17. Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues.
18. For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles.
19. When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say.
20. For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21. “Men will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.
22. Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.
23. When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24. “No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.
25. So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!
26. “So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known.
27. What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops.
28. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
29. For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent.
30. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
31. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!
32. “For those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same before my Father in heaven.
33. But if anyone rejects me publicly, I will reject him before my Father in heaven.