³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^(A)deny himself and ^(B)take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For ^(C)whoever would save his life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake ^(D)and the gospel's will save it. ^36 (E)For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵ Now 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. ²⁸ For 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? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or 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? ³² And 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? ³⁵ It 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.”