²⁸ For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ^(A)first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not ^(B)sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ^33 (C)So therefore, any one of you who ^(D)does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

^34 (E)“Salt is good, ^(F)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ³⁵ It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. ^(G)He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now ^(H)the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes ^(I)grumbled, saying, ^(J)“This man receives sinners and ^(K)eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ^4 (L)“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, ^(M)if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine ^(N)in the open country, and ^(O)go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, ^(P)he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for ^(Q)I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who ^(R)repents than over ninety-nine ^(S)righteous persons who need no repentance.