Luke 18–19

CHAPTER 18

Parables on Prayer

¹Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ^aought to pray and not to ^blose heart,

²saying, “In a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and did not ^arespect man.

³“Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my opponent.’

⁴“And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor ^arespect man,

⁵yet ^abecause this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice, lest by continually coming she ^1bwears me out.’”

⁶And ^athe Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge ^*said.

⁷“Now, will God not ^abring about justice for His ^belect who cry to Him day and night, ¹and will He ^cdelay long over them?

⁸“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, ^awill He find that faith on the earth?”

⁹And He also told this parable to some people who ^atrusted in themselves that they were righteous, and ^bviewed others with contempt:

¹⁰“Two men ^awent up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹“The Pharisee ^astood and was praying these things to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²‘I ^afast twice a week; I ^bpay tithes of all that I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector, ^astanding some distance away, ^bwas even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^cwas ¹beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be ²merciful to me, the sinner!’

¹⁴“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, ^afor everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

^15aAnd they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they were rebuking them.

¹⁶But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁷“Truly I say to you, ^awhoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

The Rich Young Ruler

^18aAnd a ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

²⁰“You know the commandments, ‘^aDo not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”

²¹And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”

²²And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack: ^asell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have ^btreasure in heaven. And come, follow Me.”

²³But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

²⁴And Jesus looked at him and said, “^aHow hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵“For ^ait is easier for a camel to ¹go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶And those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷But He said, “^aThe things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

²⁸And Peter said, “Behold, ^awe have left all that is our own and followed You.”

²⁹And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^athere is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

³⁰who will not receive many times more at this time and in ^athe age to come, eternal life.”

^31aBut when He took the twelve aside, He said to them, “Behold, ^bwe are going up to Jerusalem, and ^call things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be ¹completed.

³²“^aFor He will be ¹delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon,

³³and after they have flogged Him, they will kill Him, and the third day He will rise again.”

³⁴But ^athe disciples understood none of these things, and this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

Bartimaeus Regains His Sight

^35aNow it happened that as ^1bJesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.

³⁶Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was.

³⁷They reported to him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

³⁸And he called out, saying, “Jesus, ^aSon of David, have mercy on me!”

³⁹And those who went ahead were rebuking him so that he would be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “^aSon of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him, and when he came near, He questioned him,

⁴¹“What do you want Me to do for you?” And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight!”

⁴²And Jesus said to him, “¹Receive your sight; ^ayour faith has ²saved you.”

⁴³Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, ^aglorifying God. And when ^ball the people saw it, they gave praise to God.

CHAPTER 19

Zaccheus Is Saved

¹And He ^aentered Jericho and was passing through.

²And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

³And Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

⁴So he ran on before and climbed up into a ^1asycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

⁶And he hurried and came down and received Him ¹gladly.

⁷And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone ¹to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

⁸But Zaccheus stopped and said to ^athe Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I ¹will give to the poor, and if I have ^bextorted anyone of anything, I ²will give back ^cfour times as much.”

⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is ^aa son of Abraham.

¹⁰“For ^athe Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because ^aHe was near Jerusalem, and they thought that ^bthe kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

¹²So He said, “^aA nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.

¹³“And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten ¹minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business ²until I come back.’

¹⁴“But his citizens hated him and sent ¹a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business.

¹⁶“So the first appeared, saying, ‘¹Master, your ²mina has made ten minas more.’

¹⁷“And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been ^afaithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸“Then the second came, saying, ‘Your ¹mina, ²master, has made five minas.’

¹⁹“And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth;

²¹for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’

²²“He ^*said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

²³‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

²⁵“And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’

²⁶‘^aI tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

²⁷‘But ^athese enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^bslay them in my presence.’”

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸And after He had said these things, He ^awas going on ahead, ^bgoing up to Jerusalem.

^29aAnd it happened that when He approached Bethphage and ^bBethany, near the mount called “of ^cOlives,” He sent two of the disciples,

³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.

³¹“And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”

³²So when those who were sent departed, they found it just as He had told them.

³³And as they were untying the colt, its ¹owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”

³⁵And they brought it to Jesus, ^aand after they threw their garments on the colt, they put Jesus on it.

³⁶And as He was going, they were spreading their garments on the road.

³⁷Now as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of ^athe Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to ^bpraise God, rejoicing with a loud voice for all the ¹miracles which they had seen,

³⁸saying,

“^aBlessed is the ^bKing who comes in the name of the ¹Lord.

Peace in heaven and ^cglory in the highest!”

^39aAnd some of the Pharisees ¹in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

⁴⁰But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, ^athe stones will cry out!”

Lament over Jerusalem

⁴¹And as He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He ^acried over it,

⁴²saying, “If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.

⁴³“For the days will come upon you ¹when your enemies will ^athrow up a ²barricade against you, and ^bsurround you and hem you in on every side,

⁴⁴and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and ^athey will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not ¹recognize ^bthe time of your…