Faith, Power, Judgment, and the Coming Kingdom
World English Bible Classic (WEB)
Luke 18
1 He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray and not give up,
2 saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect man.
3 A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
4 He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.
7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men: extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
15 They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
17 Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
18 A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”
21 He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”
22 When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.
24 Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
29 He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”
31 He took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.
32 For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.
33 They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
34 They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.
35 It happened, as he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.
36 Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.
37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
Luke 19
1 He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short.
4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
11 As they heard these things, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that God’s Kingdom would be revealed immediately.
12 He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13 He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten minas, and told them, ‘Conduct business until I come.’
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
15 “It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what each had gained by doing business.
16 The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’
17 “He said to him, ‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
18 “The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.’
19 “So he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
20 Another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief,
21 for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn’t lay down, and reap that which you didn’t sow.’
22 “He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.
23 Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?’
24 He said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to him who has the ten minas.’
25 “They said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’
26 ‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.
27 But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
28 Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 It happened, when he drew near to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples,
30 saying, “Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no man ever yet sat. Untie it, and bring it.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say to him: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent went away, and found things just as he had told them.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt, and set Jesus on them.
36 As he went, they spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
41 When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side,
44 and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
45 He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,
46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
47 He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him.
48 They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.
Luke 20
1 It happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, that the priests and scribes came to him with the elders.
2 They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”
3 He answered them, “I also will ask you one question. Tell me:
4 the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”
5 They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’
6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 They answered that they didn’t know where it was from.
8 Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
9 He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.
10 At the proper time, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty.
11 He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
12 He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out.
13 The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him they will respect him.’
14 “But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’
15 They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?
16 He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.”
When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!”
17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written:
“‘The stone which the builders rejected
was made the chief cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”
19 The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
20 They watched him, and sent out spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so that they might deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.
21 They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.
22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test me?
24 Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
25 He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 They weren’t able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer, and were silent.
27 Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.
28 They asked him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
29 There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.
30 The second took her as wife, and he died childless.
31 The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.
32 Afterward the woman also died.
33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage.
35 But those who are considered worthy to attain to that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36 For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
38 Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”
40 They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.
41 He said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son?
42 David himself says in the book of Psalms,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
44 “David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
45 In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,
46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;
47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Luke 21
1 He looked up and saw the rich people who were putting their gifts into the treasury.
2 He saw a certain poor widow casting in two small brass coins.
3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them,
4 for all these put in gifts for God from their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.”
5 As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said,
6 “As for these things which you see, the days will come in which there will not be left here one stone on another that will not be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, so when will these things happen? What is the sign that these things are about to happen?”
8 He said, “Watch out that you aren’t led astray, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is at hand.’ Therefore don’t follow them.
9 When you hear of wars and disturbances, don’t be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end won’t come immediately.”
10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
13 It will turn out as a testimony for you.
14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer,
15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or contradict.
16 You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.
17 You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.
18 And not a hair of your head will perish.
19 “By your endurance you will win your lives.
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.
21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of Jerusalem depart. Let those who are in the country not enter into it.
22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.
24 They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves;
26 men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 But when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.”
29 He told them a parable. “See the fig tree and all the trees.
30 When they are already budding, you see it and know by your own selves that the summer is already near.
31 Even so you also, when you see these things happening, know that God’s Kingdom is near.
32 Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things are accomplished.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth.
36 Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and every night he went out and spent the night on the mountain that is called Olivet.
38 All the people came early in the morning to him in the temple to hear him.
Scripture: World English Bible Classic (WEB), a public-domain translation. Available for free copying and sharing at eBible.org.
