Luke 17:1–19:27

WARNINGS FROM JESUS

17He^t said to his disciples, “Offenses will certainly come,^B but woe^u to the one through whom they come!^{v 2}It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.^{w 3}Be^x on your guard. If your brother sins,^C rebuke^y him, and if he repents, forgive^z him. ⁴And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

FAITH AND DUTY

⁵The^aa apostles^ab said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”^ac

⁶“If you have faith the size of^D a mustard seed,”^ad the Lord said, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

⁷“Which one of you having a servant tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’?^{ae 9}Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded?^{E 10}In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthy^af servants; we’ve only done our duty.’ ”

TEN MEN HEALED

¹¹While traveling to Jerusalem,^ag he passed between^F Samaria and Galilee.^{ah 12}As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy^ai met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master,^aj have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”^ak And while they were going, they were cleansed.

¹⁵But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.^{al 16}He fell facedown^am at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.^an

¹⁷Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”^Aao

THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM

²⁰When he was^ap asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,^aq he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; ²¹no one will say, ^B‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”^C

²²Then he told the disciples, “The days are coming^a when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it.^{b 23}They will say to you,^c ‘See there!’ or ‘See here!’ Don’t follow or run after them.^{d 24}For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.^{e 25}But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.^f

²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah,^g so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage^h until the day Noah boarded the ark,ⁱ and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot:^j People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. ²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed^k them all. ³⁰It^l will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.^{m 31}On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. ³²Remember Lot’s wife!^{n 33}Whoever tries to make his life secure^DE will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.^{o 34}I tell you, on that night^p two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁷“Where, Lord?”^q they asked him.

He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures^r will be gathered.”

THE PARABLE OF THE PERSISTENT WIDOW

18Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray^s always and not give up.^{t 2}“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God^u or respect people. ³And a widow ^vin that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴“For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, ⁵yet because this widow keeps^w pestering me,^G I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out^H by her persistent coming.’ ”

⁶Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷Will not God grant justice^x to his elect^y who cry out to him day and night?^z Will he delay^aa helping them?^{A 8}I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,^ab will he find faith on earth?”

THE PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR

⁹He^ac also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves^ad that they were righteous^ae and looked down^af on everyone else: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray,^ag one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee was standing^ah and praying like this about himself:^B ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy,^ai unrighteous,^aj adulterers,^ak or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast^al twice a week; I give a tenth^Cam of everything I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector, standing far off,^an would not even raise his eyes to heaven^ao but kept striking his chest^ap and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,^Daq a sinner!’^{ar 14}I tell you, this one went down to his house justified^as rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”^at

BLESSING THE CHILDREN

¹⁵People^au were bringing infants to him so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me,^av and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷Truly I tell you,^aw whoever does not receive^ax the kingdom of God like a little child^ay will never enter it.”

THE RICH YOUNG RULER

¹⁸A^az ruler^ba asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^bb

¹⁹“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”^Ea

²¹“I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor,^b and you will have treasure in heaven.^c Then come, follow me.”^d

²³After he heard this, he became extremely sad,^e because he was very rich.

POSSESSIONS AND THE KINGDOM

²⁴Seeing that he became sad,^F Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”^f

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”^g

²⁸Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed^h you.”

²⁹So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, ³⁰who will not receive many times more at this time,ⁱ and eternal life in the age to come.”

THE THIRD PREDICTION OF HIS DEATH

³¹Then^j he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem.^k Everything that is written^l through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.^{m 32}For he will be handed over to the Gentiles,ⁿ and he will be mocked,^o insulted, spit^p on; ³³and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”^q

³⁴They understood none of these things.^r The meaning of the saying^As was hidden^t from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

A BLIND MAN RECEIVES HIS SIGHT

³⁵As^u he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. ³⁶Hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what was happening. ³⁷“Jesus of Nazareth^v is passing by,” they told him.

³⁸So he called out,^w “Jesus, Son of David,^x have mercy^y on me!” ³⁹Then those in front told him to keep quiet,^B but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. When he came closer, he asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “I want to see.”

⁴²“Receive your sight,”^z Jesus told him. “Your faith has saved you.”^{aa 43}Instantly he could see, and he began to follow him, glorifying God.^ab All the people,^ac when they saw it, gave praise to God.

JESUS VISITS ZACCHAEUS

19He entered Jericho and was passing through. ²There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man. ⁴So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. ⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”

⁶So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. ⁷All who saw it began to complain,^ad “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.”

⁸But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor,^ae Lord. And if I have extorted^af anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.”^ag

⁹“Today salvation^ah has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham.^{ai 10}For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”^aj

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN MINAS

¹¹As^ak they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem,^al and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away.^am

¹²Therefore he said, “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then to return. ¹³He called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas,^D and told them,…