The Parable of the Wandering Sheep^(A)

¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels^(B) in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ^[11] [a]

¹² “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Dealing With Sin in the Church

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister^[b] sins,^[c] go and point out their fault,^(C) just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’^{[d](D) 17} If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church;^(E) and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.^(F)

¹⁸ “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[f] loosed in heaven.^(G)

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them^(H) by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”^(I)

¹⁰ After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus^(A) came down from Judea. ¹¹ Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says,^(B) ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind^(C) the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”^(D)

¹² When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³ Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die^(E) in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”^{(F) 14} When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up^(G) and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”^(H)

¹⁵ After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.^{(I) 16} Some of the disciples from Caesarea^(J) accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus^(K) and one of the early disciples.