²¹ Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”^(A)

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”^(B)

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”^(C)

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

⁶ “‘Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body.^{(A) 7} Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean^(B) on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.

¹¹ He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.^(A) He must not make himself unclean,^(B) even for his father or mother,^{(C) 12} nor leave the sanctuary^(D) of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil^(E) of his God. I am the Lord.

²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife^[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.^(A)

²⁰ Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,”^(A) he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

²¹ So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen^(B) and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.^(C)

² This is what the Lord Almighty^(A) says: “These people^(B) say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.^(C)’”

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly^(A) point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.