Luke 12:49-56

Contemporary English Version

Not Peace, but Trouble

(Matthew 10.34-36)

⁴⁹ I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it were already on fire! ^50 (A) I am going to be put to a hard test. And I will have to suffer a lot of pain until it is over. ⁵¹ Do you think that I came to bring peace to earth? No indeed! I came to make people choose sides. ⁵² A family of five will be divided, with two of them against the other three. ^53 (B) Fathers and sons will turn against one another, and mothers and daughters will do the same. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law will also turn against each other.

Knowing What To Do

(Matthew 16.2,3; 5.25,26)

⁵⁴ Jesus said to all the people:

As soon as you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say, “It's going to rain,” and it does. ⁵⁵ When the south wind blows, you say, “It's going to get hot,” and it does. ⁵⁶ Are you trying to fool someone? You can predict the weather by looking at the earth and sky, but you don't really know what's going on right now.