Luke 13

¹Now some people were present at that very moment who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²And responding, he said to them: "Do you think that these Galileans were sinners beyond all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? ³No, I tell you, but unless you all repent, you will perish in the same way. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you, but unless you all repent, you will perish just the same."

⁶And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. ⁷So he said to the vineyard keeper: 'Look, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it even be wasting the soil?' ⁸But he answered and said to him: 'Master, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹And if it produces fruit next year—good. But if not, you can cut it down.'"

¹⁰Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over double and completely unable to straighten up. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her: "Woman, you have been set free from your infirmity." ¹³And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was straightened up, and she began glorifying God.

¹⁴But the synagogue leader responded with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and said to the crowd: "There are six days on which work ought to be done. Come on those days to be healed, then, and not on the Sabbath day." ¹⁵But the Lord answered him and said: "Pretenders! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the feeding trough and lead it away to give it water? ¹⁶And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound—look!—for eighteen years, should she not have been untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?" ¹⁷And as he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, while the whole crowd was rejoicing at all the glorious things being done by him.

¹⁸So he said: "What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a man took and threw into his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky made nests in its branches."

²⁰And again he said: "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole batch was leavened."

²²And he was traveling through town by town and village by village, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. ²³Someone said to him: "Lord, are those being saved few?" And he said to them: ²⁴"Struggle to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not have the strength— ²⁵once the master of the house rises and shuts the door. Then you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying: 'Lord, open to us!' And he will answer and say to you: 'I do not know where you are from.' ²⁶Then you will begin to say: 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!' ²⁷And he will speak and say to you: 'I do not know where you are from. Get away from me, all you workers of injustice!' ²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. ²⁹And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at the banquet in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And look: some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last."

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came up and said to him: "Get out and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you." ³²And he said to them: "Go tell that fox: 'Look, I am casting out demons and accomplishing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach my goal.' ³³But I must travel on today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem."

³⁴"Jerusalem, Jerusalem—the one killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her! How often I have longed to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵Look, your house is abandoned to you. And I tell you, you will certainly not see me until the time comes when you say: 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"