Luke 17:1-18:30

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Some Sayings of Jesus

17 Jesus^[a] said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin^[b] are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come!^{(A) 2} It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.^{[c](B) 3} Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.^{(C) 4} And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”^(D)

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”^{(E) 6} The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a^[d] mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.^(F)

⁷ “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸ Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?^{(G) 9} Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”

Jesus Cleanses Ten Men with a Skin Disease

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus^[e] was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.^{(H) 12} As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance,^{(I) 13} they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.^{(J) 15} Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.^{(K) 16} He prostrated himself at Jesus’s^[f] feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.^{(L) 17} Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”^(M)

The Coming of the Kingdom

²⁰ Once Jesus^[g] was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, ²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among^[h] you.”^(N)

²² Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.^{(O) 23} They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go; do not set off in pursuit.^{(P) 24} For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.^{[i](Q) 25} But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation.^{(R) 26} Just as it was in the days of Noah, so, too, it will be in the days of the Son of Man.^{(S) 27} They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. ²⁸ Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,^{(T) 29} but on the day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them; ³⁰ it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away, and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. ³² Remember Lot’s wife. ³³ Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.”^{[j] 37} Then they asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.”

The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge

18 Then Jesus^[k] told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³ In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”^{[l] 6} And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸ I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’^{(U) 13} But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’^{(V) 14} I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(W)

Jesus Blesses Little Children

¹⁵ People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them, and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. ¹⁶ But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”^(X)

The Rich Ruler

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^{(Y) 19} Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.’ ”^{(Z) 21} He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money^[m] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”^{(AA) 23} But when he heard this, he became sad, for he was very rich. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him^[n] and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!^{(AB) 25} Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ He replied, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”^(AC)

²⁸ Then Peter said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.”^{(AD) 29} And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ who will not get back very much more in this age and in the age to come eternal life.”^(AE)