Two Kinds of People^(A)

²⁴ “Everyone who hears my words and ·obeys [acts on; practices] them is like a ·wise [sensible] man who built his house on rock. ²⁵ It rained hard, the ·floods came [rivers rose], and the winds blew and ·hit [beat; slammed against] that house. But it did not ·fall [collapse], because it was built on rock. ²⁶ Everyone who hears my words and does not ·obey [act on; practice] them is like a ·foolish [stupid] man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ It rained hard, the ·floods came [rivers rose], and the winds blew and ·hit [beat; slammed against] that house, and it ·fell [collapsed] with a big crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus finished ·saying these things [^Lthese words; ^Cthe end of the first of five major discourses in Matthew, all of which conclude with a similar phrase; see also 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1], the ·people [crowds] were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he did not teach like their ·teachers of the law [scribes]. He taught like a person who had authority.

Jesus Forces Out an Evil Spirit^(A)

²¹ Jesus and his ·followers [disciples] went to Capernaum [^Ca town on the northwest shore of Lake Galilee; it became Jesus’ home base]. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue and began to teach. ²² The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught ·like [as] a person who had authority, not ·like [as] ·their teachers of the law [the scribes; ^Cexperts in the law of Moses].

⁴⁷ I will show you what everyone is like who comes to me and ·hears [listens to] my words and ·obeys [acts on them]. ⁴⁸ That person is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the floods came, the ·water [^Lriver] ·tried to wash the house away [^Lswept/burst against that house], but it could not shake it, because the house was built well. ⁴⁹ But the one who ·hears [listens to] my words and does not ·obey [act on them] is like a man who built his house on the ground without a foundation. When the ·floods [^Lriver] ·came [swept/burst against it], the house quickly ·fell [collapsed] and was completely destroyed.”