¹³ Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.^(A)

⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.^{(A) 7} So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down!^(B) Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.^(A) Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.^(B)

³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.^(A)

¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.^(A)

⁹ but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh,^(A) then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”

³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters.^(A) As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.^(B)