32Fear not, little flock! for your Father takes delight in giving you the kingdom. 33Sell all your possessions, and give in charity; make yourselves purses that wax not old, a treasure never failing in the heavens, where no thief approaches, nor doth the moth destroy. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35Let your loins be firmly girded round, and your lamps burning: 36and ye like men, expecting their master, when he shall return from the marriage; that when he comes and knocks, they may instantly open the door for him. 37Blessed are those servants, whom the Master, when he cometh, shall find watchful: verily I say unto you, that he will gird up himself, and make them sit down at table, and come and wait upon them. 38And if he come in the second watch, or in the third watch, and find them so watchful, blessed are those servants. 39Now this be assured of, that if the master of the family had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40Therefore be ye also ready, for at an hour that ye think not of, the Son of man cometh.
41Then said Peter unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable to us, or also for all? 42And the Lord said, Who indeed is a faithful steward, and prudent, whom the lord will place over his household, to give them their proportion of provision at the proper season? 43Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so employed. 44Verily I say unto you, that he will place him over all his property. 45But if that servant say in his heart, My master will be a long while ere he comes; and shall begin to beat the men and maid-servants, and to eat and to drink, and to get drunk; 46the master of that servant will come in a day when he doth not expect him, and at an hour which he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and give him his portion with the unfaithful. 47And that servant, who knew his master’s will, and made no preparation for him, nor did according to his pleasure, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48But he that knew it not, yet did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For of every one to whom much is given, much shall be required from him: and to whom men commit much, they will of him demand abundantly more.
49I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what is my wish? that it may be now kindled. 50But I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how am I distressed in spirit till it is finished! 51Think ye that I came to bring peace upon earth? No, I tell you; but rather division: 52for henceforth five shall be in one house, divided, three against two, and two against three. 53The father shall take part against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the step-mother against her daughter-in-law, and the son’s wife against her mother-in-law.
54Then said he to the multitudes, When ye see a cloud rising from the west, ye say immediately, There cometh a shower; and it is so. 55And when the south wind gently blows, ye say, It will be sultry hot; and so it is. 56Ye hypocrites! ye know how to discern by experience from the appearance of the earth and of the sky; but how is it that ye do not discern this particular time? 57And why even of yourselves do ye not decide what is just? 58For as thou art going with thy prosecutor to the magistrate, on the way endeavour to make up the matter with him; lest he drag thee before the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59I tell thee, thou mayest in no wise come out from thence, until thou hast paid the very last mite.
[CHAP. XIII.]
NOW there were some present at that time who informed him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And Jesus in reply said to them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, No: for except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them, think ye that they were debtors to divine justice above all the men who dwell at Jerusalem? 5I tell you, No: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
6Then he spake this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came, expecting fruit on it, and found none. 7Then said he to the vine-dresser, Lo! for three years have I come, expecting fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it render the ground thus useless? 8He answering said to him, Sir, let it e’en remain this year, until that I dig around it, and spread some manure: 9perhaps it may then produce fruit: but if it does not, afterwards thou shalt cut it down.
10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues, on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and unable to raise herself at all up. 12But when Jesus saw her, he called out aloud, and said to her, Woman, thou art delivered from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands upon her: and instantly she became erect, and glorified God. 14Then the ruler of the synagogue, indignant, that on the sabbath Jesus had performed the cure, addressing himself to the multitude, said, There are six days in which work is to be done: on these therefore come and be cured, and not on the sabbath-day. 15Then the Lord answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not every one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead him to water? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day? 17And when he had made this speech, all his opposers were covered with shame: and all the multitude rejoiced in all the glorious things which were done by him. 18Then said he, To what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I compare it? 19It is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and put into his garden; and it grew, and became a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged on its branches.
20And again he said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21It is like leaven, which a woman taking, covered up in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.