⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the Lord:

The Parable of the Mustard Seed^(A)

^18 (B)Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a ^[a]large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven^(C)

²⁰ And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like ^[b]leaven, which a woman took and hid in three ^(D)measures^[c] of meal till it was all leavened.”

The Narrow Way^(E)

^22 (F)And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. ²³ Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there ^(G)few who are saved?”

And He said to them, ^24 (H)“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for ^(I)many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ^25 (J)When once the Master of the house has risen up and ^(K)shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ^(L)‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ^(M)‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ ²⁶ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ ^27 (N)But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. ^(O)Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ ^28 (P)There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, ^(Q)when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. ²⁹ They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. ^30 (R)And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

^31 [d]On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”

³² And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day ^(S)I shall be ^[e]perfected.’ ³³ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(T)

^34 (U)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵ See! ^(V)Your house is left to you desolate; and ^[f]assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ^(W)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

⁵ But ^(A)if anyone has caused grief, he has not ^(B)grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. ⁶ This punishment which was inflicted ^(C)by the majority is sufficient for such a man, ^7 (D)so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. ⁸ Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. ⁹ For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are ^(E)obedient in all things. ¹⁰ Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For ^[a]if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, ¹¹ lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Triumph in Christ

¹² Furthermore, ^(F)when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and ^(G)a ^[b]door was opened to me by the Lord, ^13 (H)I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.

¹⁴ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us ^[c]diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. ¹⁵ For we are to God the fragrance of Christ ^(I)among those who are being saved and ^(J)among those who are perishing. ^16 (K)To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And ^(L)who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not, as ^[d]so many, ^(M)peddling^[e] the word of God; but as ^(N)of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.