23 “Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?” (A)

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,(B) because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able 25 once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door.(C) Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us!’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’ 26 Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from me,(D) all you evildoers!’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth(E) in that place,(F) when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God,(G) but yourselves thrown out. 29 They will come from east and west, from north and south, to share the banquet[a] in the kingdom of God. 30 Note this: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 13:29 Lit recline at the table

23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.(A) 25 Once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’(B) 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’(C) 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.(D) 29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”(E)

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