Luke 19-20

Tree of Life Version

Visiting Zacchaeus in Jericho

19 Now Yeshua entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And here was a man by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ Zacchaeus was trying to see who Yeshua was, but he couldn’t because of the crowd, for he was short in height. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Yeshua, for He was about to pass through that way.

⁵ When Yeshua came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

⁶ Zacchaeus hurried and came down and welcomed Him joyfully.

⁷ But when everyone saw it, they began to grumble, saying, “Yeshua has gone to be the guest of a sinner!”

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord. “Look, Master, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have somehow cheated anyone, I repay four times as much!”^[a]

⁹ Then Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this home, because he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

¹¹ As they were listening to this, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear at once. ¹² Therefore He said, “A certain nobleman went to a faraway land to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. ¹³ And calling ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas^[b] and said to them, ‘Do business until I come back.’ ¹⁴ But his citizens detested him and they sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this fellow to reign over us!’ ¹⁵ When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he called for those slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much business they had done. ¹⁶ Now the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your one mina has made ten.’ ¹⁷ The master said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you were faithful with so little, take charge over ten cities.’ ¹⁸ Also, the second slave came, saying, ‘Your mina, Master, made five.’ ¹⁹ Then he also said to this one, ‘You are likewise over five cities.’ ²⁰ But another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina. I was keeping it safe in a handkerchief, ²¹ for I was afraid of you because you are a strict man. You take what you did not make and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² He said to him, ‘By the words of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked slave! You knew that I am strict, taking what I did not make and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ Then to the bystanders he said, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ ²⁵ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more shall be given. But from the one who doesn’t have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ²⁷ But those hostile to me, who didn’t want me to reign over them, bring them here and execute them before me.’”

Riding into Jerusalem

²⁸ After saying these things, Yeshua was going on ahead, up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ When He got near Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives,^[c] He sent two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, “Go into the village ahead. As you enter, you will find a colt tied up, that no one has ever sat upon. Untie it and bring it. ³¹ And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Master needs it.’”

³² Those who were headed out found things just as He told them. ³³ Then as they were untying the colt, his owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ They said, “The Master needs it.” ³⁵ Then they brought it to Yeshua, threw their cloaks^[d] on the colt, and set Yeshua on it. ^{[e] 36} And as He went along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road. ^{[f] 37} When Yeshua came near the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to rejoice. They praised God with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen, ³⁸ saying,

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”

⁴⁰ But answering, Yeshua said, “I tell you that if these keep silent, the stones will shout out!”^[h]

⁴¹ As He drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her, ⁴² saying, “If only you had recognized this day the things that lead to shalom! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and hem you in on all sides. ^{[i] 44} And they will smash you to the ground—you and your children within you. And they won’t leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Confrontation at the Temple

⁴⁵ Then Yeshua entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written,

‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’^[j]

but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”^[k]

⁴⁷ And He was teaching every day in the Temple. The ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars, even the leaders of the people, were trying to destroy Him; ⁴⁸ but they could not find any way to do it, because all the people were hanging on His words.

20 On one of the days while Yeshua was teaching the people in the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars, together with the elders, confronted Him. ² And they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is the one who gave You this authority?”

³ But answering, Yeshua said to them, “I also will ask you a question, and you tell Me: ⁴ the immersion of John—was it from heaven or from men?”

⁵ They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ then all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John is a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it came from.

⁸ And Yeshua said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹ Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,^[l] leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ And at the season, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him part of the vineyard’s fruit. But the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ So he proceeded to send another servant. They beat him too and treated him shamefully, and they sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he proceeded to send a third one. They wounded this one too, and they threw him out.

¹³ “Now the master of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Probably they will show him respect.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed the matter among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the master of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

But when they heard this, they said, “May it never happen!”

¹⁷ Then Yeshua looked right at them and said, “Then what is this that has been written,

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be shattered; but the one upon whom it falls, it will crush him.”^[n]

¹⁹ The Torah scholars and the ruling kohanim tried to grab Him that very hour, because they realized that He spoke this parable against them—but they feared the people.

Silencing the Opposition

²⁰ Now they watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to trap Him in His words so they could hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You tell it straight and You teach it straight. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God according to the truth. ²² Is it permitted for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³ But carefully considering their treachery, Yeshua said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius.^[o] Whose image and inscription does it have?”

And they said, “Caesar’s.”

²⁵ Then He said to them, “Well then, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶ And they could not trap Him in His words in the presence of the people. Astonished by His answer, they kept silent.

²⁷ Then some of the Sadducees (who deny there is a resurrection) came and questioned Yeshua. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies’ having a wife ‘but no children, then his brother should take the widow and father children for his brother.’ ^{[p] 29} Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died childless; ³⁰ and the second ³¹ and the third took her, but in this same way, each of the seven brothers died and left no children. ³² Finally the woman died too. ³³ So in the resurrection, whose wife is she? For all seven had married her.

³⁴ Yeshua said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those considered worthy to reach the olam ha-ba and the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But at the burning bush even Moses revealed that the dead are raised, when he calls Adonai ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ^{[q] 38} Now He is God not of the dead but of the living, for to Him they all are living.”

³⁹ Some of the Torah scholars replied, “Teacher, You have said it well.” ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared to question Him about anything.

⁴¹ Then Yeshua said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is Ben-David? ⁴² For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David then calls Him ‘Lord’; so how is He his son?”

⁴⁵ Then with all the people listening, Yeshua said to the disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the Torah scholars, who like to walk around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at feasts. ⁴⁷ They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers as a show. These men will receive greater condemnation!”