The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Luke 13
1 Meanwhile, when a multitude of many
thousands had gathered together, so much
so that they trampled on each other, he
began to tell his disciples first of all,
“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which
is hypocrisy.
2 But there is nothing covered up that
will not be revealed, nor hidden that will
not be known.
3 Therefore whatever you have said in
the darkness will be heard in the light.
What you have spoken in the ear in the
inner rooms will be proclaimed on the
housetops.
4 “Itell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of
those who killthe body, and after that have
no more that they can do.
5 But I will warn you whom you should
fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has
power to cast into Gehenna.† Yes, Itell you,
fear him.
6 “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria
coins‡? Not one of them is forgotten
by God.
7 But the very hairs of your head are all
counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You
are of more value than many sparrows.
8 “I tell you, everyone who confesses me
before men, the Son of Man will also
confess before the angels of God;
9 but he whodeniesme inthepresence of
men will be denied inthe presence of God’s
angels.
10 Everyone who speaks a word against
the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those
who blaspheme againstthe Holy Spirit will
not be forgiven.
11 When they bring you before the synagogues,
the rulers, and the authorities,
don’t be anxious how or what you will
answer or what you will say;
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in
that same hour what you must say.”
13 One of the multitude said to him,
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide
the inheritance with me.”
14 But he said to him, “Man, who made
me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”
15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep your
selves from covetousness, for a man’s life
doesn’t consist of the abundance of the
things which he possesses.”
16 He spoke a parable to them, saying,
“The ground of a certain rich man
produced abundantly.
17 He reasoned within himself, saying,
‘What will I do, because I don’t have room
to store my crops?’
18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will
pull down my barns, build bigger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my
goods.
19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have
many goods laid up for many years. Take
your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one,
tonight your soul is required of you. The
things which you have prepared—whose
will they be?’
21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God.”
22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore
I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life,
what you will eat, nor yet for your body,
what you will wear.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is
more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow,
they don’t reap, they have no warehouse
or barn, and God feeds them. How much
more valuable are you than birds!
25 Which of you by being anxious can
add a cubit§ to his height?
26 If then you aren’t able to do even the
leastthings, why are youanxious aboutthe
rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow.
They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I
tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
28 But if this is how God clothes the grass
in the field, which today exists and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, how much more
will he clothe you, O you of little faith?
29 “Don’t seek what you will eat or what
you will drink; neither be anxious.
30 For the nations of the world seek after
all of these things, but your Father knows
that you need these things.
31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these
things will be added to you.
32 “Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is
your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
Kingdom.
33 Sell what you have and give gifts to
the needy. Make for yourselves purses
which don’t grow old, a treasure in the
heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief
approaches and no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also.
35 “Let your waist be dressed and your
lamps burning.
36 Be like men watching for their lord
when he returns from the wedding feast,
that when he comes and knocks, they may
immediately open to him.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the
lord will find watching when he comes.
Most certainly I tell you that he will dress
himself, make them recline, and will come
and serve them.
38 They will be blessed if he comes in the
second or third watch and finds them so.
39 But know this, that if the master of the
house had known in what hour the thief
was coming, he would have watched and
not allowed his house to be broken into.
40 Therefore be ready also, for the Son of
Man is coming in an hour that you don’t
expect him.”
41 Peter saidtohim, “Lord, are youtelling
this parable to us, or to everybody?”
42 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful
and wise steward, whom his lord will set
over his household, to give them their
portion of food at the right times?
43 Blessed is that servant whom his lord
will find doing so when he comes.
44 Truly Itell youthathe will sethimover
all that he has.
45 But if that servant says in his heart,
‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins
to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
and to eat and drink and to be drunken,
46 then the lord of that servant will come
in a day when he isn’t expecting him and in
an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut
him in two, and place his portion with the
unfaithful.
47 That servant who knew his lord’s will,
and didn’t prepare nor do what he wanted,
will be beaten with many stripes,
48 but he who didn’t know, and did things
worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few
stripes. To whomever much is given, of
him will much be required; and to whom
much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.
49 “I came to throw fire on the earth. I
wish it were already kindled.
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how distressed I am until it is
accomplished!
51 Do you think that I have come to give
peace in the earth? Itell you, no, but rather
division.
52 For from now on, there will be five in
one house divided, three against two, and
two against three.
53 They will be divided, father against
son, and son against father; mother
against daughter, and daughter against
her mother; mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law.” *
54 He said to the multitudes also, “When
yousee a cloud rising fromthe west,
immediately you say, ‘A shower is
coming,’ and so it happens.
55 When a south wind blows, you say,
‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it
happens.
56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpretthe
appearance ofthe earth and the sky, but how
is it that you don’t interpret this time?
57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves
what is right?
58 For when you are going with your
adversary before the magistrate, try
diligently on the way to be released from him,
lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and
the judge deliver you to the officer, and the
officer throw you into prison.
59 I tell you, you will by no means get out
of there until you have paid the very last
penny.†”