God’s Promises for Those Who Keep His Laws

26 ⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Never make worthless idols or set up a carved statue or a sacred stone for yourselves. Never cut figures in stone to worship them in your country, because I am the Lord your God. ² Observe my days of rest as holy days and respect my holy tent. I am the Lord.

³ “This is what I will do if you will live by my laws and carefully obey my commands:

⁴ “I will give you rain at the right time. The land will produce its crops, and the trees in the field will produce their fruit. ⁵ Threshing ^[a] time will last until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until planting. You will eat all you want and live securely in your land.

⁶ “I will bring peace to your land. You will lie down with no one to scare you. I will remove dangerous animals, and there will be no war in your land. ⁷ You will chase your enemies, and you will defeat them. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred of them, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them. You will defeat your enemies, ⁹ and I will be pleased with you. Your families will be large, and I will keep my promise ^[b] to you. ¹⁰ You will clear out old food supplies to make room for new ones.

¹¹ “I will put my tent among you, and I will never look at you with disgust. ¹² So I will live among you and be your God, and you will be my people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt so that you are no longer slaves of the Egyptians. I have broken their power over you and made you live as a free people.

God’s Curses for Those Who Break His Laws

¹⁴ “If you will not listen to me and obey all these commands, ¹⁵ if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commands, ¹⁶ then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them. ¹⁷ I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you.

¹⁸ “If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. ¹⁹ I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. ²⁰ You will work hard for nothing because your land will produce no crops and the trees will produce no fruit.

Stories about a Mustard Seed and Yeast^(A)

¹⁸ Jesus asked, “What is God’s kingdom like? What can I compare it to? ¹⁹ It’s like a mustard seed that someone planted in a garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds nested in its branches.”

²⁰ He asked again, “What can I compare God’s kingdom to? ²¹ It’s like yeast that a woman mixed into a large amount of flour until the yeast worked its way through all the dough.”

The Narrow Door

²² Then Jesus traveled and taught in one city and village after another on his way to Jerusalem.

²³ Someone asked him, “Sir, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He answered, ²⁴ “Try hard to enter through the narrow door. I can guarantee that many will try to enter, but they won’t succeed. ²⁵ After the homeowner gets up and closes the door, ⌞it’s too late⌟. You can stand outside, knock at the door, and say, ‘Sir, open the door for us!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know who you are.’ ²⁶ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But he will tell you, ‘I don’t know who you are. Get away from me, all you evil people.’ ²⁸ Then you will cry and be in extreme pain. That’s what you’ll do when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets. They’ll be in God’s kingdom, but you’ll be thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from all over the world and will eat in God’s kingdom. ³⁰ Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

Jesus Warns Jerusalem

³¹ At that time some Pharisees told Jesus, “Get out of here, and go somewhere else! Herod wants to kill you.”

³² Jesus said to them, “Tell that fox that I will force demons out of people and heal people today and tomorrow. I will finish my work on the third day. ³³ But I must be on my way today, tomorrow, and the next day. It’s not possible for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.

³⁴ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone to death those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you were not willing! ³⁵ Your house will be abandoned. I can guarantee that you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”