³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come^[a] after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^(A)

³⁸ and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.^(A)

²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.^{(A) 27} Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.^(B)

⁸ and tore the kingdom away from the house of David to give it to you, yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my sight,^(A)

²⁷ My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.^(A)

²⁰ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,^[a] who loved me and gave himself for me.^(A)

²⁴ And those who belong to Christ^[a] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.^(A)

¹⁶ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.^(A)

²⁴ But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.^(A)

The Cross and Self-Denial

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^(A)