Ten Lepers Cleansed

¹¹ While Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing [along the border] between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance; ¹³ and they raised their voices and called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were [miraculously] healed and made clean.^{(A) 15} One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying and praising and honoring God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he lay face downward at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him [over and over]. He was a ^[a]Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten [of you] cleansed? Where are the [other] nine? ¹⁸ Was there no one found to return and to give thanks and praise to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to him, “Get up and go [on your way]. Your faith [your personal trust in Me and your confidence in God’s power] has restored you to health.”

²⁰ Now having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a visible display; ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Look! Here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the kingdom of God is among you [because of My presence].”

Second Coming Foretold

²² Then He said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see [even] one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ They will say to you, ‘Look [the Messiah is] there!’ or ‘Look [He is] here!’ Do not go away [to see Him], and do not run after them. ²⁴ For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part ^[b]of the sky, gives light to the other part ^[c]of the sky, so [visible] will the Son of Man be in His day. ²⁵ But first He must suffer many things and be repudiated and rejected and considered unfit [to be the Messiah] by this [unbelieving] generation. ²⁶ And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the ^[d]time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man: ²⁷ the people were ^[e]eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, [they were indifferent to God] until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.^{(B) 28} It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building [carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins]; ²⁹ but on the [very] day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.^{(C) 31} On that day, whoever is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, must not come down [and go inside] to take them out; and likewise whoever is in the field must not turn back. ³² Remember [what happened to] Lot’s wife [when she looked back]!^{(D) 33} Whoever seeks to save his ^[f]life will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] will keep it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].^{(E) 34} I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the ^[g]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the ^[h]other (the believer) will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the ^[i]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. ^36 [j][Two men will be in the field; ^[k]one will be taken and the other will be left.”] ³⁷ And they asked Him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”

Parables on Prayer

18 Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that at all times they ought to pray and not give up and lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and had no respect for man. ³ There was a [desperate] widow in that city and she kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice and legal protection from my adversary.’ ⁴ For a time he would not; but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will give her justice and legal protection; otherwise ^[l]by continually coming she [will be an intolerable annoyance and she] will wear me out.’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says! ⁷ And will not [our just] God defend and avenge His elect [His chosen ones] who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay [in providing justice] on their behalf? ⁸ I tell you that He will defend and avenge them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.”