The Holy Bible

[13:10] Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

[13:11] And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

[13:12] When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

[13:13] And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

[13:14] But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

[13:15] Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?

[13:16] And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

[13:17] As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

[13:18] He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

[13:19] It is like a 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.”

[13:20] And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

[13:21] It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

[13:22] He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

[13:23] And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them,

[13:24] “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

[13:25] When 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, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

[13:26] Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

[13:27] But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’

[13:28] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

[13:29] And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

[13:30] And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

[13:31] At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

[13:32] And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

[13:33] Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

[13:34] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

[13:35] Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

[14:1] One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.

[14:2] And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.

[14:3] And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

[14:4] But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.

[14:5] And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

[14:6] And they could not reply to these things.

[14:7] Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,

[14:8] “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,

[14:9] and 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.

[14:10] But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so 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.

[14:11] For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

[14:12] He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

[14:13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

[14:14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

[14:15] When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

[14:16] But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

[14:17] And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

[14:18] But 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.’

[14:19] And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’

[14:20] And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

[14:21] So 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 the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

[14:22] And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

[14:23] And 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.

[14:24] For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

[14:25] Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

[14:26] “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

[14:27] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

[14:28] For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

[14:29] Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

[14:30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

[14:31] Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

[14:32] And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

[14:33] So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

[14:34] “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

[14:35] It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[15:1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

[15:2] And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

[15:3] So he told them this parable:

[15:4] “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

[15:5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

[15:6] And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

[15:7] Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.