⁹ “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.^(A) What you brought home, I blew^(B) away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin,^(C) while each of you is busy with your own house.

³¹ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.^(A) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit^(B) and spoke the word of God^(C) boldly.^(D)

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.^{(A) 27} And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.^(B)

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.^(C)

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?^(D)

The Rich and the Kingdom of God^(A)

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^(B)

¹⁹ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’^[a]”^(C)

²¹ “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor,^(D) and you will have treasure in heaven.^(E) Then come, follow me.”

²³ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord,^(A) “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,^(B) I will pay back four times the amount.”^(C)

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss^(A) for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing^(B) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ^{(C) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,^(D) but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness^(E) that comes from God on the basis of faith.^{(F) 10} I want to know^(G) Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,^(H) becoming like him in his death,^{(I) 11} and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection^(J) from the dead.

¹³ So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it ¹⁴ and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he replied.

¹⁵ So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.”

¹⁶ The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread^(A) or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

¹⁸ The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord:^(B) ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying^(C) to him.) ¹⁹ So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied^(D) the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. ²² You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”

²³ When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. ²⁴ As he went on his way, a lion^(E) met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. ²⁵ Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied^(F) the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.”

⁶ So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”

“Go,”^(A) they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”^(B)

⁷ But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet^(C) of the Lord here whom we can inquire^(D) of?”

⁸ The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate^(E) him because he never prophesies anything good^(F) about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁹ So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”

¹⁰ Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor^(G) by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. ¹¹ Now Zedekiah^(H) son of Kenaanah had made iron horns^(I) and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”

¹² All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

¹³ The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”^(J)

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”^(K)

¹⁵ When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

¹⁶ The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁷ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered^(L) on the hills like sheep without a shepherd,^(M) and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

¹⁸ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

¹⁹ Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne^(N) with all the multitudes^(O) of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. ²⁰ And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. ²¹ Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

²² “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

“‘I will go out and be a deceiving^(P) spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

²³ “So now the Lord has put a deceiving^(Q) spirit in the mouths of all these prophets^(R) of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster^(S) for you.”

To the Church in Sardis

3 “To the angel^[a] of the church in Sardis^(A) write: