Day 12 of 30

¹Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed, nor hidden, that will not be known.

³Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

⁵But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

⁶"Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.

⁷But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸"I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God;

⁹but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.

¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say."

¹³One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

¹⁵He said to them, "Beware! Keep yourselves from all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses."

¹⁶He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly.

¹⁷He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I do not have room to store my crops?'

¹⁸He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'

²⁰"But God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared-whose will they be?'

²¹So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

²²He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

²³Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

²⁵Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?

²⁶If then you are not able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

²⁸But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

²⁹Do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.

³⁰For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

³¹But seek his Kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

³³Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

³⁵"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.

³⁶Be like people watching for their lord, when he returns from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.

³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them.

³⁸They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.

³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect him."

⁴¹Peter said to him, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?"

⁴²The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord delays his coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,

⁴⁶then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he is not expecting him, and in an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That servant, who knew his lord's will, and did not prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,

⁴⁸but he who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

⁴⁹"I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

⁵¹Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

⁵²For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

⁵³They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

⁵⁴He said to the multitudes also, "When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens.

⁵⁵When a south wind blows, you say, 'There will be a scorching heat,' and it happens.

⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you do not interpret this time?

⁵⁷Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny."

¹Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²Jesus answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

³I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.

⁴Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?

⁵I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way."

⁶He spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.

⁷He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'

⁸He answered, 'Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it.

⁹If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.'"

¹⁰He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day.

¹¹Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."

¹³He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God.

¹⁴The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, "There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!"

¹⁵Therefore the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water?

¹⁶Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"

¹⁷As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

¹⁸He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?

¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches."

²⁰Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?

²¹It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."

²²He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

²³One said to him, "Lord, are they few who are saved?" He said to them,

²⁴"Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.

²⁵When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us!' then he will answer and tell you, 'I do not know you or where you come from.'

²⁶Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'

²⁷He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown outside.

²⁹They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in the Kingdom of God.

³⁰Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last."

³¹In that same hour some Pharisees came, saying to him, "Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you."

³²He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.

³³Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.'

³⁴"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!

³⁵Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

¹It happened, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.

²Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.

³Jesus, answering, spoke to the Law scholars and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"

⁴But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.

⁵He answered them, "Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, would not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"

⁶They could not answer him regarding these things.

⁷He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,

⁸"When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,

⁹and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

¹²He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back.

¹³But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind;

¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they do not have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."

¹⁵When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God!"

¹⁶But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.

¹⁷He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'

¹⁸They all as one began to make excuses. "The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.'

¹⁹"Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.'

²⁰"Another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

²¹"That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'

²²"The servant said, 'Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.'

²³"The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.'"

²⁵Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,

²⁶"If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

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

²⁹Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,

³⁰saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'

³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

³³So therefore whoever of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.

³⁴Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.

²The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."

³He told them this parable.

⁴"Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

⁵When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

⁶When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

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

⁸Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?

⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.'

¹⁰Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."

¹¹He said, "A certain man had two sons.

¹²The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them.

¹³Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

¹⁴When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

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

¹⁶He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.

¹⁷But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!

¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

¹⁹I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants."'

²⁰"He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

²¹The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

²²"But the father said to his servants, 'Quickly, bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

²³Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;

²⁴for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.

²⁵"Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.

²⁷He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.'

²⁸But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.

²⁹But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

³⁰But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'

³¹"He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

³²But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"

¹He also said to his disciples, "There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

²He called him, and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

³"The manager said within himself, 'What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I do not have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.'

⁵Calling each one of his lord's debtors to him, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe to my lord?'

⁶He said, 'A hundred batos of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

⁷Then said he to another, 'How much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred cors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

⁸"His lord commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, for the sons of this world are, in their own generation, more shrewd than the sons of light.

⁹I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

¹⁰He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

¹¹If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

¹²If you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and wealth."

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

¹⁵He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the Law to become void.

¹⁸Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

¹⁹"Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

²⁰A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was placed at his gate, full of sores,

²¹and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.

²³In hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

²⁴He called out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.'

²⁵"But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.

²⁶Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'

²⁷"He said, 'I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house;

²⁸for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won't also come into this place of torment.'

²⁹"But Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.'

³⁰"He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.'"