Luke 17:20-18:30

World English Bible

²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; ²¹ neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”

²² He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them, ²⁴ for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day. ²⁵ But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶ As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹ but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back. ³² Remember Lot’s wife! ³³ Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it. ³⁴ I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.” ^36 [a]

³⁷ They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?”

He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”

18 He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, ² saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man. ³ A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ ⁴ He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”

⁶ The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? ⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

⁹ He also spoke this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others. ¹⁰ “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵ They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹ Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one: God. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20

²¹ He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”

²² When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”

²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷ But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

²⁸ Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

²⁹ He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake, ³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”