The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who ^(C)neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ^(D)‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And ^(E)will not God give justice to ^(F)his elect, ^(G)who cry to him day and night? ^(H)(I)Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them ^(J)speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some ^(L)who trusted ^(M)in themselves that they were righteous, ^(N)and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(O)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, ^(P)standing by himself, prayed^{[a] (Q)}thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ^12 (R)I fast twice a week; ^(S)I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(T)standing far off, ^(U)would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(V)beat his breast, saying, ‘God, ^(W)be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For ^(X)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let the Children Come to Me

^15 (Y)Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they ^(Z)rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called them to him, saying, ^(AA)“Let the children come to me, and ^(AB)do not hinder them, ^(AC)for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ^17 (AD)Truly, I say to you, whoever does not ^(AE)receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The Rich Ruler

^18 (AF)And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(AG)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ^(AH)‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, ^(AI)“All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. ^(AJ)Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have ^(AK)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^23 (AL)But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, ^(AM)“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter ^(AN)the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(AO)the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, ^(AP)“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸ And Peter said, “See, ^(AQ)we have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^(AR)there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers^[b] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive ^(AS)many times more ^(AT)in this time, and in ^(AU)the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^31 (AV)And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, ^(AW)we are going up to Jerusalem, and ^(AX)everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ³² For he will be ^(AY)delivered over to the Gentiles and will be ^(AZ)mocked and shamefully treated and ^(BA)spit upon. ³³ And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on ^(BB)the third day he will rise.” ^34 (BC)But they understood none of these things. ^(BD)This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

^35 (BE)As he drew near to Jericho, ^(BF)a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷ They told him, ^(BG)“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸ And he cried out, “Jesus, ^(BH)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ And those who were in front ^(BI)rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ^41 (BJ)“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” ⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; ^(BK)your faith has ^(BL)made you well.” ⁴³ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, ^(BM)glorifying God. And ^(BN)all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 ^(BO)He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ And ^(BP)he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into ^(BQ)a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for ^(BR)I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried and came down and ^(BS)received him joyfully. ⁷ And when they saw it, they all ^(BT)grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods ^(BU)I give to the poor. And if I have ^(BV)defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it ^(BW)fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since ^(BX)he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For ^(BY)the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹ As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because ^(BZ)they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. ¹² He said therefore, ^(CA)“A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. ¹³ Calling ^(CB)ten of his servants,^[c] he gave them ten minas,^[d] and said to them, ‘Engage in business ^(CC)until I come.’ ¹⁴ But ^(CD)his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. ¹⁶ The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ ¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant!^[e] Because you have been ^(CE)faithful in a very little, ^(CF)you shall have authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ ¹⁹ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in ^(CG)a handkerchief; ²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are ^(CH)a severe man. You take ^(CI)what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² He said to him, ^(CJ)‘I will condemn you with your own words, ^(CK)you wicked servant! You knew that I was ^(CL)a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you that ^(CM)to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But ^(CN)as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^(CO)slaughter them before me.’”

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸ And when he had said these things, ^(CP)he went on ahead, ^(CQ)going up to Jerusalem. ^29 (CR)When he drew near to Bethphage and ^(CS)Bethany, at ^(CT)the mount that is called Olivet, he sent ^(CU)two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, ^(CV)on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” ³² So those who were sent went away and found it ^(CW)just as he had told them. ³³ And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” ³⁵ And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶ And as he rode along, they ^(CX)spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—^(CY)the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice ^(CZ)for all the mighty works that they had seen, ³⁸ saying, ^(DA)“Blessed is ^(DB)the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and ^(DC)glory in the highest!” ^39 (DD)And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, ^(DE)the very stones would cry out.”

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

^41 (DF)And when he drew near and saw the city, ^(DG)he wept over it, ⁴² saying, ^(DH)“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now ^(DI)they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For ^(DJ)the days will come upon you, when your enemies ^(DK)will set up a barricade around you and ^(DL)surround you and hem you in on every side ^44 (DM)and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And ^(DN)they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know ^(DO)the time of your ^(DP)visitation.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^45 (DQ)And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written, ^(DR)‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but ^(DS)you have made it a den of robbers.”

^47 (DT)And he was teaching daily in the temple. ^(DU)The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, ⁴⁸ but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

Opposition to the Work

4 ^[a] Now when ^(A)Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. ² And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of ^(B)Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?^[b] Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” ^3 (C)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—^(D)if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” ^4 (E)Hear, O our God, for we are despised. ^(F)Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. ^5 (G)Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

⁶ So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

^7 [c] But when ^(H)Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. ^8 (I)And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. ⁹ And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

¹⁰ In Judah it was said,^[d] “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” ¹¹ And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” ¹² At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”^{[e] 13} So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴ And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, ^(J)“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, ^(K)who is great and awesome, ^(L)and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

The Work Resumes

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that it was known to us ^(M)and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. ¹⁶ From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and ^(N)coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, ¹⁷ who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. ¹⁸ And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. ¹⁹ And I said to ^(O)the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. ²⁰ In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. ^(P)Our God will fight for us.”

²¹ So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. ²² I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” ²³ So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; ^(Q)each kept his weapon at his right hand.^[f]

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever