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 judge who did not fear God and did not ^arespect man.

³“There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘¹Give me legal protection from my opponent.’

⁴“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 bothers me, I will ¹give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will ^2bwear me out.’ ”

⁶And ^athe Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge ^*said;

⁷now, will not God ^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 ¹faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Publican

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 this 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 beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be ¹merciful to me, the sinner!’

¹⁴“I tell you, this man went 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 began 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 not enter it at all.”

The Rich Young Ruler

^18aA 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.”

²²When 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 had 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.”

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

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

²⁸Peter said, “Behold, ^awe have left ¹our own homes 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 as much at this time and in ^athe age to come, eternal life.”

^31aThen He took the twelve aside and 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 accomplished.

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

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

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

Bartimaeus Receives Sight

^35aAs ^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 told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

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

³⁹Those who led the way were sternly telling him to 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 ²made you well.”

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 Converted

¹He ^aentered Jericho and was passing through.

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

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

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

⁵When 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.

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

⁸Zaccheus stopped and said to ^athe Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I ¹will give to the poor, and if I have ^bdefrauded anyone of anything, I will 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 that which was lost.”

Parable of Money Usage

¹¹While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because ^aHe was near Jerusalem, and they supposed 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, ‘Do business with this 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“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 what business they had done.

¹⁶“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“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“Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief;

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

²²“He ^*said to him, ‘¹By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting 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.”

Triumphal Entry

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

^29aWhen He approached Bethphage and ^bBethany, near the ¹mount that is called ^cOlivet, He sent two of the disciples,

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

³¹“If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ”

³²So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them.

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

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

³⁵They brought it to Jesus, ^aand they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.

³⁶As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road.

³⁷As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of ^athe Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to ^bpraise God ¹joyfully with a loud voice for all the ²miracles which they had seen,

³⁸shouting:

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

Peace in heaven and ^cglory in the highest!”

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

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

⁴¹When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and ^awept over it,

⁴²saying, “If you had known 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 recognize ^bthe time of your visitation.”

Traders Driven from the Temple

^45aJesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling,

⁴⁶saying to them, “It is written, ‘^aAnd My house shall be a house…