Luke 6–8

Chapter 6

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

^1aNow it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples ^bwere picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain.

²But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what ^ais not lawful on the Sabbath?”

³And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read ^awhat David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,

⁴how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ¹consecrated bread which ^ais not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”

⁵And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

^6abOn another Sabbath He entered ^cthe synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there ¹whose right hand was withered.

⁷The scribes and the Pharisees ^awere watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.

⁸But He ^aknew ¹what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and ²come forward!” And he got up and ³came forward.

⁹And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”

¹⁰After ^alooking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.

¹¹But they themselves were filled with ¹rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Choosing the Twelve

¹²It was ¹at this time that He went off to ^athe mountain to ^bpray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.

¹³And when day came, ^aHe called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^bapostles:

¹⁴Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and ¹James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

¹⁵and ^aMatthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;

¹⁶Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷Jesus ^acame down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^ba large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of ^cTyre and Sidon,

¹⁸who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.

¹⁹And all the ¹people were trying to ^atouch Him, for ^bpower was coming from Him and healing them all.

The Beatitudes

²⁰And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “^aBlessed are ¹you who are poor, for ^byours is the kingdom of God.

²¹“Blessed are ¹you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

²²“^aBlessed are you when men hate you, and ^bostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

²³“Be glad in that day and ^aleap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For ^bin the same way their fathers used to ¹treat the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to ^ayou who are rich, for ^byou are receiving your comfort in full.

²⁵“Woe to you who ¹are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

²⁶“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to ¹treat the ^afalse prophets in the same way.

²⁷“But I say to you who hear, ^alove your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸bless those who curse you, ^apray for those who ¹mistreat you.

²⁹“^aWhoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your ¹coat, do not withhold your ²shirt from him either.

³⁰“Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

³¹“^1aTreat others the same way you want ²them to treat you.

³²“^aIf you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

³³“If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

³⁴“^aIf you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

³⁵“But ^alove your enemies, and do good, and lend, ¹expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be ^bsons of ^cthe Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

³⁶“¹Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“^aDo not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; ^1bpardon, and you will be pardoned.

³⁸“Give, and it will be given to you. They will ¹pour ^ainto your lap a ^bgood measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

³⁹And He also spoke a parable to them: “^aA blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰“^aA ¹pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will ²be like his teacher.

⁴¹“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

⁴²“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

⁴³“^aFor there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, ¹on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.

⁴⁴“^aFor each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.

⁴⁵“^aThe good man out of the good ¹treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; ^bfor his mouth speaks from ²that which fills his heart.

Builders and Foundations

⁴⁶“^aWhy do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

⁴⁷“^aEveryone who comes to Me and hears My words and ¹acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:

⁴⁸he is like a man building a house, who ¹dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the ²torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹“But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the ¹torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Chapter 7

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

^1aWhen He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, ^bHe went to Capernaum.

²And a centurion’s slave, ¹who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

³When he heard about Jesus, ^ahe sent some ¹Jewish elders asking Him to come and ²save the life of his slave.

⁴When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

⁵for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

⁶Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “¹Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof;

⁷for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just ¹say the word, and my ²servant will be healed.

⁸“For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

⁹Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^anot even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ¹accompanied by a large crowd.

¹²Now as He approached the gate of the city, ¹a dead man was being carried out, the ²only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.

¹³When ^athe Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “¹Do not weep.”

¹⁴And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

¹⁵The ¹dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

^16aFear gripped them all, and they began ^bglorifying God, saying, “A great ^cprophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has ¹visited His people!”

^17aThis report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

A Deputation from John

^18aThe disciples of John reported to him about all these things.

¹⁹Summoning ¹two of his disciples, John sent them to ^athe Lord, saying, “Are You the ²Expected One, or do we look for someone else?”

²⁰When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the ¹Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’ ”

²¹At that ¹very time He ^acured many people of diseases and ^bafflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind.

²²And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the ^ablind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the ^bpoor have the gospel preached to them.

²³“Blessed is he ¹who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵“¹But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft ²clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces!

²⁶“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet.

²⁷“This is the one about whom it is written,

‘^aBehold, I send My messenger ¹ahead of You,

Who will prepare Your way before You.’

²⁸“I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is ¹least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹When all the people and the tax…