1Jesus saw big mobs of people coming to him. So he went up a big hill and he sat down there to teach them. His followers, the people that wanted to learn about God, went close to him, to listen to him.
2Then he started to teach them.
3Jesus said, “Some people know that they need God very much. All right, God will take those people into his family and they will be really happy.
4Some people are very sad now, and they cry, but God will make them feel better and they will be really happy.
5Some people know that they are weak and they don’t try to be important. But later God will give them everything in the world, and they will be really happy.
6Some people really want to live the right way, and they want other people to live the right way too. They think about this more than anything else, like they are really hungry and thirsty for it to happen. All right, God will give them what they want, and they will be really happy.
7Some people feel sorry for others and they don’t do payback for the bad things those other people did. All right, God will do the same. He will feel sorry for those people that feel sorry for others. He will not do payback to them for bad things they did, and they will be really happy.
8Some people never want to do bad things. These people will see God and they will be really happy.
9Some people help others to settle down, stop arguing, and agree with each other. God will tell those people, ‘You are my own kids.’ And they will be really happy.
10Some people do what is right, but some others don’t like it and they make trouble for those good people. But God takes those good people into his family and they will be really happy.
11And you too. Some people will not like you following me, and they will say bad things about you, and they will make trouble for you. Sometimes people will tell lies about you. But don’t worry. Be really happy when they do that.
12You see, if they do these bad things to you now, God will give you lots of good things later, in heaven. So you can be really happy, no matter what they do. Remember the stories from a long time ago, about the men that told everyone God’s message. Some people did bad things to those men too.”
13Jesus said, “You people that follow me are like salt for everybody on the earth. You know, salt helps food taste good and stops it getting bad. Well, if you follow me properly you will live in a way that helps people to be good. Yes, salt is good, but if it stops tasting like salt it is no good any more. Nobody can use it for anything. They chuck it away and everyone walks on it. So don’t you be like that kind of salt. Don’t stop following me.”
14And Jesus said, “You people that follow me have to live the right way and show people the way to God. It is like you are a light for everybody in the world. You know, if people build houses up on a hill, then everyone can see them clearly. You are like those houses on a hill. Everyone can see you clearly. They can know if you are good or if you are bad.
15Nobody ever lights a lamp and then puts a bowl over it. No way. They put that lamp up in a high place so that its light shines out everywhere.
16You have to be like that lamp. You have to let everyone see that you are following me. They will see all the good things you do, and they will say good things about your Father in heaven. They will say, ‘God is really great.’”
17Jesus kept teaching them. He said, “You know the law that Moses wrote, well, I didn’t come here to take away that law. And you know all the messages that God gave to his men, to write them in his book for us. I didn’t come here to take away their words either. But I came here to get all those words to come true.
18Listen, this is true. God’s book is really important. Everything in it will happen. You know, the earth and sky are always here. They don’t change. Well, just like that, God’s word and his laws will not change, not even a little bit. They will stay the same till everything in God’s book happens.
19So if you think to yourself, ‘I can break just one little rule,’ and if you teach other people to think like that too, later on in God’s family in heaven nobody will respect you. They will say, ‘You are no good.’ But if you don’t break any of God’s rules, and if you teach others to follow them too, later on in God’s family in heaven everyone will respect you, and they will say, ‘You are really good.’
20I’m telling you this, if you don’t do everything that God says, you can’t come into his family. You know that mob called Pharisees. They really try to follow God’s law. And you know the mob that teach God’s law. Well, you have to follow God’s law better than all of those Pharisees and law teachers.”
21Jesus said, “You know, the teachers of God’s law tell you what God told the people long ago. They say, ‘Don’t murder anybody. If you murder somebody you have to go to court, and the judge will punish you.’
22But now I’m telling you this. Don’t even get angry with anybody. That is bad too. If you are angry with somebody, God will be your judge and he will punish you. Or if you call somebody bad names you will end up in God’s court. And if you get so angry with somebody that you tell them, ‘You are a stupid fool,’ God will judge you for that, and he can send you into the big fire called hell.”
23Jesus said to the people, “Suppose you go to give a present to God, and you take it to the special table in God’s house, but then you remember that somebody is upset with you about something.
24You have to leave your present there in front of God’s special table, and you have to go and find that other person straight away. Tell them that you are sorry, and fix up that problem with them, so that you can both be friends again. After that, you can go back and give your present to God.
25If somebody blames you and says that you have done something wrong, and if they start to take you to court about it, you have to talk to that person straight away and fix up that problem. Both of you have to agree about what is right. Do this even while you are going along the road to the court. If you don’t do this, that person will blame you in the court, and the judge might agree with them and tell the police to grab you and put you in jail.
26And you will stay in jail till you give that other person all the money that you owe them. That’s for sure.”
27Jesus said, “You know, the teachers of God’s law tell you this, ‘Don’t sleep with a woman like she is your wife, if you are not married to her.’
28But now I’m telling you this. If you look at a woman that is not your wife, and you think about sleeping with her, like a man does with his wife, that is bad too. If you think about it like that, you are going wrong. That is just as bad as doing it.
29You see, if things in your life push you to go wrong, you have to get rid of them, even if it is hard to do. Be careful about the way you use your eyes. If you see something that gets you to go wrong, stop looking. This might be hard to do, like you are pulling out your eye and throwing it away. But it is better to lose one eye here on the earth now, than to keep 2 eyes and go to the bad place called hell.
30And think about the way you use your hand. If you do something with your hand that gets you to go wrong, then pull your hand away. This might be hard to do, like you are cutting off your hand and throwing it away. But it is better to lose one hand here on the earth now, than to keep 2 hands and go to hell.”
31And Jesus said, “And God’s law says, ‘If a man wants to leave his wife he can write a divorce paper and give it her. Then they aren’t married any more.’
32But now I’m telling you this, husbands and wives have to stay married to each other. Only if a man’s wife sleeps with another man, as if he is her husband, only then can her proper husband divorce her. But if a wife never does that, her husband can’t divorce her. If he divorces her, he is forcing her to go and sleep with another man, and that is wrong. And if another man marries her, he is doing wrong too.”
33Jesus said to the people, “The teachers of God’s law tell you what God told the people long ago. They say, ‘If you promise something to somebody and use God’s name, you have to do what you said.’
34But now I’m telling you this. If you promise something, don’t use God’s name to get people to believe you. And don’t use the words by heaven when you promise something. God is the boss in heaven, so that is just like using his name.
35And don’t say the words by the earth when you promise something. God controls the earth too. And don’t use the words by Jerusalem when you promise something. Jerusalem is God’s special city. He is the big boss there.
36And don’t use the words by my head when you promise something. You can’t change the colour of even one hair on your head, to turn it black or turn it white.
37Look. Just say what is properly true. When Yes is the true answer, just say, ‘Yes.’ And when No is the true answer, just say, ‘No.’ That really bad spirit tries to get you to say more than this, but don’t do it. Don’t say anything more to try to get people to believe you.”
38Jesus kept talking to them. He said, “You know, the teachers of God’s law tell you this, ‘If somebody hits your eye and blinds it, then this is the payback, you have to hit one of that person’s eyes and blind it.’ And they say, ‘If somebody knocks out your tooth, then this is the payback, you have to knock out one of that person’s teeth.’ That’s what they say.
39But now I’m telling you this, don’t do payback at all. If somebody does something bad to you, don’t do payback to them. Somebody might hit you on one side of your face. All right, let them hit you on the other side of your face too.
40Or if somebody takes you to court to get your shirt, all right, give that person your shirt and give them your coat too.
41Or a soldier might tell you, ‘Carry my bag for a kilometre.’ All right. Help him more than that. Carry it for 2 kilometres.
42Or if somebody asks you for something, give it to them. Or if they ask you to lend them something, let them have it.”
43Jesus said, “You know, those teachers tell you this, ‘Love your friends and hate your enemies.’
44But I’m telling you to do more than that. You have to love your enemies too. And if anyone makes trouble for you, pray to God and ask him to be good to them.
45If you do this, you will be just like your Father in heaven. He gets the sun to shine and the rain to fall on everybody, bad people as well as good people.
46You see, if you only love the people that love you, that is nothing. Even crooks do that. God will not pay you anything for only loving people that love you.
47And if you only talk to your friends, that is nothing. Everybody talks to their friends, even people that don’t believe in God. You are no better than them if you only talk to your friends.
48So this is what I say. You have to be properly good, just like your Father in heaven is properly good.”
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