Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴yNow he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out demons zby Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶while others, ato test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷bBut he, cknowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, dby whom do eyour sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰But if it is by fthe finger of God that I cast out demons, then gthe kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²²hbut when one stronger than he attacks him and iovercomes him, he takes away his jarmor in which he trusted and kdivides his spoil. ²³lWhoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Return of an Unclean Spirit

²⁴m“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through nwaterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And othe last state of that person is worse than the first.”

True Blessedness

²⁷As he said these things, pa woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, q“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” ²⁸But he said, r“Blessed rather are those swho hear the word of God and tkeep it!”

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹uWhen the crowds were increasing, he began to say, v“This generation is an evil generation. wIt seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰For as xJonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹yThe queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and zcondemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, asomething greater than Solomon is here. ³²bThe men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and zcondemn it, for cthey repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, asomething greater than Jonah is here.

The Light in You

³³d“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴Your eye is ethe lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is fbad, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵eTherefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. ³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, gas when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷While Jesus5 was speaking, ha Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸The Pharisee was astonished to see ithat he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹And the Lord said to him, j“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of kgreed and wickedness. ⁴⁰lYou fools! jDid not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹But mgive as alms those things that are within, and behold, neverything is clean for you.

⁴²o“But woe to you Pharisees! For pyou tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect qjustice and rthe love of God. sThese you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For tyou love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you! uFor you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵One of vthe lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” ⁴⁶And he said, “Woe to you wlawyers also! For xyou load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ⁴⁷yWoe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. ⁴⁸zSo you are witnesses and you aconsent to the deeds of byour fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹Therefore also cthe Wisdom of God said, d‘I will send them eprophets and apostles, fsome of whom they will gkill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰so that hthe blood of all the prophets, shed ifrom the foundation of the world, may be jcharged against this generation, ⁵¹from the blood of kAbel to the blood of lZechariah, who perished between mthe altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be jrequired of this generation. ⁵²Woe to you nlawyers! oFor you have taken away the key of pknowledge. You qdid not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, ⁵⁴rlying in wait for him, sto catch him in something he might say.

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Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

¹In the meantime, twhen so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, u“Beware of vthe leaven of the Pharisees, wwhich is hypocrisy. ²xNothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ³Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in yprivate rooms shall be proclaimed on zthe housetops.

Have No Fear

⁴“I tell you, my friends, ado not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him bwho, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him! ⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?2 And cnot one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷Why, deven the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; eyou are of more value than many sparrows.

Acknowledge Christ Before Men

⁸“And I tell you, feveryone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge gbefore the angels of God, ⁹but hthe one who denies me before men iwill be denied gbefore the angels of God. ¹⁰And jeveryone who speaks a word kagainst the Son of Man lwill be forgiven, but the one who mblasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹nAnd when they obring you before the synagogues and pthe rulers and pthe authorities, qdo not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, ¹²rfor the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³sSomeone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But he said to him, t“Man, uwho made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, v“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying, w“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷and he thought to himself, x‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my ybarns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up zfor many years; relax, aeat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰But God said to him, b‘Fool! zThis night cyour soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, dwhose will they be?’ ²¹So is the one ewho lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Be Anxious

²²And he said to his disciples, f“Therefore I tell you, gdo not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴hConsider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. iOf how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his jspan of life?3 ²⁶If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,4 yet I tell you, keven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, lO you of little faith! ²⁹And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor mbe worried. ³⁰For nall the nations of the world seek after these things, and nyour Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, oseek phis5 kingdom, qand these things will be added to you.

³²r“Fear not, little sflock, for tit is your Father's good pleasure to give you uthe kingdom. ³³vSell your possessions, and wgive to the needy. xProvide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with ya treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. ³⁴zFor where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

You Must Be Ready

³⁵a“Stay dressed for action6 and bkeep your lamps burning, ³⁶and be like men who are cwaiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and dknocks. ³⁷eBlessed are those servants7 whom the master finds eawake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, fhe will dress himself for service and ghave them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! ³⁹hBut know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour ithe thief was coming, he8 would not have left his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be jready, for kthe Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, lare you telling this parable for us or for all?” ⁴²And the Lord said, “Who then is mthe faithful and mwise nmanager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? ⁴³oBlessed is that servant9 whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴Truly, I say to you, phe will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master qis delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and rget drunk, ⁴⁶the master of that servant will come son a day when he does not expect him and sat an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷tAnd that servant who uknew his master's will but vdid not get ready uor act according to his will, will receive a wsevere beating. ⁴⁸xBut the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, ywill receive a light beating. zEveryone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Not Peace, but Division

⁴⁹a“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! ⁵⁰bI have a baptism to be baptized with, and how cgreat is my distress until it is accomplished! ⁵¹dDo you think that I have come to give peace on earth? eNo, I tell you, but rather division. ⁵²For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. ⁵³They will be divided, ffather against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Interpreting the Time

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, g“When you see ha cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. ⁵⁵And gwhen you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be iscorching heat,’ and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! jYou know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Settle with Your Accuser

⁵⁷“And why kdo you not judge lfor yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸mAs you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. ⁵⁹I tell you, nyou will never get out until you have paid the very last openny.”10

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Repent or Perish

¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood pPilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And he answered them, q“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³No, I tell you; but unless you rrepent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in sSiloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you rrepent, you will all likewise perish.”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

⁶And he told this parable: “A man had ta fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. uCut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ ⁸And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

¹⁰Now vhe was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And behold, there was a woman who had had wa disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” ¹³And he xlaid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she yglorified God. ¹⁴But zthe ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus ahad healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, b“There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! cDoes not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶And ought not this woman, da daughter of Abraham whom eSatan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷As he said these things, fall his adversaries were put to shame, and gall the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

¹⁸hHe said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like ia grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

²⁰And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹jIt is like leaven that a woman took and hid in kthree measures of flour, until it was lall leavened.”

The Narrow Door

²²mHe went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and njourneying toward Jerusalem. ²³And someone said to him, “Lord, owill those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, ²⁴p“Strive qto enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵rWhen once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, s‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, t‘I do not know where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will begin to say, u‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷But he will say, ‘I tell you, tI do not know where you come from. vDepart from me, all you workers of evil!’ ²⁸wIn that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see wAbraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but wyou yourselves cast out. ²⁹And wpeople will come from east and west, and from north and south, and xrecline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And behold, ysome are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Lament over Jerusalem

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from zhere, for aHerod wants to kill you.” ³²And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day bI finish my course. ³³Nevertheless, cI dmust go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that ea prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ ³⁴fO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that gkills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! hHow often would I have igathered jyour children together kas a hen gathers her brood lunder her wings, and myou were not willing! ³⁵Behold, nyour house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, o‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

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Healing of a Man on the Sabbath

¹One Sabbath, pwhen he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were qwatching him carefully. ²And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³And Jesus responded to rthe lawyers and Pharisees, saying, s“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵And he said to them, t“Which of you, having a son1 or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ⁶uAnd they could not reply to these things.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

⁷Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed vhow they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, wso that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹For xeveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹²He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give ya dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers2 or your relatives or rich neighbors, zlest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. ¹³But when you give a feast, ainvite bthe poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid cat dthe resurrection of the just.”

¹⁵When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, e“Blessed is everyone who will feat bread in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶But he said to him, g“A man once hgave a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷And at the time for the banquet he isent his servant3 to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ ¹⁹And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ ²⁰And another said, j‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in kthe poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²²And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴For I tell you,4 mnone of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶n“If anyone comes to me and odoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, pyes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷qWhoever does not rbear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not tsit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³uSo therefore, any one of you who vdoes not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

³⁴w“Salt is good, xbut if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ³⁵It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. yHe who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

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