The Gospel of Luke 19
19
The calling of Zacchaeus
1They went into Jericho and passed through. 2There was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax-collector, who was very rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a small man, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. 4So he ran on ahead, along the route Jesus was going to take, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.
5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up. “Zacchaeus,” he said to him, “hurry up and come down. I have to stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried up, came down, and welcomed him with joy.
7Everybody began to murmur when they saw it. “He’s gone in to spend time with a proper old sinner!” they were saying.
8But Zacchaeus stood there and addressed the master.
“Look, Master,” he said, “I’m giving half my property to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I’m giving it back to them four times over.”
9“Today,” said Jesus, “salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10You see, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The king, the servants and the money
11While people were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable. They were, after all, getting close to Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at any moment.
12“There was once a nobleman,” he said, “who went into a country far away to be given royal authority and then return. 13He summoned ten of his slaves and gave them ten silver coins. ‘Do business with these,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ 14His subjects, though, hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15“So it happened that when he received the kingship and came back again, he gave orders to summon the slaves who had received the money, so that he could find out how they had got on with their business efforts. 16The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your money has made ten times its value!’
17“ ‘Well done, you splendid servant!’ he said. ‘You’ve been trustworthy with something small; now you can take command of ten cities.’
18“The second came and said, ‘Master, your money has made five times its value!’
19“ ‘You too—you can take charge of five cities.’
20“The other came and said, ‘Master, here is your money. I kept it wrapped in this handkerchief. 21You see, I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man: you profit where you made no investment, and you harvest what you didn’t sow.’
22“ ‘I’ll condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked scoundrel of a servant!’ he replied. ‘So: you knew that I was a hard man, profiting where I didn’t invest and harvesting where I didn’t sow? 23So why didn’t you put my money with the bankers? Then I’d have had the interest when I got back!’
24“ ‘Take the money from him,’ he said to the bystanders, ‘and give it to the man who’s made ten of them!’ 25(‘Master,’ they said to him, ‘he’s got ten coins already!’)
26“Let me tell you: everyone who has will be given more; but if someone has nothing, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27But as for these enemies of mine, who didn’t want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in front of me.”
The triumphal entry
28With these words, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29As they came close, as near as Bethany and Bethphage, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples on ahead. 30“Go into the village over there,” he said, “and as you arrive you’ll find a colt tied up, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you should say, ‘Because the master needs it.’ ”
32The two who were sent went off and found it just as Jesus had said to them. 33They untied the colt, and its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34“Because the master needs it,” they replied.
35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and mounted Jesus on it. 36As he was going along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
37When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to celebrate and praise God at the tops of their voices for all the powerful deeds they had seen.
38“Welcome, welcome, welcome with a blessing,” they sang.
“Welcome to the king in the name of the Lord!
“Peace in heaven, and glory on high!”
39Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop that.”
40“Let me tell you,” replied Jesus, “if they stayed silent, the stones would be shouting out!”
Jesus cleanses the Temple
41When he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.
42“If only you’d known,” he said, “on this day—even you!—what peace meant. But now it’s hidden, and you can’t see it. 43Yes, the days are coming upon you when your enemies will build up earthworks all round you, and encircle you, and squeeze you in from every direction. 44They will bring you crashing to the ground, you and your children within you. They won’t leave one single stone on another, because you didn’t know the moment when God was visiting you.”
45He went into the Temple and began to throw out the traders.
46“It’s written,” he said, “ ‘My house shall be a house of prayer; but you’ve made it a brigands’ cave.’ ”
47He was teaching every day in the Temple. But the chief priests, the scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy him. 48They couldn’t find any way to do it, because all the people were hanging on his every word.
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The Gospel of Luke 19: NTFE
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a. The New Testament for Everyone, Third Edition. Copyright © 2011, 2018, 2019 by
Nicholas Thomas Wright, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. All rights reserved. Published by Zondervan, 2023.
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