How Lonely Sits the City

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

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Teaching About Divorce

10 ^(A)And he left there and went ^(B)to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

² And Pharisees came up and in order ^(C)to test him asked, ^(D)“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, ^(E)“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” ⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Because of your ^(F)hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But ^(G)from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them ^(H)male and female.’ ^7 (I)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,^{[a] 8} and ^(J)the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^9 (K)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰ And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(L)“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, ¹² and ^(M)if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Let the Children Come to Me

^13 (N)And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples ^(O)rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ^(P)“Let the children come to me; ^(Q)do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ^15 (R)Truly, I say to you, whoever does not ^(S)receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶ And ^(T)he took them in his arms and blessed them, ^(U)laying his hands on them.

The Rich Young Man

^17 (V)And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and ^(W)knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(X)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ^(Y)‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, ^(Z)all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, ^(AA)looking at him, ^(AB)loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, ^(AC)sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ^(AD)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (AE)Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ And Jesus ^(AF)looked around and said to his disciples, ^(AG)“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter ^(AH)the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples ^(AI)were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ^(AJ)“Children, ^(AK)how difficult it is^[b] to enter ^(AL)the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(AM)the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,^[c] “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus ^(AN)looked at them and said, ^(AO)“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “See, ^(AP)we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(AQ)there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and ^(AR)for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold ^(AS)now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, ^(AT)with persecutions, and in ^(AU)the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But ^(AV)many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^32 (AW)And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and ^(AX)Jesus was walking ahead of them. And ^(AY)they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, ^(AZ)we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will ^(BA)condemn him to death and ^(BB)deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will ^(BC)mock him and ^(BD)spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And ^(BE)after three days he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

^35 (BF)And James and John, ^(BG)the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us ^(BH)whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, ^(BI)“What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us ^(BJ)to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ^(BK)in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ^(BL)“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(BM)to drink the cup that I drink, or ^(BN)to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, ^(BO)“The cup that I drink ^(BP)you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, ^(BQ)you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, ^(BR)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(BS)prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ^42 (BT)And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles ^(BU)lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But ^(BV)it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,^{[d] 44} and whoever would be first among you must be ^(BW)slave^[e] of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but ^(BX)to serve, and ^(BY)to give his life as a ransom for ^(BZ)many.”

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

^46 (CA)And they came to Jericho. And ^(CB)as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, ^(CC)a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was ^(CD)Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ And many ^(CE)rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, ^(CF)“Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” ⁵⁰ And throwing off his ^(CG)cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ And Jesus said to him, ^(CH)“What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, ^(CI)“Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” ⁵² And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; ^(CJ)your faith has ^(CK)made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(CL)Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to ^(CM)Bethphage and Bethany, at ^(CN)the Mount of Olives, Jesus^[f] sent ^(CO)two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, ^(CP)on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many ^(CQ)spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ^(CR)“Hosanna! ^(CS)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is ^(CT)the coming ^(CU)kingdom of ^(CV)our father ^(CW)David! ^(CX)Hosanna ^(CY)in the highest!”

^11 (CZ)And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, ^(DA)he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

^12 (DB)On the following day, when they came from Bethany, ^(DC)he was hungry. ^13 (DD)And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for ^(DE)it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15 (DF)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(DG)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(DH)pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(DI)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(DJ)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(DK)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(DL)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19 (DM)And when evening came they^[g] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

^20 (DN)As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, ^(DO)“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have ^(DP)faith in God. ^23 (DQ)Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^(DR)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ^(DS)doubt in his heart, but ^(DT)believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(DU)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(DV)believe that you ^(DW)have received^[h] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(DX)you stand praying, ^(DY)forgive, ^(DZ)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(EA)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[i]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (EB)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(EC)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(ED)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(EE)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(EF)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(EG)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(EH)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(EI)a vineyard ^(EJ)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(EK)leased it to tenants and ^(EL)went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant^[j] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ^3 (EM)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (EN)Again ^(EO)he sent to them another servant, and ^(EP)they struck him on the head and ^(EQ)treated him shamefully. ^5 (ER)And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶ He had still one other, ^(ES)a beloved son. ^(ET)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(EU)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(EV)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(EW)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(EX)He will ^(EY)come and destroy the tenants and ^(EZ)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (FA)Have you not read ^(FB)this Scripture:

¹² And ^(FD)they were seeking to arrest him ^(FE)but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^(FF)left him and went away.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

^13 (FG)And they sent to him some of ^(FH)the Pharisees and some of ^(FI)the Herodians, to ^(FJ)trap him in his talk. ¹⁴ And they came and said to him, “Teacher, ^(FK)we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For ^(FL)you are not swayed by appearances,^[l] but truly teach ^(FM)the way of God. Is it lawful to pay ^(FN)taxes to ^(FO)Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵ But, knowing ^(FP)their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why ^(FQ)put me to the test? Bring me ^(FR)a denarius^[m] and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, ^(FS)“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

¹⁸ And ^(FT)Sadducees came to him, ^(FU)who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(FV)if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[n] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹ And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²² And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because ^(FW)you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(FX)the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^(FY)marry nor ^(FZ)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ And as for the dead being raised, ^(GA)have you not read in ^(GB)the book of Moses, in ^(GC)the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^(GD)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Great Commandment

^28 (GE)And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ^(GF)‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, ^(GG)the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ^31 (GH)The second is this: ^(GI)‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment ^(GJ)greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that ^(GK)he is one, and ^(GL)there is no other besides him. ³³ And to love him with all the heart and with all ^(GM)the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, ^(GN)is much more than all ^(GO)whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(GP)And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^35 (GQ)And as ^(GR)Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that ^(GS)the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, ^(GT)in the Holy Spirit, declared,

³⁷ David himself calls him Lord. So ^(GW)how is he his son?” And the great throng ^(GX)heard him gladly.

Beware of the Scribes

^38 (GY)And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and ^(GZ)the places of honor at feasts, ^40 (HA)who devour widows' houses and ^(HB)for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The Widow's Offering

^41 (HC)And he sat down opposite ^(HD)the treasury and watched the people ^(HE)putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two ^(HF)small copper coins, which make a penny.^{[o] 43} And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^(HG)this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her ^(HH)poverty has put in everything she had, all ^(HI)she had to live on.”