Luke 19
International Children’s Bible
Zacchaeus
19 Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. 2 In Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a wealthy, very important tax collector. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was too short to see above the crowd. 4 He ran ahead to a place where he knew Jesus would come. He climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus. 5 When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus in the tree. He said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”
6 Zacchaeus came down quickly. He was pleased to have Jesus in his house. 7 All the people saw this and began to complain, “Look at the kind of man Jesus stays with. Zacchaeus is a sinner!”
8 But Zacchaeus said to the Lord, “I will give half of my money to the poor. If I have cheated anyone, I will pay that person back four times more!”
9 Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today. This man truly belongs to the family of Abraham. 10 The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”
A Story About Three Servants
11 Jesus traveled closer to Jerusalem. Some of the people thought that God’s kingdom would appear soon. 12 Jesus knew that the people thought this, so he told them this story: “A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then he planned to return home and rule his people. 13 So the man called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money[a] to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money till I get back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So they sent a group to follow him and say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king!’
15 “But the man became king. When he came home, he said, ‘Call those servants who have my money. I want to know how much they earned with it.’
16 “The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me!’ 17 The king said to the servant, ‘Fine! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘Sir, with your one bag of money I earned five bags!’ 19 The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came in. The servant said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it. 21 I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’ 22 Then the king said to the servant, ‘You evil servant! I will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said that I even take money that I didn’t earn and gather food that I didn’t plant. 23 If that is true, then you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’
24 “Then the king said to the men who were watching, ‘Take the bag of money away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten bags of money.’ 25 They said to the king, ‘But sir, that servant already has ten bags of money!’ 26 The king said, ‘The one who uses what he has will get more. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him. 27 Now where are my enemies who didn’t want me to be king? Bring them here and kill them before me.’”
Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King
28 After Jesus said this, he went on toward Jerusalem. 29 Jesus came near Bethphage and Bethany, towns near the hill called the Mount of Olives. Then he sent out two of his followers. 30 He said, “Go into the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied there. No one has ever ridden this colt. Untie it, and bring it here to me. 31 If anyone asks you why you are taking it, say, ‘The Master needs it.’”
32 The two followers went into town. They found the colt just as Jesus told them. 33 The followers untied it, but the owners of the colt came out. They asked the followers, “Why are you untying our colt?”
34 The followers answered, “The Master needs it.” 35 So they brought it to Jesus. They threw their coats on the colt’s back and put Jesus on it. 36 As Jesus rode toward Jerusalem, the followers spread their coats on the road before him.
37 Jesus was coming close to Jerusalem. He was already near the bottom of the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of followers was very happy. They began shouting praise to God for all the powerful works they had seen. They said,
38 “God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
There is peace in heaven and glory to God!” Psalm 118:26
39 Some of the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your followers not to say these things!”
40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if my followers don’t say these things, then the stones will cry out.”
Jesus Cries for Jerusalem
41 Jesus came near Jerusalem. He saw the city and began to cry for it. 42 Jesus said to Jerusalem, “I wish you knew today what would bring you peace! But you can’t know it, because it is hidden from you. 43 A time is coming when your enemies will build a wall around you and will hold you in on all sides. 44 They will destroy you and all your people. Not one stone of your buildings will be left on another. All this will happen because you did not know the time when God came to save you.”
Jesus Goes to the Temple
45 Jesus went into the Temple. He began to throw out the people who were selling things there. 46 He said, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be a house where people will pray.’[b] But you have changed it into a ‘hideout for robbers’!”[c]
47 Jesus taught in the Temple every day. The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and some of the leaders of the people wanted to kill Jesus. 48 But all the people were listening closely to him and were interested in all the things he said. So the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders did not know how they could kill him.
Footnotes
- 19:13 bag of money One bag of money was a Greek “mina.” One mina was enough money to pay a person for working three months.
- 19:46 ‘My Temple . . . pray.’ Quotation from Isaiah 56:7.
- 19:46 ‘hideout for robbers’ Quotation from Jeremiah 7:11.
Luke 19
New Testament for Everyone
The calling of Zacchaeus
19 They went into Jericho and passed through. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax-collector, who was very rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a small man, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead, along the route Jesus was going to take, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up. “Zacchaeus,” he said to him, “hurry up and come down. I have to stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried up, came down, and welcomed him with joy.
7 Everybody began to murmur when they saw it. “He’s gone in to spend time with a proper old sinner!” they were saying.
8 But Zacchaeus stood there and addressed the master.
“Look, Master,” he said, “I’m giving half my property to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I’m giving it back to them four times over.”
9 “Today,” said Jesus, “salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 You see, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The king, the servants and the money
11 While people were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable. They were, after all, getting close to Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at any moment.
12 “There was once a nobleman,” he said, “who went into a country far away to be given royal authority and then return. 13 He summoned ten of his slaves and gave them ten silver coins. ‘Do business with these,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ 14 His subjects, though, hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “So it happened that when he received the kingship and came back again, he gave orders to summon the slaves who had received the money, so that he could find out how they had got on with their business efforts. 16 The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your money has made ten times its value!’
17 “ ‘Well done, you splendid servant!’ he said. ‘You’ve been trustworthy with something small; now you can take command of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Master, your money has made five times its value!’
19 “ ‘You too—you can take charge of five cities.’
20 “The other came and said, ‘Master, here is your money. I kept it wrapped in this handkerchief. 21 You see, I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man: you profit where you made no investment, and you harvest what you didn’t sow.’
22 “ ‘I’ll condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked scoundrel of a servant!’ he replied. ‘So: you knew that I was a hard man, profiting where I didn’t invest and harvesting where I didn’t sow? 23 So why didn’t you put my money with the bankers? Then I’d have had the interest when I got back!’
24 “ ‘Take the money from him,’ he said to the bystanders, ‘and give it to the man who’s made ten of them!’ 25 (‘Master,’ they said to him, ‘he’s got ten coins already!’)
26 “Let me tell you: everyone who has will be given more; but if someone has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But as for these enemies of mine, who didn’t want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in front of me.”
The triumphal entry
28 With these words, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 As they came close, as near as Bethany and Bethphage, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples on ahead. 30 “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and as you arrive you’ll find a colt tied up, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you should say, ‘Because the master needs it.’ ”
32 The two who were sent went off and found it just as Jesus had said to them. 33 They untied the colt, and its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 “Because the master needs it,” they replied.
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and mounted Jesus on it. 36 As he was going along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
37 When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to celebrate and praise God at the tops of their voices for all the powerful deeds they had seen.
38 “Welcome, welcome, welcome with a blessing,” they sang.
“Welcome to the king in the name of the Lord!
“Peace in heaven, and glory on high!”
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop that.”
40 “Let me tell you,” replied Jesus, “if they stayed silent, the stones would be shouting out!”
Jesus cleanses the Temple
41 When he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.
42 “If only you’d known,” he said, “on this day—even you!—what peace meant. But now it’s hidden, and you can’t see it. 43 Yes, the days are coming upon you when your enemies will build up earthworks all round you, and encircle you, and squeeze you in from every direction. 44 They will bring you crashing to the ground, you and your children within you. They won’t leave one single stone on another, because you didn’t know the moment when God was visiting you.”
45 He went into the Temple and began to throw out the traders.
46 “It’s written,” he said, “ ‘My house shall be a house of prayer; but you’ve made it a brigands’ cave.’ ”
47 He was teaching every day in the Temple. But the chief priests, the scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy him. 48 They couldn’t find any way to do it, because all the people were hanging on his every word.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
