The Gospel of Luke

Luke 1

¹Since many have taken in hand to draw up an account of the things fulfilled among us, ²just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, ³it seemed good to me also, having followed it all closely from the start, to write it out for you in order, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know how firm is the ground of the things you have been taught.

⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the priestly division of Abijah, and his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶Both of them were doing what was right before God, walking blamelessly in all the commands and righteous decrees of God.

⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both of them were well along in their days.

⁸One day, while Zechariah was serving as priest before God, in the order of his division, ⁹the lot fell to him, by the custom of the priesthood, to go into the sanctuary of God and burn incense.

¹⁰And the whole gathering of the people was praying outside, at the hour of incense.

¹¹Then an angel of God appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense.

¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was shaken, and fear fell over him.

¹³But the angel said to him: "Don't be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

¹⁴He will be your joy and delight, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great before God. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Sacred Ruha even from his mother's womb.

Ruha: breath-wind-spirit.

¹⁶And he will turn many of Israel's children around to their God.

¹⁷He himself will go ahead of him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of those who do what is right, to make ready for God a people prepared."

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel: "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man, and my wife is well along in her days."

¹⁹The angel answered him: "I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this hopeful news.

²⁰And look, you will be silent, unable to speak, until the day this comes to be, because you did not trust my words, which will be fulfilled in their time."

²¹All the while the people were waiting for Zechariah, wondering why he stayed so long in the sanctuary.

²²When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they realized he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept making signs to them and stayed unable to speak.

²³And when the days of his service were over, he went home.

²⁴After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵"This is what God has done for me, in the days when he looked on me, to take away my disgrace among the people."

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

²⁸The angel came to her and said: "Rejoice, you who are favored. God is with you."

²⁹Mary was deeply troubled at the word, and she kept wondering what kind of greeting this might be.

³⁰But the angel said to her: "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

³¹And look, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you are to call him Yeshua.

³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and God will give him the throne of David his father.

³³He will reign over the house of Jacob through all the ages, and his reign will have no end."

³⁴Mary said to the angel: "How will this be, since I have not known a man?"

³⁵The angel answered her: "The Sacred Ruha will come over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the set-apart one to be born will be called the Son of God.

³⁶And look, Elizabeth, your kinswoman: she too has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren, ³⁷for nothing will be impossible with God."

³⁸Mary said: "Here I am, the servant of God. Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel left her.

³⁹In those days Mary set out and went quickly to the hill country, to a town of Judah.

⁴⁰She went into the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹And when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Sacred Ruha.

⁴²She cried out with a loud voice and said: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴³And why is this given to me, that the mother of my Master should come to me?

⁴⁴For look, the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy in my womb.

⁴⁵And it is well with her who trusted that what was spoken to her from God would be fulfilled!"

⁴⁶And Mary said:

"My self magnifies God,

⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Life-Giver, ⁴⁸for he has looked on the lowliness of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me favored, ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and set-apart is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him,
from generation to generation.

⁵¹He has done a mighty thing with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering mercy, ⁵⁵just as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his seed forever."

⁵⁶Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then she went home.

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that God had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father.

⁶⁰But his mother spoke up: "No. He is to be called John."

⁶¹They said to her: "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."

⁶²So they made signs to his father, to find out what he wanted him called.

⁶³He asked for a writing tablet and wrote: "His name is John." And they were all amazed.

⁶⁴At once his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, blessing God.

⁶⁵Fear came over all who lived around them, and through all the hill country of Judea these things were talked about.

⁶⁶All who heard them held them in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of God was with him.

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah was filled with the Sacred Ruha and prophesied, saying: ⁶⁸"Blessed is God, the God of Israel,
for he has come to his people and set them free, ⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of liberation for us,
in the house of David his servant, ⁷⁰just as he spoke through the mouths of his set-apart prophets,
from ages past: ⁷¹liberation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us, ⁷²to show mercy to our fathers,
and remember his holy covenant, ⁷³the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
to grant us ⁷⁴that we, rescued from the hand of enemies,
might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵in holiness and what is right before him,
all our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go ahead of God to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷to give his people knowledge of life,
in the release of their errors, ⁷⁸through the deep mercy of our God,
by which the dawn from on high will visit us, ⁷⁹to shine on those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of wholeness."

⁸⁰And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wild places until the day he appeared openly to Israel.

Luke 2

¹In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the inhabited world should be registered.

²This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

³And everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

⁴So Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, into Judea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and line of David, ⁵to be registered with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and was carrying a child.

⁶While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, ⁷and she gave birth to her son, the firstborn. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no place for them in the lodging house.

⁸Now there were shepherds in that same region, staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock through the night.

⁹And an angel of God stood before them, and the brightness of God shone around them, and they were gripped with great fear.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you hopeful news of great joy, which will be for all the people.

¹¹Today in the town of David a liberator is born to you, who is the Anointed One, the Master.

¹²And this is the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough."

¹³And all at once there was with the angel a great host of heaven, praising God and saying: ¹⁴Praise to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those on whom his favor rests.

¹⁵When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which God has made known to us."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the feeding trough.

¹⁷When they saw him, they made known what had been told them about this child.

¹⁸And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these words, turning them over in her heart.

²⁰The shepherds went back, giving honor and praise to God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.

²¹When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Yeshua, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²²When the days of their purification were completed, according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to God, ²³as it is written in the Law of God: Every firstborn male is to be called set-apart to God.

²⁴And they came to offer a sacrifice, as the Law of God says: a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man did what was right and lived with care. He was waiting for the comfort of Israel, and the Sacred Ruha was upon him.

²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Sacred Ruha that he would not see death before he had seen the Anointed One of God.

²⁷Led by Ruha, he came into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Yeshua, to do for him what the Law required, ²⁸Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God and said: ²⁹Now, Master, you release your slave in wholeness,
according to your word.

³⁰For my eyes have seen your setting-free, ³¹which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, ³²a light for unveiling to the nations,
and the splendor of your people Israel.

³³His father and mother were marveling at what was being said about him.

³⁴Then Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary his mother, "Look, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵and a sword will pass through your own self too, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be uncovered."

³⁶There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with a husband seven years from her maidenhood, ³⁷and then alone as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving with fasting and prayer, night and day.

³⁸Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to God and spoke about him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had finished everything according to the Law of God, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

⁴⁰And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.

⁴¹Every year his parents would go to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the feast.

⁴³When the days were over and they were going back, the boy Yeshua stayed behind in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it.

⁴⁴Thinking he was somewhere in the company, they went a day's journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends, ⁴⁵and when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem, searching for him.

⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed, and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in anguish."

⁴⁹And he said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

⁵⁰But they did not understand what he said to them.

⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was under their care. And his mother treasured all these words in her heart.

⁵²And Yeshua grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Luke 3

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

³And he went through all the country around the Jordan, proclaiming an immersion of turning around for the release of errors, ⁴as it stands written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice crying out in the wilderness:

prepare the way of God, make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley will be filled, every mountain and hill made low;

the crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.

⁶And all flesh will see the life of God.

⁷So he kept saying to the crowds coming out to be immersed by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is coming?

⁸Bear fruit, then, worthy of your turning around. And don't start telling yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham out of these stones.

⁹Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Every tree that doesn't bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

¹⁰And the crowds kept asking him, "What should we do, then?"

¹¹He answered them, "Whoever has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and whoever has food should do the same."

¹²Tax collectors also came to be immersed, and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

¹³He told them, "Collect no more than what you've been ordered to."

¹⁴Soldiers also kept asking him, "And us, what should we do?" He told them, "Don't shake anyone down, don't accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages."

¹⁵The people were waiting in hope, and they were all turning it over in their hearts, wondering about John, whether he might be the Anointed One.

¹⁶John answered them all, "I immerse you in water, but one stronger than I is coming, and I am not fit to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will immerse you in the Sacred Ruha and fire.

¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

¹⁸And with many other words he urged them on, and announced the hopeful news to the people.

¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, rebuked by him over Herodias, his brother's wife, and over all the wrong things Herod had done, ²⁰added this to all the rest: he shut John up in prison.

²¹Now when all the people were being immersed, Yeshua too was immersed; and while he was praying, the heavens opened, ²²and the Sacred Ruha came down on him in bodily form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, the beloved. In you I am well pleased."

²³Yeshua himself was about thirty years old when he began. He was the son, as people supposed, of Joseph, son of Heli, ²⁴son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, ²⁵son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, ²⁶son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, ²⁷son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, ²⁸son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, ²⁹son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, ³⁰son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, ³¹son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, ³²son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Salmon, son of Nahshon, ³³son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, ³⁴son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, ³⁵son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, ³⁶son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, ³⁷son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Cainan, ³⁸son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Luke 4

¹Yeshua, full of the Sacred Ruha, came back from the Jordan and was led by Ruha into the place of leading, the wilderness, ²forty days, tested by the accuser. He ate nothing in those days, and when they were over, he was hungry.

³The accuser said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

⁴Yeshua answered him, "It is written: A person does not live on bread alone."

⁵Then the accuser led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single moment.

⁶"All this authority I will give you," the accuser said, "and all their splendor. It has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I please.

⁷So if you will bow before me, all of it is yours."

⁸Yeshua answered him, "It is written: Revere your God, and serve him alone."

⁹Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.

¹⁰For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you.

¹¹And: On their hands they will lift you, so you never strike your foot against a stone."

¹²Yeshua answered him, "It is said: Do not put your God to the test."

¹³When the accuser had finished every test, he left him until the right time.

¹⁴Yeshua came back to Galilee in the power of Ruha, and word of him went out through all the surrounding country.

¹⁵He was teaching in their gatherings, honored by all.

¹⁶He came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath day he went into the gathering, as was his custom, and he stood up to read.

¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸The Ruha of God is upon me,

because God has anointed me to carry the hopeful news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

and sight to the blind,

to send the crushed away free,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of God's favor.

²⁰He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the gathering were fixed on him.

²¹He began to tell them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

²²Everyone spoke well of him and marveled at the words of favor coming from his mouth. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they said.

²³He said to them, "No doubt you will quote me this saying: 'Healer, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.'

²⁴Amen, I tell you," he said, "no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

²⁵In truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was shut three years and six months and a great famine came over all the land.

²⁶Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Zarephath, in the region of Sidon.

²⁷And there were many lepers in Israel in the days of the prophet Elisha. Not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian."

²⁸When they heard this, everyone in the gathering was filled with rage.

²⁹They rose up, drove him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill their town was built on, to throw him off the cliff.

³⁰But he passed through the middle of them and went on his way.

³¹He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath.

³²They were astonished at his teaching, because his word carried authority.

³³In the gathering there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴"Ah! What do you want with us, Yeshua of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the one set apart by God!"

³⁵Yeshua ordered him sharply, "Be silent, and come out of him!" The evil spirit threw the man down in front of them all and came out of him, doing him no harm.

³⁶Amazement seized them all, and they said to one another, "What is this word? With authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!"

³⁷And the sound of him spread to every place in the surrounding country.

³⁸He got up and left the gathering and went into Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was gripped by a high fever, and they asked him about her.

³⁹He stood over her and ordered the fever sharply, and it left her. At once she got up and began to serve them.

⁴⁰As the sun was going down, everyone who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each one of them and healed them.

⁴¹Evil spirits also came out of many, crying out, "You are the Son of God!" But he ordered them sharply and would not let them speak, because they knew he was the Anointed One.

⁴²When day came, he went out to a deserted place. The crowds were searching for him, and when they reached him, they tried to keep him from leaving them.

⁴³But he said to them, "I must bring the hopeful news of the reign of God to the other towns too, because this is why I was sent."

⁴⁴And he kept proclaiming in the gatherings of Judea.

Luke 5

¹One day, as the crowd pressed in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.

²He saw two boats drawn up at the water's edge; the fishermen had stepped out of them and were washing their nets.

³He got into one of the boats, the one that was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch."

⁵Simon answered, "Master, we worked hard all night and took nothing. But at your word I'll let down the nets."

⁶And when they had done this, they closed in such a great haul of fish that their nets began to tear.

⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both boats so full that the boats began to sink.

⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Yeshua's knees and said, "Go away from me, Master. I am a man who misses the mark."

⁹For awe had seized him and all who were with him at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰and so too James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Yeshua said to Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on you will be catching people."

¹¹So they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

¹²One day, while he was in one of the towns, a man came who was covered with leprosy. Seeing Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged him, "Master, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

¹³Yeshua reached out his hand and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean." And at once the leprosy left him.

¹⁴Then Yeshua ordered him to tell no one. "But go," he said, "show yourself to the priest, and bring the offering for your cleansing that Moses commanded, as a witness to them."

¹⁵Yet word about him spread all the more, and great crowds came together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

¹⁶But he would withdraw to the lonely places and incline toward God.

¹⁷One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the Law were sitting nearby. They had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem. And the power of God was with him to heal.

¹⁸And some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Yeshua, ¹⁹but they could find no way to bring him in through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles, into the middle of them all, right in front of Yeshua.

²⁰Seeing their trust, he said, "Friend, your errors are released."

²¹At this the scribes and the Pharisees began to argue among themselves, "Who is this man, speaking blasphemies? Who can release errors but God alone?"

²²Yeshua knew what they were thinking, and he answered them, "Why are you arguing in your hearts?

²³Which is easier: to say, 'Your errors are released,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

²⁴But so you will know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to release errors." Then he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home."

²⁵And at once the man stood up in front of them, took the mat he had been lying on, and went home, giving honor to God.

²⁶Astonishment seized them all, and they gave honor to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

²⁷After this, Yeshua went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him.

²⁸And Levi left everything, got up, and followed him.

²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were reclining at the table with them.

³⁰The Pharisees and their scribes grumbled to his students, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and those who miss the mark?"

³¹Yeshua answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

³²I have not come to call those doing what is right, but those who miss the mark, to turn around."

³³Then they said to him, "John's students often fast and offer prayers, and so do the students of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."

³⁴Yeshua said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

³⁵But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then, in those days, they will fast."

³⁶He told them this comparison too: "No one tears a patch from a new coat and sews it onto an old one. If he does, he tears the new coat, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

³⁷And no one pours new wine into old skins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the skins will be ruined.

³⁸No. New wine must go into fresh skins.

³⁹And no one who has drunk old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is good.'"

Luke 6

¹One sabbath, as he was passing through the grainfields, his students were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating.

²Some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not allowed on the sabbath?"

³And Yeshua answered them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry?

⁴He went into the house of God, took the bread of the Presence, ate it, and gave some to those with him, the bread that no one is allowed to eat but the priests alone."

⁵And he said to them, "The Son of Man is master of the sabbath."

⁶On another sabbath he went into the gathering and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

⁷The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so they could find a charge against him.

⁸But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand here in the middle." And he got up and stood there.

⁹Then Yeshua said to them, "I ask you: on the sabbath, is it allowed to do good or to do harm, to make a self live or to destroy it?"

¹⁰He looked around at them all, and then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was made well.

¹¹But they were filled with senseless rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Yeshua.

¹²In those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night inclining toward God.

¹³When day came, he called his students to him, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named sent ones: ¹⁴Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, ¹⁵and Matthew and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot, ¹⁶and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became the betrayer.

¹⁷He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his students and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those tormented by unclean spirits were cured, ¹⁹and the whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.

²⁰Then he lifted up his eyes to his students and said:

Flourishing are you who are poor,
for the reign of God is yours.

²¹Flourishing are you who hunger now,
for you will be filled.

Flourishing are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

²²Flourishing are you when people hate you, when they cut you off and revile you and cast out your name as wrong, because of the Son of Man.

²³Rejoice on that day and leap for joy. Look, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers did the very same things to the prophets.

²⁴But how terrible for you who are rich,
for you have already had your comfort.

²⁵How terrible for you who are full now,
for you will go hungry.

How terrible for you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶How terrible for you when everyone speaks well of you, for their fathers did the very same things to the false prophets.

²⁷"But I tell you who are listening: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

²⁹To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well. And from the one who takes your coat, do not hold back your shirt either.

³⁰Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not ask for it back.

³¹And as you want people to do for you, do the same for them.

³²If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even those who miss the mark love those who love them.

³³And if you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even those who miss the mark do the same.

³⁴And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even those who miss the mark lend to their own kind, to be repaid in full.

³⁵But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the bad.

³⁶Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate."

³⁷"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Release, and you will be released.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

³⁹He also told them a comparison: "Can the blind lead the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit?

⁴⁰A student is not above the teacher, but everyone fully trained will be like his teacher.

⁴¹Why do you stare at the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the beam in your own?

⁴²How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when you don't see the beam in your own? You actor! First take the beam out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's."

⁴³"There is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor again a bad tree that bears good fruit.

⁴⁴Every tree is known by its own fruit. People do not gather figs from thornbushes, nor pick grapes from a bramble.

⁴⁵The good person brings good out of the good stored in the heart, and the bad person brings bad out of bad; for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."

⁴⁶"Why do you call me 'Master, master,' and not do what I say?

⁴⁷Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and acts on them, I will show you what that one is like.

⁴⁸That one is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, because it was well built.

⁴⁹But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground, with no foundation. The river burst against it, and at once it collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house."

Luke 7

¹When he had finished all he had to say in the hearing of the people, he went into Capernaum.

²A certain centurion had a slave, dear to him, who was sick and about to die.

³Hearing about Yeshua, he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and make his slave live.

⁴They came to Yeshua and pleaded with him hard, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him.

⁵He loves our nation, and he himself built our gathering place."

⁶So Yeshua went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Master, don't trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

⁷That is why I didn't think myself fit to come to you. Only say the word, and let my boy be healed.

⁸For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."

⁹When Yeshua heard this, he marveled at him. He turned to the crowd following him and said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such trust."

¹⁰And the ones who had been sent returned to the house and found the slave well.

¹¹Soon after, he went to a town called Nain, and his students went with him, and a large crowd.

¹²As he came near the town gate, a dead man was being carried out, her only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her.

¹³When the Master saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, "Don't weep."

¹⁴Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I tell you, get up."

¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and he gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶Fear took hold of them all, and they gave honor to God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us," and, "God has come to care for his people."

¹⁷And this word about him went out through the whole of Judea and all the country around.

¹⁸John's students reported to him about all these things. So John called two of his students ¹⁹and sent them to the Master to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

²⁰When the men reached him they said, "John the Immerser sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?'"

²¹In that hour he healed many of their diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and to many who were blind he gave sight.

²²And he answered them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, those with leprosy are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the hopeful news.

²³And it is well with the one who does not stumble over me."

²⁴When John's messengers had gone, he began to speak to the crowds about John. "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those in fine clothes, living in luxury, are in royal palaces.

²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

²⁷This is the one about whom it is written:

Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.

²⁸I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet the least in the reign of God is greater than he."

²⁹All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, declared God righteous, for they had been immersed with John's immersion.

³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law set aside God's purpose for themselves, refusing to be immersed by him.

³¹"To what, then, can I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?

³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another:
'We played the flute for you, and you didn't dance;
we sang a lament, and you didn't weep.'

³³For John the Immerser came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has an evil spirit.'

³⁴The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a drinker, a friend of tax collectors and those who miss the mark.'

³⁵Yet wisdom is proven right by all her children."

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

³⁷And a woman who was in the town, one who missed the mark, learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee's house, and she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.

³⁸She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the perfume.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is one who misses the mark."

⁴⁰And Yeshua answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher, say it," he replied.

⁴¹"Two men were in debt to a certain moneylender. One owed five hundred coins, the other fifty.

⁴²When they couldn't pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

⁴³Simon answered, "I suppose the one whose greater debt he canceled." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the moment I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.

⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.

⁴⁷So I tell you, her many errors are released, for she loved much. But the one who is released from little loves little."

⁴⁸Then he said to her, "Your errors are released."

⁴⁹And those reclining with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even releases errors?"

⁵⁰But he said to the woman, "Your trust has made you well. Go in wholeness."

Luke 8

¹Soon after this, Yeshua traveled on through town and village, proclaiming and bringing the hopeful news of the reign of God. The Twelve were with him, ²and so were some women who had been healed of evil spirits and afflictions: Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom seven evil spirits had gone; ³and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward; and Susanna; and many others. These women provided for them out of what they owned.

⁴A large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to him from town after town. So Yeshua spoke to them in a parable: ⁵"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he scattered it, some fell along the path, and it was trampled, and the birds of heaven ate it up.

⁶Some fell on rock, and when it sprouted it withered, because it had no moisture.

⁷Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

⁸And some fell into good ground, and it grew and bore fruit a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out: "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."

⁹Then his students asked him what this parable meant.

¹⁰He said: "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the reign of God. But to the rest in comparisons, to those who, seeing, do not see, and hearing, do not understand."

¹¹Here is what the parable means. The seed is the word of God.

¹²The ones along the path are those who hear; then the accuser comes and takes the word from their heart, so they will not trust and live.

¹³The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy, but they have no root. For a while they trust, and in the time of testing they fall away.

¹⁴As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and they never come to ripeness.

¹⁵But the seed in the good ground, these are the ones who hear the word with a good and honest heart, and hold on to it, and bear fruit through endurance."

¹⁶"No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or sets it under a bed. No. He puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

¹⁷For nothing is hidden that will not be made plain, and nothing is concealed that will not be known and come out into the open.

¹⁸So take care how you hear. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."

¹⁹Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.

²⁰Word was passed to him: "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."

²¹But Yeshua answered them: "My mother and my brothers are these: the ones who hear the word of God and do it."

²²One day Yeshua got into a boat with his students. "Let's cross to the other side of the lake," he said to them. So they set out, ²³and as they sailed, he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling, and they were in danger.

²⁴They came and woke him. "Master! Master! We're going under!" they cried. He got up and ordered the wind and the raging water, and they died down, and there was a calm.

²⁵"Where is your trust?" he asked them. But they were afraid and amazed, and they said to one another: "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?"

²⁶They sailed on to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.

²⁷As Yeshua stepped out onto the land, a man from the town met him, a man with evil spirits. For a long time he had worn no clothing, and he lived not in a house but among the tombs.

²⁸When the man saw Yeshua, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting at the top of his voice: "What do you want with me, Yeshua, Son of God Most High? I beg you, do not torment me!"

²⁹for Yeshua had been ordering the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the spirit into the wastelands.

³⁰Yeshua asked him: "What is your name?" He said: "Legion," because many evil spirits had gone into him.

³¹And they begged Yeshua not to order them to go off into the abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The spirits begged Yeshua to let them go into the pigs, and he let them.

³³So the evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the town and out in the countryside.

³⁵The people came out to see what had happened. They came to Yeshua and found the man, the one the evil spirits had left, sitting at Yeshua's feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

³⁶Those who had seen it told the people how the man troubled by the spirits had been healed.

³⁷Then the whole crowd from the region of the Gerasenes asked Yeshua to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear. So he got into the boat and turned back.

³⁸The man the evil spirits had left begged to go with him, but Yeshua sent him away, saying: ³⁹"Go home, and tell all that God has done for you." So the man went off, proclaiming through the whole town all that Yeshua had done for him.

⁴⁰When Yeshua came back, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

⁴¹And here came a man named Jairus, a leader of the gathering. He fell at Yeshua's feet and begged him to come to his house, ⁴²because his only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying. As Yeshua went, the crowds pressed in around him.

⁴³And there was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, and no one could heal her.

⁴⁴She came up behind Yeshua and touched the edge of his cloak, and at once her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵"Who touched me?" Yeshua asked. When they all denied it, Peter said: "Master, the crowds are closing in on you and pressing against you."

⁴⁶But Yeshua said: "Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out from me."

⁴⁷Seeing she could not stay hidden, the woman came trembling and fell down before him. There in front of all the people she told why she had touched him, and how she had been healed at once.

⁴⁸"Daughter," he said to her, "your trust has made you well. Go in wholeness."

⁴⁹While Yeshua was still speaking, someone came from the house of the gathering's leader. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't trouble the Teacher any longer."

⁵⁰But Yeshua heard, and he answered the man: "Don't be afraid. Only trust, and she will live."

⁵¹When he came to the house, he let no one go in with him except Peter and John and James, and the child's father and mother.

⁵²Everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But Yeshua said: "Stop weeping. She is not dead. She is sleeping."

⁵³And they laughed at him, knowing she was dead.

⁵⁴But Yeshua took her by the hand and called out: "Child, get up."

⁵⁵And her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Yeshua told them to give her something to eat.

⁵⁶Her parents were beside themselves, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.

Luke 9

¹He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all evil spirits, and to heal diseases.

²And he sent them out to proclaim the reign of God and to heal the sick.

³He told them, "Take nothing for the road: no staff, no bag, no bread, no silver, and don't carry two tunics.

⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.

⁵And wherever they don't welcome you, as you leave that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

⁶So they set out and went from village to village, telling the hopeful news and healing everywhere.

⁷Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was thoroughly perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, ⁸some that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the prophets of old had risen.

⁹Herod said, "John I beheaded. So who is this I keep hearing such things about?" And he kept trying to see him.

¹⁰When the sent ones returned, they told him all they had done. Then he took them with him and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.

¹¹But the crowds found out and followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the reign of God, and healed those who needed healing.

¹²As the day began to fade, the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and food, because here we're in a deserted place."

¹³He said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."

¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. He said to his students, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."

¹⁵They did so, and had everyone sit down.

¹⁶Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to the heavens, blessed them, broke them, and kept giving them to the students to set before the crowd.

¹⁷And they all ate and were filled, and what was left over was gathered up: twelve baskets of broken pieces.

¹⁸One day, while he was praying alone with the students near him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"

¹⁹They answered, "John the Immerser; others say Elijah; and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen."

²⁰"But you," he said to them, "who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Anointed One of God."

²¹He warned them sternly to tell this to no one, ²²saying, "The Son of Man must suffer much, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."

²³Then he said to them all, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

²⁴For whoever wants to keep his life alive will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will make it live.

²⁵What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?

²⁶Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his majesty and the majesty of the Father and the set-apart angels.

²⁷But I tell you truly, some standing here will not taste death before they see the reign of God."

²⁸About eight days after he said these things, he took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray.

²⁹And while he was praying, the look of his face changed, and his clothing became dazzling white.

³⁰And two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.

³¹Appearing in radiance, they spoke of his exodus, which he was about to bring to fullness at Jerusalem.

³²Peter and those with him were weighed down with sleep, but when they came fully awake they saw his radiance and the two men standing with him.

³³As the two were leaving him, Peter said to Yeshua, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what he was saying.

³⁴While he was still speaking, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

³⁵And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him."

³⁶When the voice had spoken, Yeshua was found alone. They kept silent, and in those days told no one anything they had seen.

³⁷The next day, as they came down the mountain, a large crowd met him.

³⁸And a man in the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you, look at my son, for he is my only child.

³⁹Look, a spirit seizes him, and suddenly he shrieks. It throws him into convulsions until he foams at the mouth, and it mauls him and will hardly leave him.

⁴⁰I begged your students to drive it out, but they couldn't."

⁴¹Yeshua answered, "You faithless and twisted generation, how long will I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."

⁴²Even as the boy was coming, the evil spirit threw him down and convulsed him. But Yeshua rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

⁴³And they were all astounded at the greatness of God.

⁴⁴While everyone was marveling at all he was doing, Yeshua said to his students, "Listen closely to these words: the Son of Man is about to be handed over into human hands."

⁴⁵But they did not understand this saying. It was hidden from them, so they could not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

⁴⁶An argument started among them about which of them might be the greatest.

⁴⁷But Yeshua, knowing the thoughts of their heart, took a little child and stood him beside himself, ⁴⁸and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all, this is the one who is great."

⁴⁹John spoke up, "Master, we saw someone driving out evil spirits in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he doesn't follow along with us."

⁵⁰But Yeshua said to him, "Do not stop him. For whoever is not against you is for you."

⁵¹Now as the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him. They went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make things ready for him, ⁵³but the people would not welcome him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

⁵⁴When the students James and John saw it, they said, "Master, do you want us to call down fire from the heavens to consume them?"

⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them.

⁵⁶And they went on to another village.

⁵⁷As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

⁵⁸And Yeshua said to him, "The foxes have dens, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

⁵⁹He said to another, "Follow me." But the man said, "Master, first let me go and bury my father."

⁶⁰He said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the reign of God."

⁶¹Another also said, "I will follow you, Master, but first let me say goodbye to those at my house."

⁶²Yeshua said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the reign of God."

Luke 10

¹After this the Master appointed seventy-two others, and sent them ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

²And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So beg the Master of the harvest to thrust out workers into his harvest.

³Go your way. Look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.

⁵Whatever house you enter, say first, 'Wholeness to this house.'

⁶And if a son of wholeness is there, your wholeness will rest on him; but if not, it will come back to you.

⁷Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they set before you, for the worker is worth his wages. Don't move from house to house.

⁸Whatever town you enter, and they welcome you, eat what is set before you.

⁹Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, 'The reign of God has come near to you.'

¹⁰But whatever town you enter, and they don't welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Yet know this: the reign of God has come near.'

¹²I tell you, on that day it will go easier for Sodom than for that town.

¹³How terrible for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! For if the works of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have turned around long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴Yet it will go easier for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be brought down to Sheol.

Sheol: the place of the dead, the grave below.

¹⁶Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me."

¹⁷The seventy-two came back with joy, saying, "Master, even the evil spirits submit to us in your name!"

¹⁸And he said to them, "I watched the adversary fall like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you.

²⁰Still, don't rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice that your names are written in the heavens."

²¹In that very hour Yeshua rejoiced in the Sacred Ruha and said, "I praise you, Father, Master of heaven and earth, because you hid these things from the wise and the clever, and revealed them to those not yet speaking. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

²²Everything has been handed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone the Son chooses to reveal him to."

²³Then he turned to the students, alone, and said, "Fortunate are the eyes that see what you see.

²⁴For I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, and didn't see it, and to hear what you hear, and didn't hear it."

²⁵Then an expert in the Law stood up to test him, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit life of hidden time?"

²⁶Yeshua said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

²⁷He answered, "Love your God with all your heart, and with all your self, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

²⁸Yeshua said to him, "You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live."

²⁹But wanting to make himself right, the man said to Yeshua, "And who is my neighbor?"

³⁰Yeshua took it up and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers. They stripped him and beat him, and went off, leaving him half dead.

³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³²A Levite too came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³³But a Samaritan, on his journey, came to where the man was; and when he saw him, his heart broke with compassion.

³⁴He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and cared for him.

³⁵The next morning he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Care for him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'

³⁶Which of these three, do you think, became a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"

³⁷He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Yeshua said to him, "Go and do likewise."

³⁸As they went on their way, Yeshua came into a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the feet of Yeshua and listened to his word.

⁴⁰But Martha was pulled away by all the serving. She came up and said, "Master, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her, then, to help me."

⁴¹But the Master answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

⁴²Yet only one thing is needed. For Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken from her."

Luke 11

¹One day Yeshua was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his students said to him, "Master, teach us to pray, just as John taught his students."

²He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, your name be honored. May your reign come.

³Give us each day the bread we need.

⁴And release us from our wrongs, as we release those who wrong us. And do not bring us to the trial."

⁵Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.'

⁷And from inside he answers, 'Don't trouble me. The door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'

⁸I tell you, even if he won't get up and give him bread because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹And I tell you: ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of the fish?

¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³So if you, who are bad, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Sacred Ruha to those who ask him."

¹⁴Yeshua was driving out an evil spirit that was mute. And when the spirit had gone out, the man who could not speak began to speak, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵But some of them said, "It is by Beelzebul, the ruler of the evil spirits, that he drives out the spirits."

¹⁶Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, "Every reign divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸So if the adversary is divided against himself, how will his reign stand? For you say I drive out the spirits by Beelzebul.

¹⁹And if I drive out the spirits by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? So they themselves will be your judges.

²⁰But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out the spirits, then the reign of God has come upon you.

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, his possessions are safe.

²²But when one stronger than he comes upon him and overpowers him, he strips off the armor the man trusted in, and divides up his plunder.

²³Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."

²⁴"When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest, and finding none, it says, 'I will go back to my house, the one I left.'

²⁵And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits worse than itself, and they go in and settle there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first."

²⁷As he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and called out to him, "Fortunate is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that nursed you."

²⁸But he said, "Even more, it is well with those who hear the word of God and keep it."

²⁹As the crowds were pressing in, he began to say, "This generation is a bad generation. It looks for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they turned around at the proclaiming of Jonah, and look, something greater than Jonah is here."

³³"No one lights a lamp and hides it under a measuring basket, but on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is single, your whole body is full of light. But when it is divided, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵So watch carefully that the light within you is not darkness.

³⁶If your whole body is full of light, with no part in darkness, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp shines its rays on you."

³⁷As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸The Pharisee was surprised to see that he did not first wash before the meal.

³⁹But the Master said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wrongdoing.

⁴⁰You fools, did not the one who made the outside make the inside too?

⁴¹Instead, give what is within as mercy to the poor, and look, everything will be clean for you.

⁴²But how terrible for you Pharisees. You give a tenth of your mint and rue and every herb, yet you pass over justice and the love of God. These you should have done, without neglecting the others.

⁴³How terrible for you Pharisees. You love the front seat in the gatherings and the greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴How terrible for you. You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it."

⁴⁵One of the experts in the Law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too."

⁴⁶And he said, "How terrible for you experts in the Law as well. You load people down with burdens hard to carry, and you yourselves won't touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷How terrible for you. You build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses, and you approve of the works of your fathers, because they killed them and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹This is why the wisdom of God said: 'I will send them prophets and messengers, and some of them they will kill and hunt down,' ⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, poured out from the foundation of the world, will be charged against this generation, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

⁵²How terrible for you experts in the Law. You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not go in, and you hindered those who were entering."

⁵³As he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, ⁵⁴lying in wait to catch something from his mouth.

Luke 12

¹Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered in the thousands, so that they trampled one another, he began to speak first to his students: "Guard yourselves from the yeast of the Pharisees, which is their pretense.

²Nothing is covered that won't be uncovered, nothing hidden that won't be made known.

³So whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops.

⁴I tell you, my friends: don't be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

⁵I'll show you the One to fear. Fear the One who, after killing, has authority to throw you into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear that One.

Gehenna: the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, a place of fire and refuse.

⁶Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

⁷Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

⁸I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will acknowledge them too, before the angels of God.

⁹But the one who disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.

¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be released from it; but the one who speaks against the Sacred Ruha will not be released.

¹¹When they bring you before the gatherings, the rulers, and the authorities, don't worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say.

¹²For the Sacred Ruha will teach you in that very hour what you should say."

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴But he said to him, "Friend, who set me over you as a divider?"

¹⁵Then he said to them, "Watch out, and guard yourselves from every kind of greed. A person's life is not measured by the abundance of his possessions."

¹⁶And he told them a parable: "The land of a certain rich man produced a good harvest.

¹⁷And he reasoned within himself, 'What will I do? I have nowhere to store my crops.'

¹⁸Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I'll pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I'll store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹And I'll say to my self, "Self, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Rest, eat, drink, enjoy yourself."'

²⁰But God said to him, 'You fool. This very night your self is demanded of you. And the things you prepared, whose will they be?'

²¹So it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God."

²²Then he said to his students, "This is why I tell you: don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

²³Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom or barn, and God feeds them. How much more are you worth than the birds!

²⁵And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁶If you can't do even this small thing, why worry about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

²⁸If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you, you of little trust!

²⁹So don't keep seeking what you will eat and what you will drink, and don't let your mind be distracted.

³⁰For all the outsiders of the world chase after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹Seek instead his reign, and these things will be given to you as well.

³²Don't be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the reign.

³³Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make yourselves purses that don't wear out, a treasure in the heavens that never fails, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

³⁵Let your belts be fastened and your lamps kept burning, ³⁶and you yourselves be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks they can open the door for him at once.

³⁷It is well with those slaves whose master finds them watching when he comes. Amen, I tell you, he will fasten his own belt, have them recline at the table, and come and serve them.

³⁸Whether he comes in the second watch or the third and finds them so, it is well with those slaves.

³⁹But know this: if the master of the house had known the hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

⁴⁰You too be ready, for the Son of Man comes at an hour you do not expect."

⁴¹Peter said, "Master, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?"

⁴²And the Master said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master will put in charge of his household to give them their food at the right time?

⁴³It is well with that slave whose master finds him doing so when he comes.

⁴⁴In truth I tell you, he will put him in charge of all he owns.

⁴⁵But suppose that slave says in his heart, 'My master is taking his time,' and begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

⁴⁶The master of that slave will come on a day he does not expect, at an hour he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act according to it will be beaten with many blows.

⁴⁸But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will be beaten with few. From everyone given much, much will be required; and from the one entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

⁴⁹I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

⁵⁰I have an immersion to be immersed with, and how I am pressed until it is finished!

⁵¹Do you think I came to bring wholeness to the earth? No, I tell you, but division.

⁵²From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.

⁵³They will be divided:
father 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 her mother-in-law."

⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, 'A rainstorm is coming,' and so it does.

⁵⁵And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It will be scorching,' and it is.

⁵⁶Actors! You know how to read the face of the earth and the heavens, so how is it you don't know how to read this present time?

⁵⁷And why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸As you go with your accuser before the ruler, make every effort to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last penny."

Luke 13

¹At that time some who were there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

²He answered them, "Do you think these Galileans were worse than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this?

³No, I tell you. But unless you turn around, you will all perish the same way.

⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were guiltier than everyone else living in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you. But unless you turn around, you will all perish the same way."

⁶Then he told them this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, and found none.

⁷So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, 'Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?'

⁸But the man answered him, 'master, leave it one more year, while I dig around it and put down manure.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good. But if not, then cut it down.'"

¹⁰One sabbath he was teaching in one of the gatherings, ¹¹and a woman was there who for eighteen years had a spirit that had crippled her. She was doubled over, unable to straighten herself at all.

¹²When Yeshua saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your affliction."

¹³He laid his hands on her, and at once she straightened up and gave honor to God.

¹⁴But the leader of the gathering, angry that Yeshua had healed on the sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days for work. Come and be healed on those days, and not on the sabbath day."

¹⁵The Master answered him, "Actors! Doesn't each of you untie his ox or his donkey from the stall on the sabbath and lead it out to water?

¹⁶Then this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom the adversary has bound for eighteen long years, should she not be set free from this bond on the sabbath day?"

¹⁷As he said this, all who opposed him were put to shame, and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the wonderful things he was doing.

¹⁸Then he said, "What is the reign of God like? What can I compare it to?

¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a man took and threw into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven nested in its branches."

²⁰And again he said, "What can I compare the reign of God to?

²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and worked into three measures of flour, until all of it had risen."

²²He went on through towns and villages, teaching as he made his way toward Jerusalem.

²³Someone said to him, "Master, are only a few going to live?" He said to them, ²⁴"Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

²⁵Once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, you will stand outside and knock, saying, 'master, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know where you come from.'

²⁶Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

²⁷But he will say, 'I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do wrong.'

²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the reign of God, but you yourselves thrown outside.

²⁹People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the reign of God.

³⁰And look, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last."

³¹At that hour some Pharisees came up and said to him, "Get away and leave this place, because Herod wants to kill you."

³²He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Look, I am casting out evil spirits and working cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I am completed.'

³³Even so, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside Jerusalem.

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

³⁵Look, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me again until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.'"

Luke 14

¹One sabbath Yeshua went to eat at the house of a leading Pharisee, and they were watching him closely.

²There in front of him was a man swollen with dropsy.

³Yeshua spoke up and asked the experts in the Law and the Pharisees, "Is it allowed to heal on the sabbath, or not?"

⁴But they kept silent. So he took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.

⁵Then he said to them, "If one of you has a son or an ox fall into a well, won't you pull him out at once, even on the sabbath day?"

⁶And they had nothing to say to this.

⁷When he noticed how the guests were choosing the places of honor, he told them a parable: ⁸"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don't take the place of honor. Someone more honored than you may have been invited, ⁹and the host who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give this man your place.' Then in shame you will go to take the lowest place.

¹⁰Instead, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place, so that when your host comes he will say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you.

¹¹For all who lift themselves up will be brought low,
and whoever brings himself low will be lifted up."

¹²Then he said to the one who had invited him, "When you give a lunch or a dinner, don't call your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors. They may invite you back, and then you would be repaid.

¹³Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and it will be well with you, because they have nothing to repay you. You will be repaid in the rising of those who do what is right."

¹⁵Hearing this, one of those at the table said to him, "It is well with the one who will eat bread in the reign of God!"

¹⁶Yeshua said to him, "A man was giving a great dinner, and he invited many guests.

¹⁷When the hour came, he sent his slave to tell those invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.'

¹⁸But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.'

¹⁹Another said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I'm going to try them out. Please excuse me.'

²⁰And another said, 'I have just married a wife, and so I cannot come.'

²¹The slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his slave, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'

²²Soon the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered is done, and there is still room.'

²³And the master said to the slave, 'Go out to the roads and the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴For I tell you, not one of those who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

²⁵Great crowds were going along with him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own self, he cannot be my student.

²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my student.

²⁸Which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and cannot complete it, all who watch will begin to mock him, ³⁰saying, 'This man began to build and could not finish.'

³¹Or what king, marching out to meet another king in war, does not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand he can stand against the one coming at him with twenty thousand?

³²And if he cannot, while the other is still far off he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

³³In the same way, any of you who does not give up all his possessions cannot be my student.

³⁴Salt is good, but if the salt loses its taste, how can it be made salty again?

³⁵It is no use for the soil or the manure pile; it is thrown away. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."

Luke 15

¹Now all the tax collectors and those who miss the mark were drawing near to listen to him.

²And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man welcomes those who miss the mark, and he eats with them."

³So he told them this parable: ⁴"Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, doesn't leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?

⁵And when he finds it, he lifts it onto his shoulders, rejoicing.

⁶And coming home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'

⁷I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one who misses the mark and turns around than over ninety-nine doing what is right, who have no need to turn around."

⁸"Or what woman, having ten silver coins and losing one of them, doesn't light a lamp, and sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin I lost.'

¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one who misses the mark and turns around."

¹¹Then he said: "A man had two sons.

¹²And the younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his property between them.

¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went away to a far country, and there he scattered his wealth, living wildly.

¹⁴And when he had spent it all, a severe famine swept that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶And he longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷Then he came to himself and said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have more than enough bread, while here I am, dying of hunger!

¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have missed the mark against heaven and before you.

¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands.'

²⁰So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; and he ran, and threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.

²¹And the son said to him, 'Father, I have missed the mark against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

²²But the father said to his slaves, 'Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

²³And bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

²⁴For this son of mine was dead and has come alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

²⁵Now his older son was out in the field. And as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing.

²⁶So he called one of the servant boys and asked what this might be.

²⁷He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.'

²⁸Then he was angry and would not go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.

²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look, all these years I have served you, and I never once disobeyed a command of yours; yet you never gave me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends.

³⁰But when this son of yours came home, the one who has devoured your living with prostitutes, for him you killed the fattened calf!'

³¹And the father said to him, 'Child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

³²But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.'"

Luke 16

¹He also said to his students: "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was accused of squandering his goods.

²So he called him in and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your managing, because you can no longer be manager.'

³The manager said within himself, 'What will I do? My master is taking the managing away from me. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I'll do, so that when I'm put out of the managing, people will welcome me into their homes.'

⁵So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

⁶The man said, 'A hundred jars of oil.' He told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.'

⁷Then he said to another, 'And you, how much do you owe?' The man said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He told him, 'Take your bill and write eighty.'

⁸And the master praised the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are shrewder toward their own kind than the children of light.

⁹And I tell you: make friends for yourselves with dishonest possessions, so that when they run out they will welcome you into the dwellings of hidden time.

¹⁰Whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little is also dishonest with much.

¹¹So if you have not been faithful with dishonest possessions, who will trust you with what is true?

¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and possessions."

¹⁴The Pharisees, who loved money, were hearing all this, and they sneered at him.

¹⁵So he said to them: "You are the ones who make yourselves out to be right in front of others, but God knows your hearts. What people prize highly is detestable before God.

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were until John. From then on the reign of God is announced as the hopeful news, and everyone is pressing to enter it.

¹⁷It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the Law to fall.

¹⁸Everyone who sends away his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the man who marries a woman sent away from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen, feasting in splendor every day.

²⁰And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹longing to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

²²One day the poor man died, and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³And in Sheol, in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side.

²⁴So he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'

²⁵But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus likewise the bad. Now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.

²⁶And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, and no one can cross from there to us.'

²⁷He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, ²⁸for I have five brothers, to warn them, so that they too do not come to this place of torment.'

²⁹But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.'

³⁰He said, 'No, father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will turn around.'

³¹Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Luke 17

¹He said to his students, "Stumbling blocks are bound to come, but how terrible for the one through whom they come.

²Better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³Watch yourselves. If your brother errs against you, correct him; and if he turns around, release him.

⁴Even if he errs against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you saying, 'I am turning around,' you must release him."

⁵The sent ones said to the Master, "Increase our trust."

⁶And the Master said, "If you had trust like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

⁷Which of you, with a slave out plowing or tending the flock, would say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?

⁸Wouldn't he rather say, 'Get my supper ready, tie your belt, and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'?

⁹Does he thank the slave for doing what he was told?

¹⁰So it is with you. When you have done everything you were told, say, 'We are slaves who deserve no thanks; we have only done our duty.'"

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem, Yeshua was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

¹²As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and lifted up their voices: "Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us."

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean.

¹⁵Then one of them, seeing that he was healed, came back, giving honor to God with a loud voice.

¹⁶He fell on his face at Yeshua's feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Yeshua asked, "Weren't all ten made clean? Where are the other nine?

¹⁸Was no one found to come back and give honor to God except this foreigner?"

¹⁹Then he said to him, "Stand up and go. Your trust has made you well."

²⁰When the Pharisees asked him when the reign of God would come, he answered, "The reign of God is not coming in a way you can watch for.

²¹No one will say, 'Look, here it is,' or 'There it is.' For the reign of God is within you."

²²Then he said to his students, "Days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

²³They will tell you, 'Look, there he is,' or 'Look, here he is.' Do not go off chasing them.

²⁴For as the lightning flashes and lights up heaven from one end to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

²⁵But first he must suffer much and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.

²⁷They were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, right up to the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸It was the same in the days of Lot. They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

²⁹But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹On that day, whoever is on the roof, with his belongings in the house, must not go down to get them; and whoever is in the field must not go back.

³²Remember Lot's wife.

³³Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it alive.

³⁴I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left.

³⁵Two women will be grinding together: one will be taken and the other left."

³⁷"Where, Master?" they asked. He said to them, "Where the body is, there the vultures will gather."

Luke 18

¹Then he told them a parable, that they should always pray and never lose heart.

²He said, "In a certain town there was a judge who did not fear God and had no regard for anyone.

³And there was a widow in that town, and she kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against the one who opposes me.'

⁴For a while he refused. But afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or have regard for anyone, ⁵still, because this widow keeps troubling me, I'll give her justice, so she won't wear me out with her endless coming.'"

⁶And the Master said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.

⁷Won't God then bring justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep them waiting long?

⁸I tell you, he'll bring them justice, and quickly. Yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find trust on the earth?"

⁹He also told this parable to some who relied on themselves, convinced they were doing what is right, and looked down on everyone else: ¹⁰"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: 'God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men: robbers, the unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all I get.'

¹³But the tax collector stood far off and would not even lift his eyes to heaven. He beat his chest and said, 'God, be merciful to me, one who misses the mark.'

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house set right with God, and not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be lifted up."

¹⁵They were bringing even their babies to him, so he might touch them. But when the students saw it, they scolded them.

¹⁶Yeshua, though, called the little children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and don't hold them back, for the reign of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁷Amen, I tell you, whoever will not welcome the reign of God like a little child will never enter it."

¹⁸And a certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit life of hidden time?"

¹⁹Yeshua said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one: God.

²⁰You know the commands: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false witness, honor your father and your mother."

²¹And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth."

²²When Yeshua heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

²³But when he heard this, he became deeply sorrowful, for he was very rich.

²⁴Seeing him, Yeshua said, "How hard it is for those with riches to enter the reign of God!

²⁵It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the reign of God."

²⁶Those who heard it said, "Then who can live?"

²⁷And he said, "What is impossible for people is possible for God."

²⁸Then Peter said, "Look, we have left what was ours and followed you."

²⁹And he said to them, "Amen, I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the reign of God ³⁰who will not receive many times as much in this present time, and in the age to come, life of hidden time."

³¹Taking the Twelve aside, he said to them, "Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be brought to its end.

³²For he will be handed over to the outsiders, and mocked, and insulted, and spat upon.

³³They will flog him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

³⁴But they understood none of this. This word was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

³⁵Now as he came near Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.

³⁶Hearing a crowd passing through, he asked what this might be.

³⁷They told him, "Yeshua the Nazarene is passing by."

³⁸And he cried out, "Yeshua, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

³⁹Those walking ahead scolded him, telling him to be quiet. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁰Yeshua stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him, ⁴¹"What do you want me to do for you?" And he said, "Master, let me see again."

⁴²And Yeshua said to him, "See again. Your trust has made you well."

⁴³At once he saw again, and he followed him, giving honor to God. And all the people, seeing it, gave praise to God.

Luke 19

¹Yeshua entered Jericho and was passing through.

²And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

³He was trying to see who Yeshua was, but he couldn't because of the crowd, since he was short.

⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because Yeshua was about to pass that way.

⁵When Yeshua came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. Today I must stay at your house."

⁶So he hurried down and welcomed him with joy.

⁷And when they all saw it, they grumbled, "He's gone in to be the guest of a man who misses the mark."

⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Master, "Look, Master, half of what I own I give to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone of anything, I pay it back four times over."

⁹Then Yeshua said to him, "Today life has come to this house, since he too is a son of Abraham.

¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek the lost and make them live."

¹¹As they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought the reign of God was going to appear at any moment.

¹²So he said, "A man of noble birth went to a far country to be given a kingdom for himself and then return.

¹³He called ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and told them, 'Trade until I come.'

¹⁴But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.'

¹⁵When he returned, having been given the kingdom, he ordered the slaves he had given the silver to be called in, so he could find out what they had gained by trading.

¹⁶The first came and said, 'master, your mina has earned ten more.'

¹⁷And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave! Because you were faithful in a very little thing, take charge of ten cities.'

¹⁸The second came and said, 'master, your mina has made five more.'

¹⁹And to this one he said, 'You take charge of five cities.'

²⁰Then another came and said, 'master, here is your mina. I kept it laid away in a cloth, ²¹because I was afraid of you, since you are a harsh man. You take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.'

²²He said to him, 'I will judge you by your own mouth, you wicked slave. You knew I was a harsh man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

²³Then why didn't you put my silver in the bank, so that when I came I could have collected it with interest?'

²⁴And he said to those standing by, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.'

²⁵They said to him, 'master, he already has ten minas!'

²⁶'I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given; but from the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.

²⁷But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.'"

²⁸When he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹As he came near Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called Olives, he sent two of his students, ³⁰telling them, "Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter, you'll find a colt tied there, one no one has ever sat on. Untie it and bring it.

³¹And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say this: 'The Master needs it.'"

³²Those he sent went off and found it just as he had told them.

³³As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"

³⁴They said, "The Master needs it."

³⁵And they brought it to Yeshua, threw their cloaks over the colt, and set Yeshua on it.

³⁶As he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷And as he came near, where the road goes down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of students began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, ³⁸crying out:
"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of God!
Wholeness in heaven, and praise in the highest!"

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your students."

⁴⁰But he answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out."

⁴¹As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴²saying, "If only you had known on this day, even you, what would bring you wholeness. But now it is hidden from your eyes.

⁴³For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a wall against you, surround you, and press you in on every side.

⁴⁴They will level you to the ground, you and your children within you. They will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not know the time when God came to you."

⁴⁵Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, ⁴⁶telling them, "It is written,

My house will be a house of prayer,

but you have made it a den of robbers."

⁴⁷Day after day he was teaching in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were trying to destroy him, ⁴⁸yet they could not find a way to do it, because all the people hung on every word he spoke.

Luke 20

¹One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and announcing the hopeful news, the chief priests and the scribes came up to him, along with the elders.

²"Tell us," they said, "by what authority you do these things. Who is the one who gave you this authority?"

³He answered them, "I'll ask you a question too. Tell me: ⁴John's immersion, was it from heaven, or from men?"

⁵They talked it over among themselves. "If we say, 'From heaven,' he'll ask, 'Then why didn't you trust him?'

⁶But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they're convinced John was a prophet."

⁷So they answered that they didn't know where it was from.

⁸And Yeshua said to them, "Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

⁹Then he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and went away for a long time.

¹⁰When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants, so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹So he sent another slave. That one too they beat and shamed, and sent away empty-handed.

¹²He sent a third, and this one too they wounded and threw out.

¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What am I to do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.'

¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they talked it over with one another. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, so the inheritance will be ours.'

¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "May it never be!"

¹⁷But he looked straight at them and said, "Then what does this stand written:
the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and the one it falls on, it will crush."

¹⁹The scribes and the chief priests wanted to lay hands on him that very hour, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew he had told this parable against them.

²⁰So they watched him closely and sent spies, men pretending to be upright, to catch him in something he said, and so hand him over to the rule and authority of the governor.

²¹They put their question to him. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you speak and teach rightly. You don't bend for anyone, but teach the way of God in truth.

²²Is it lawful for us to pay the tax to Caesar, or not?"

²³But he saw through their cunning, and said to them, ²⁴"Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it carry?" "Caesar's," they said.

²⁵And he said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

²⁶They couldn't catch him in anything he said in front of the people, and amazed at his answer, they fell silent.

²⁷Then some of the Sadducees came up, the ones who say there is no resurrection, and they put a question to him.

²⁸"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁹Now there were seven brothers. The first married a wife and died childless.

³⁰The second ³¹and the third married her, and so it went with all seven: they left no children and died.

³²Last of all, the woman died too.

³³So in the rising, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her."

³⁴Yeshua said to them, "The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.

³⁵But those counted worthy to take part in that age, and in the rising from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶They can no longer die, for they are like the messengers, and they are children of God, being children of the rising.

³⁷And that the dead are raised, even Moses showed it at the bush, when he calls God the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

³⁸He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

³⁹Some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well."

⁴⁰And no one dared to ask him anything more.

⁴¹Then he said to them, "How is it they say the Anointed One is David's son?

⁴²For David himself says in the book of Psalms:
God said to my master: Sit at my right hand, ⁴³until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.

⁴⁴So David calls him master. How then is he his son?"

⁴⁵While all the people were listening, he said to his students, ⁴⁶"Beware the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the gatherings, and the places of honor at feasts.

⁴⁷They devour widows' houses and for show say long prayers. These will receive a heavier judgment."

Luke 21

¹He looked up and saw the rich dropping their gifts into the treasury.

²And he saw a poor widow drop in two small coins.

³And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.

⁴For they all gave their gifts out of what they had to spare, but she, out of her need, put in everything, all she had to live on."

⁵Some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and offerings given to God. He said, ⁶"As for all this you are looking at, the days are coming when not one stone will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down."

⁷They asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what will be the sign that it is about to come to pass?"

⁸He said, "Watch out that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Don't go after them.

⁹And when you hear of wars and uprisings, don't be terrified. This must happen first, but the end is not at once."

¹⁰Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and reign against reign.

¹¹There will be great earthquakes, and famines and plagues in place after place, and terrors and great signs from heaven.

¹²But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and hunt you down. They will hand you over to the gatherings and the prisons, and drag you before kings and governors because of my name.

¹³This will turn out to be your moment to bear witness.

¹⁴So settle it in your hearts not to rehearse your defense beforehand.

¹⁵For I myself will give you a mouth and a wisdom that none of those set against you will be able to resist or contradict.

¹⁶You will be handed over even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

¹⁷And you will be hated by everyone because of my name.

¹⁸Yet not a hair of your head will perish.

¹⁹By holding firm you will gain your selves.

²⁰When you see Jerusalem ringed by armies, then know that her desolation has drawn near.

²¹Then let those in Judea flee to the hills, and let those inside the city get out, and don't let those in the countryside go in.

²²For these are the days of reckoning, when all that is written comes to its fullness.

²³How hard for those who are pregnant and those nursing in those days. For there will be great anguish on the land, and wrath against this people.

²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword and be carried off as captives into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by the nations until the times of the nations come to their fullness.

²⁵There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations in anguish, bewildered by the roar and surging of the sea.

²⁶People will faint from fear and dread of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

²⁷And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great majesty.

²⁸When these things begin to come to pass, stand tall and lift up your heads, because your release is drawing near."

²⁹And he told them a parable. "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.

³⁰As soon as they bud, you see it for yourselves and know that summer is now near.

³¹So also, when you see these things come to pass, know that the reign of God is near.

³²Amen, I tell you: this generation will not pass away until all this comes to pass.

³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁴Watch yourselves, or your hearts will grow heavy with reckless excess and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come down on all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

³⁶So keep awake at every moment, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

³⁷By day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and stay on the hill called the Mount of Olives.

³⁸And all the people came to him early in the morning, in the temple, to listen to him.

Luke 22

¹The Feast of Unleavened Bread, called Passover, was drawing near.

²And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to do away with him, for they were afraid of the people.

³Then the adversary entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was counted among the Twelve.

⁴He went off and talked with the chief priests and the temple guards about how he might hand him over to them.

⁵They were glad, and they agreed to give him silver.

⁶He consented, and from then on he watched for the right moment to hand him over to them away from the crowd.

⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb had to be slaughtered.

⁸And he sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, so we can eat it."

⁹They said to him, "Where do you want us to prepare it?"

¹⁰He told them, "Look, as you go into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters, ¹¹and tell the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks you: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my students?'

¹²And he will show you a large upstairs room, already furnished. Prepare it there."

¹³They went off and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the sent ones with him.

¹⁵And he said to them, "With deep longing I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

¹⁶For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the reign of God."

¹⁷And he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, "Take this and share it among yourselves.

¹⁸For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the reign of God comes."

¹⁹And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in memory of me."

²⁰In the same way, after they had eaten, he took the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you."

²¹"But look, the hand of the one betraying me is with me on the table.

²²For the Son of Man goes as it has been marked out, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed."

²³And they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was about to do this.

²⁴And a quarrel also broke out among them, over which of them was thought to be the greatest.

²⁵But he said to them, "The kings of the outsiders rule over them, and those who hold power over them are called benefactors.

²⁶But not so with you. Rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

²⁷For who is greater, the one reclining at the table or the one serving? Is it not the one at the table? Yet I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸You are the ones who have stood by me through my trials.

²⁹And I bestow on you a reign, just as my Father bestowed one on me, ³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my reign, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹Simon, Simon, look, the adversary has demanded to sift all of you like wheat.

³²But I have prayed for you, that your trust may not fail. And you, once you have turned around, strengthen your brothers."

³³He said to him, "Master, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death."

³⁴But he said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have three times denied that you know me."

³⁵And he said to them, "When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."

³⁶He said to them, "But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.

³⁷For I tell you, this that is written must be fulfilled in me:
'And he was counted among the rebels.'
For indeed what concerns me is reaching its end."

³⁸They said, "Master, look, here are two swords." He said to them, "That is enough."

³⁹Then he went out and made his way, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the students followed him.

⁴⁰When he reached the place, he said to them, "Pray that you do not come into the trial."

⁴¹And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, ⁴²saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours, be done."

⁴³And an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.

⁴⁴And in anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵When he rose from prayer and came to the students, he found them sleeping, worn out by grief.

⁴⁶And he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, so that you do not come into the trial."

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, a crowd arrived, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Yeshua to kiss him, ⁴⁸but Yeshua said to him, "Judas, with a kiss you betray the Son of Man?"

⁴⁹When those around him saw what was coming, they said, "Master, should we strike with the sword?"

⁵⁰And one of them struck the slave of the chief priest and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹But Yeshua answered, "Stop. No more of this." And he touched the ear and healed him.

⁵²Then Yeshua said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if against a robber?

⁵³Day after day I was with you in the temple, and you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."

⁵⁴They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the house of the chief priest. And Peter followed at a distance.

⁵⁵When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.

⁵⁶A servant girl saw him sitting in the firelight, looked closely at him, and said, "This man was with him too."

⁵⁷But he denied it, saying, "I do not know him, woman."

⁵⁸A little later someone else saw him and said, "You are one of them too." But Peter said, "Man, I am not."

⁵⁹About an hour later, another kept insisting, "Surely this man was with him too, for he is a Galilean."

⁶⁰But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And at once, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

⁶¹And the Master turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Master, how he had told him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times."

⁶²And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³The men holding Yeshua mocked him and beat him.

⁶⁴They blindfolded him and kept asking, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?"

⁶⁵And they said many other things against him, slandering him.

⁶⁶When day came, the council of elders of the people gathered, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away into their council chamber.

⁶⁷They said, "If you are the Anointed One, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not trust me, ⁶⁸and if I ask you, you will not answer.

⁶⁹But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God."

⁷⁰They all said, "Are you, then, the Son of God?" And he said to them, "You say that I am."

⁷¹And they said, "What further need do we have of testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own mouth."

Luke 23

¹Then the whole assembly of them rose and brought him before Pilate.

²They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation: forbidding the paying of taxes to Caesar, and calling himself the Anointed One, a king."

³So Pilate questioned him. "Are you the king of the Jews?" "You say so," he answered.

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man."

⁵But they kept insisting, "He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea. He started in Galilee, and he's come all the way here."

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

⁷And learning that he was under Herod's rule, he sent him over to Herod, who was in Jerusalem in those days.

⁸When Herod saw Yeshua, he was overjoyed. For a long time he had wanted to see him, because of what he'd heard about him, and he hoped to see him perform some sign.

⁹He questioned him at great length, but Yeshua gave him no answer.

¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood by, accusing him fiercely.

¹¹Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. They threw a bright robe around him and sent him back to Pilate.

¹²That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, ¹⁴and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who turns the people away. Look, I examined him before you, and I found in this man no guilt for the charges you bring against him.

¹⁵And neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing to deserve death.

¹⁶So I will punish him and release him."

¹⁸But they all cried out together, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!"

¹⁹This man had been thrown in prison for an uprising in the city and for murder.

²⁰Wanting to release Yeshua, Pilate called out to them again.

²¹But they kept shouting back, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

²²A third time he said to them, "Why? What wrong has he done? I have found in him nothing to deserve death. So I will punish him and release him."

²³But they pressed him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified, and their voices won out.

²⁴So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand be granted.

²⁵He released the one they asked for, the man thrown into prison for uprising and murder, and he handed Yeshua over to their will.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized Simon, a man of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and they laid the cross on him to carry behind Yeshua.

²⁷A great crowd of the people followed him, and women who were mourning and wailing for him.

²⁸Turning to them, Yeshua said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep instead for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹For look, the days are coming when they will say, 'It is well with the barren,
the wombs that never bore, the breasts that never nursed.'

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'

³¹For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

³²Two others, criminals, were also led away to be put to death with him.

³³When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right, one on his left.

³⁴Then Yeshua said, "Father, release them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots.

³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him. "He made others live," they said. "Let him make himself live, if he is the Anointed One of God, the chosen one."

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him. They came up and offered him sour wine, ³⁷saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, make yourself live."

³⁸Above him there was also an inscription:

This is the king of the Jews.

³⁹One of the criminals hanging there kept reviling him. "Aren't you the Anointed One?" he said. "Rescue yourself, and us too!"

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?

⁴¹And we deserve it. We are getting back what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

⁴²And he said, "Yeshua, remember me when you come into your reign."

⁴³And Yeshua said to him, "Amen, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn down the middle.

⁴⁶Then Yeshua cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit." And saying this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave honor to God. "Surely," he said, "this was a man who did what is right."

⁴⁸And all the crowds who had gathered for this sight, when they saw what had happened, went home beating their breasts.

⁴⁹But all who knew him stood at a distance, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, watching these things.

⁵⁰Now there was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a Judean town, a council member, a good man and one who did what is right.

⁵¹He had not agreed with their decision and their deed, and he was waiting for the reign of God.

⁵²This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Yeshua.

⁵³He took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid him in a tomb cut from rock, where no one had yet been laid.

⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed close behind. They saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.

⁵⁶Then they went back and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested, according to the command.

Luke 24

¹On the first day of the week, at the first light of dawn, the women came to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared.

²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in, they did not find the body.

⁴While they stood there, lost over this, suddenly two men stood beside them in clothing that blazed like lightning.

⁵The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?

⁶He is not here. He has been raised. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, ⁷saying that the Son of Man had to be handed over into the hands of those who miss the mark, and be crucified, and on the third day rise."

⁸And they remembered his words.

⁹They came back from the tomb and reported all of this to the eleven and to all the rest.

¹⁰It was Mary of Magdala, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the sent ones.

¹¹But these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not trust the women.

¹²Yet Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping in, he saw the linen cloths lying alone, and he went home, wondering at what had happened.

¹³That same day, two of them were walking to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and they were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

¹⁵While they talked and turned it over, Yeshua himself came near and walked along with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were held from knowing him.

¹⁷He said to them, "What is this you're discussing with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, their faces full of grief.

¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what has happened there these past days?"

¹⁹"What things?" he asked. They said to him, "About Yeshua of Nazareth, a man, a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to a sentence of death, and crucified him.

²¹But we were hoping that he was the one to set Israel free. And on top of all this, it's now the third day since these things happened.

²²And some women among us astonished us. They went to the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they didn't find his body, they came back saying they had even seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.

²⁴Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

²⁵Then he said to them, "How foolish you are, how slow of heart to trust all that the prophets spoke.

²⁶Did the Anointed One not have to suffer these things and enter into his majesty?"

²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he opened to them in all the Scriptures the things about himself.

²⁸As they came near the village where they were going, he made as if to walk on farther, ²⁹but they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it's toward evening and the day is already far gone." So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰And while he was reclining at table with them, he took the bread, spoke the blessing, broke it, and handed it to them.

³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight.

³²They said to each other, "Were our hearts not burning within us as he spoke to us on the road, as he opened the Scriptures to us?"

³³That same hour they got up and went back to Jerusalem. They found the eleven gathered together, and those with them, ³⁴saying, "The Master has truly been raised, and he has appeared to Simon!"

³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the road, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

³⁶While they were still saying this, Yeshua himself stood among them and said to them, "Wholeness be with you."

³⁷They were startled and terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

³⁸But he said to them, "Why are you shaken? Why do these doubts rise in your hearts?

³⁹Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

⁴⁰And saying this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹While they still could not trust it, for sheer joy, and stood wondering, he said to them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"

⁴²They handed him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate it in front of them.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, "These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled."

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

⁴⁶He said to them, "This is what is written: the Anointed One would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and in his name a turning around and a release of errors would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹And look, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

⁵⁰Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

⁵¹And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵²And they knelt before him and went back to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³and they were continually in the temple, blessing God.