Luke 17–19

Warnings from Jesus

17He ⁿsaid to His disciples, “Offenses ^owill certainly come, ^pbut woe ^qto the one they come ^rthrough! ²It would be better for him if a millstone ^swere hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to ^•stumble. ^t3Be ^uon your guard. If your brother sins, ^vrebuke ^whim, and if he repents, forgive ^xhim. 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 ^yapostles ^zsaid to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” ^a

⁶“If you have faith the size of ^ba mustard seed,” ^c 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 ^•slave 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, ^dand serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’? ^e9Does he thank that slave because he did what was commanded? ^f10In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing ^gslaves; we’ve only done our duty.’ ”

Ten Men Healed

¹¹While traveling to Jerusalem, ^hHe passed between ⁱSamaria and Galilee. ^j12As He entered a village, 10 men with serious skin diseases ^kmet Him. They stood at a distance ¹³and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, ^lhave mercy on us!”

¹⁴When He saw them, He told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” ^mAnd while they were going, they were healed. ⁿ

¹⁵But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. ^o16He fell facedown ^pat His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan. ^q

¹⁷Then Jesus said, “Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸Didn’t any return ^rto give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹And He told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.” ^st

The Coming of the Kingdom

²⁰Being ^uasked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, ^vHe answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; ²¹no one will say, ^w‘Look here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is among you.”

²²Then He told the disciples: “The days are coming ^xwhen you will long to see one of the days of the ^•Son of Man, but you won’t see it. ^y23They will say to you, ^z‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Don’t follow or run after them. ^a24For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in His day. ^b25But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ^c

²⁶“Just as it was in the days of Noah, ^dso it will be in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷People went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage ^euntil the day Noah boarded the ark, ^fand the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: ^gPeople went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. ²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed ^hthem all. ³⁰It ⁱwill be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ^j31On 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! ^k33Whoever tries to make his ^•life secure ^lmwill lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ⁿ³⁴I tell you, on that night ^otwo 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. [³⁶Two will be in a field: One will be taken, and the other will be left.]” ^p

³⁷“Where, Lord?” ^qthey asked Him.

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

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray ^salways and not become discouraged: ^t2“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God ^uor respect man. 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 man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps ^wpestering me, ^xI will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out ^yby her persistent coming.’ ”

⁶Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷Will not God grant justice ^zto His elect ^awho cry out to Him day and night? ^bWill He delay ^cto help them? ^d8I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the ^•Son of Man comes, ^ewill He find that faith ^fon earth?”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹He ^galso told this parable to some who trusted in themselves ^hthat they were righteous ⁱand looked down ^jon everyone else: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the ^•temple complex to pray, ^kone a ^•Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee took his stand ^lmand was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people ⁿ—greedy, ^ounrighteous, ^padulterers, ^qor even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast ^rtwice a week; I give a tenth ^stof everything I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector, standing far off, ^uwould not even raise his eyes to heaven ^vbut kept striking his chest ^wxand saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me ^yz—a sinner!’ ^a14I tell you, this one went down to his house ^•justified ^brather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ^c

Blessing the Children

¹⁵Some ^dpeople were even bringing infants to Him so He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to Me, ^eand don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ^17•I assure you: ^fWhoever does not welcome ^gthe kingdom of God like a little child ^hwill never enter it.”

The Rich Young Ruler

¹⁸A ⁱruler ^jasked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ^k

¹⁹“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God. ²⁰You know the commandments:

Do not commit adultery;

do not murder;

do not steal;

do not bear false witness;

honor your father and mother.” ^lm

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 that you have and distribute it to the poor, ⁿand you will have treasure in heaven. ^oThen come, follow Me.” ^p

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

Possessions and the Kingdom

²⁴Seeing that he became sad, ^rJesus 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?” ^s

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” ^t

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

²⁹So He said to them, “I assure you: There is no one who has left a house, wife or ^•brothers, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, ³⁰who will not receive many times more at this time, ^vand eternal life in the age to come.”

The Third Prediction of His Death

³¹Then ^wHe took the Twelve aside and told them, “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. ^xEverything that is written ^ythrough the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. ^z32For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, ^aand He will be mocked, ^binsulted, spit ^con; ³³and after they flog Him, they will kill Him, and He will rise on the third day.” ^d

³⁴They understood none of these things. ^eThis saying ^fgwas hidden ^hfrom them, and they did not grasp what was said.

A Blind Man Receives His Sight

³⁵As ⁱHe drew near Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. ³⁶Hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷“Jesus the Nazarene ^jis passing by,” they told him.

³⁸So he called out, ^k“Jesus, Son of David, ^lhave mercy ^mon me!” ³⁹Then those in front told him to keep quiet, ⁿbut 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 drew near, He asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want Me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”

⁴²“Receive your sight!” ^oJesus told him. “Your faith has healed you.” ^pq43Instantly he could see, and he began to follow Him, glorifying God. ^rAll the people, ^swhen 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 I must stay at your house.”

⁶So he quickly came down and welcomed Him joyfully. ⁷All who saw it began to complain, ^t“He’s gone to lodge with a sinful man!”

⁸But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give ^uhalf of my possessions to the poor, ^vLord! And if I have extorted ^wanything from anyone, I’ll pay ^xback four times as much!” ^y

⁹“Today salvation ^zhas come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. ^a10For the ^•Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” ^bc

The Parable of the 10 Minas

¹¹As ^dthey were listening to this, He went on to tell a parable because He was near Jerusalem, ^eand they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away. ^f

¹²Therefore He said: “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king ^gand then return. ¹³He called 10 of his ^•slaves, gave them 10…