²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you sit down first and figure out how much it will cost? Then you will see whether you have enough money to finish it. ²⁹ Suppose you start building and are not able to finish. Then everyone who sees what you have done will laugh at you. ³⁰ They will say, ‘This person started to build but wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. And suppose he has 10,000 men, while the other has 20,000 coming against him. Won’t he first sit down and think about whether he can win? ³² And suppose he decides he can’t win. Then he will send some men to ask how peace can be made. He will do this while the other king is still far away. ³³ In the same way, you must give up everything you have. Those of you who don’t cannot be my disciple.