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¹Now on that very occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²And Jesus responded and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans just because they have suffered this fate?

³No, I tell you, but unless yourepent, you will all likewise perish.

⁴Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worseoffenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

⁷And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Look! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig treewithout finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’

⁸But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;

⁹and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”

¹⁰Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all.

¹²When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

¹³And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood up straight again, and began glorifying God.

¹⁴But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days during which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does each of you on the Sabbath not untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it?

¹⁶And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound foreighteen long years, should she not have been released from this restraint on the Sabbath day?”

¹⁷And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

¹⁸So He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

²⁰And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

²¹It is likeleaven, which a woman took and hid in threesata of flour until it was all leavened.”

²²And He was passing through one city and village after another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.

²³And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them,

²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

²⁵Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

²⁶Then you will begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’

²⁷And yet He willsay, ‘I do not know where you are from; LEAVE ME, ALL YOUEVILDOERS.’

²⁸In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.

²⁹And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

³⁰And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹At that very time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away and leave this place, because Herod wants to kill You.”

³²And He said to them, “Go and tell thatfox, ‘Behold, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day Ireach My goal.’

³³Nevertheless I must go on My journey today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem.

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers heryoung under her wings, and you were unwilling!

³⁵Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”

¹It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.

²And there in front of Him was a man suffering from edema.

³And Jesus responded and said to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

⁴But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.

⁵And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

⁶And they could offer no reply to this.

⁷Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,

⁸“Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do nottake the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,

⁹and the one who invited youboth will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place.

¹⁰But whenever you are invited, go andtake the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who aredining at the table with you.

¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹²Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be yourrepayment.

¹³But whenever you give abanquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind;

¹⁴and you will be blessed, since theydo not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;

¹⁷and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’

¹⁸And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it;please consider me excused.’

¹⁹And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out;please consider me excused.’

²⁰And another one said, ‘I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’

²¹And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’

²²And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

²³And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’ ”

²⁵Now large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them,

²⁶“If anyone comes to Me and does nothate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

²⁸For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’

³¹Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

³²Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace.

³³So then, none of you can be My disciple who does notgive up all his own possessions.

³⁴“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

³⁵It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. The one who has ears to hear,let him hear.”

¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to Him.

²And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³And so He told them this parable, saying,

⁴“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in theopen pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

⁵And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’

⁷I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

⁸“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin which I had lost!’

¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

¹¹And He said, “A man had two sons.

¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate thatis coming to me.’ And so he divided hiswealth between them.

¹³And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his estate inwild living.

¹⁴Now when he hadspent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without.

¹⁵So he went andhired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything.

¹⁷But when he came tohis senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying herefrom hunger!

¹⁸I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, andin your sight;

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers.” ’

²⁰So he set out and came tohis father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran andembraced him and kissed him.

²¹And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven andin your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, andput a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet;

²³and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let’s eat and celebrate;

²⁴for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.

²⁷And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’

²⁸But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.

²⁹But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have neverneglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;

³⁰but when this son of yours came, who has devoured yourwealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

³¹And he said to him, ‘Son, youhave always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.

³²But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’ ”