Then {Jesus] summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take
a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, 6 but go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ As you go, proclaim the good news,
‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Cure the sick; raise the dead;
cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without
payment; give without payment. ⁹ Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your
belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for
laborers deserve their food. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, find out who
in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you enter the house, greet
it. ¹³ If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy,
let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your
words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵
Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
on the day of judgment than for that town.

¹⁶ “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as
serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of them, for they will hand you over
to councils and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before
governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles.

²⁸ Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in
the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid
ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate went out
to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” ³⁰ They
answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him
over to you.” ³¹ Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him
according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone
to death.” ³² (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the
kind of death he was to die.)

³³ Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked
him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on
your own, or did others tell you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew,
am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What
have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this
world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to
keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
from here.” ³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You
say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”