’ll talk about you people that are alive today and I’ll tell you what you are like. You are like kids that are playing in the street. Some kids say to the other kids, 17‘We played happy music for you, but you didn’t dance. So we sang a sad song, but you didn’t cry. No matter what we do, you say we are wrong.’ 18Those kids are a picture of you mob. You are just like those kids. You rubbish God’s people no matter what they do. You see, John the Baptiser didn’t go to parties and eat lots of good food, and he didn’t drink wine. But you rubbished him and said, ‘He’s got a bad spirit living inside him.’ 19But sometimes I go to parties and eat good food, and sometimes I drink wine, and even though I’m God’s special man from heaven, you rubbish me too. You say, ‘He eats too much, and he drinks too much. He’s a friend of those bad men that get tax money from people and give it to the Roman government, and he’s a friend of other bad people that don’t follow the law properly.’ But really, John and me, we are both wise. And you can know if somebody is wise or not. Just look at what they do, and see if they do good things or not.”
(We have not yet translated 11:20-24. You can read that message in Luke 10:13-15.)
God shows things to people that know they are not smart
25At that time, Jesus prayed to God. He said, “Father, you are the biggest boss. You are the boss over everything in the sky and everything on the earth. There are some people here that reckon they are smart, and they reckon they understand everything. And there are other people that are just like little kids. They know that they are not smart. Thank you for showing what your message means to those people that are like kids. And thank you for not showing it to those people that reckon they are smart. 26Yes, Father, that is how you wanted to do it.”
27Then Jesus told the people, “God, my father, gave me everything, so I can teach people all about him. You see, I am God’s son, and my father knows me properly. Nobody else knows me properly. And I know my father properly. I pick some people, and I show them what my father is like, but nobody else knows God properly.”#John 3:35; 1:18; 10:15
Jesus is good to his workers
28Then Jesus said to the people, “Come to me, all of you mob that are tired. You did a lot of ceremony things to get God to save you, but that is not the right way. It’s like you worked hard, and you carried a lot of heavy things, and then you got too tired. Look, instead of that, just come and work for me, and I will let you rest really good. 29Be my follower and work for me. Listen to the things I teach you, and you will feel good inside yourselves, like your spirit is resting. You see, I am not a big tough boss. I will be easy on you.#Jeremiah 6:16 30I will never ask you to do things that are too hard for you.”
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