Read the Gospels in 40 Days
13 Just at that time there [arrived] some people who informed Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
2 And He replied by saying to them, Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they have suffered in this way?
3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent ([a]change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost [b]eternally.
4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were more guilty offenders (debtors) than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, No; but unless you repent ([c]change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost [d]eternally.
6 And He told them this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find [any].
7 So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground [to [e]deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room]?
8 But he replied to him, Leave it alone, sir, [just] this one more year, till I dig around it and put manure [on the soil].
9 Then perhaps it will bear fruit after this; but if not, you can cut it down and out.
10 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an [f]infirmity caused by a spirit ([g]a demon of sickness). She was [h]bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to [i]look upward.
12 And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity!
13 Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she [j]recognized and thanked and praised God.
14 But the [k]leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.(A)
15 But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it?
16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?
17 Even as He said this, all His opponents were put to shame, and all the people were rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.
18 This led Him to say, What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the wild birds [l]found shelter and roosted and nested in its branches.
20 And again He said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21 It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour or meal until it was all leavened (fermented).
22 [Jesus] journeyed on through towns and villages, teaching, and making His way toward Jerusalem.
23 And someone asked Him, Lord, will only a few be saved (rescued, delivered from the penalties of the last judgment, and made partakers of the salvation by Christ)? And He said to them,
24 Strive to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.
25 When once the Master of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door [again and again], saying, Lord, open to us! He will answer you, I do not know where [[m]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from.
26 Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.
27 But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where [[n]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from; depart from Me, all you wrongdoers!
28 There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being cast forth (banished, driven away).
29 And [people] will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit down (feast at table) in the kingdom of God.
30 And behold, there are some [now] last who will be first [then], and there are some [now] first who will be last [then].
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came up and said to Him, Go away from here, for Herod is determined to kill You.
32 And He said to them, Go and tell that fox [sly and crafty, skulking and cowardly], Behold, I drive out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish (complete) My course.
33 Nevertheless, I must continue on My way today and tomorrow and the day after that—for it will never do for a prophet to be destroyed away from Jerusalem!
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who continue to kill the prophets and to stone those who are sent to you! How often I have desired and yearned to gather your children together [around Me], as a hen [gathers] her young under her wings, but you would not!
35 Behold, your house is forsaken (abandoned, left to you destitute of God’s help)! And I tell you, you will not see Me again until the time comes when you shall say, Blessed (to be celebrated with praises) is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!(B)
14 It occurred one Sabbath, when [Jesus] went for a meal at the house of one of the ruling Pharisees, that they were [engaged in] watching Him [closely].
2 And behold, [just] in front of Him there was a man who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, Is it lawful and right to cure on the Sabbath or not?
4 But they kept silent. Then He took hold [of the man] and cured him and [o]sent him away.
5 And He said to them, Which of you, having a son [p]or a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not at once pull him out on the Sabbath day?
6 And they were unable to reply to this.
7 Now He told a parable to those who were invited, [when] He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, saying to them,
8 When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not recline on the chief seat [in the place of honor], lest a more distinguished person than you has been invited by him,(C)
9 And he who invited both of you will come to you and say, Let this man have the place [you have taken]. Then, with humiliation and a guilty sense of impropriety, you will begin to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes in, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher! Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit [at table] with you.
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank).
12 Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and so you are paid back.
13 But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.
14 Then you will be blessed (happy, fortunate, and [q]to be envied), because they have no way of repaying you, and you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (upright).
15 When one of those who reclined [at the table] with Him heard this, he said to Him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and [r]to be envied) is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!
16 But Jesus said to him, A man was once giving a great supper and invited many;
17 And at the hour for the supper he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all is now ready.
18 But they all alike began to make excuses and to beg off. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I have to go out and see it; I beg you, have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine and [s]put my approval on them; I beg you, have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and because of this I am unable to come.(D)
21 So the servant came and reported these [answers] to his master. Then the master of the house said in wrath to his servant, Go quickly into the [t]great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.
22 And the servant [returning] said, Sir, what you have commanded me to do has been done, and yet there is room.
23 Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and urge and constrain [them] to yield and come in, so that my house may be filled.
24 For I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall taste my supper.
25 Now huge crowds were going along with [Jesus], and He turned and said to them,
26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [[u]in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters—[yes] and even his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.
27 Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after (follow) Me cannot be My disciple.
28 For which of you, wishing to build a [v]farm building, does not first sit down and calculate the cost [to see] whether he has sufficient means to finish it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to complete [the building], all who see it will begin to mock and jeer at him,
30 Saying, This man began to build and was not able ([w]worth enough) to finish.
31 Or what king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand [men] to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if he cannot [do so], when the other king is still a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks the terms of peace.
33 So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, [x]say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.
34 Salt is good [an excellent thing], but if salt has lost its strength and has become saltless (insipid, flat), how shall its saltness be restored?
35 It is fit neither for the land nor for the manure heap; men throw it away. He who has ears to hear, let him listen and consider and comprehend by hearing!
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