Luke 14:25-15:7

English Standard Version

The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶^(A)“If anyone comes to me and ^(B)does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, ^(C)yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷^(D)Whoever does not ^(E)bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ^(F)first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not ^(G)sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³^(H)So therefore, any one of you who ^(I)does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

³⁴^(J)“Salt is good, ^(K)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ³⁵It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. ^(L)He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now ^(M)the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes ^(N)grumbled, saying, ^(O)“This man receives sinners and ^(P)eats with them.”

³So he told them this parable: ⁴^(Q)“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, ^(R)if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine ^(S)in the open country, and ^(T)go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵And when he has found it, ^(U)he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for ^(V)I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who ^(W)repents than over ninety-nine ^(X)righteous persons who need no repentance.