The Beginning of the Ministry in Galilee (4:14-41)The First Tour of Galilee (4:42;5:39)- A Sabbath Controversy (6:1-11)
- The Choice of the 12 Apostles (6:12-16)
- The Sermon on the Plain (6:17-49)
- Miracles in Capernaum and Nain (7:1-18)
- The Inquiry of John the Baptist (7:19-29)
- Jesus and the Pharisees (7:30-50)
- The Second Tour of Galilee (8:1-3)
- The Parables of the Kingdom (8:4-21)
- The Trip across the Sea of Galilee (8:22-39)
- The Third Tour of Galilee (8:40;9:9)
Luke 6
1 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking
through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off
the husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
2 But some Pharisees said, “Why are you
breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
3 Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the
Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
4 He went into the house of God and broke
the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He
also gave some to his companions.”
5And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even
over the Sabbath.”
6 On another Sabbath day, a man with a
deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching.
7 The teachers of religious law and the
Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to
accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
8 But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said
to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So
the man came forward.
9 Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have
a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a
day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”
10 He looked around at them one by one and
then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and
it was restored!
11 At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild
with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.
12 One day soon afterward Jesus went up on
a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.
13 At daybreak he called together all of
his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their
names:
14Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s
brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
15 Matthew, Thomas, James (son of
Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot),
16 Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot
(who later betrayed him).
17 When they came down from the mountain,
the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of
his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from
Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon.
18They had come to hear him and to be healed of
their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed.
19 Everyone tried to touch him, because
healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.
20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and
said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for
you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will
laugh.
22 What blessings await you when people
hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow
the Son of Man.
23When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for
joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors
treated the ancient prophets that same way.
24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and
prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you
who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised
by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.
27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I
say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.
28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for
those who hurt you.
29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer
the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt
also.
30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things
are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.
31 Do to others as you would like them to
do to you.
32 “If you love only those who love you,
why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love
them!
33 And if you do good only to those who do
good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!
34 And if you lend money only to those who
can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other
sinners for a full return.
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them.
Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will
be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for
he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.
36 You must be compassionate, just as your
Father is compassionate.
37 “Do not judge others, and you will not
be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive
others, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift
will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more,
running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the
amount you get back. ”
39 Then Jesus gave the following
illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a
ditch?
40 Students are not greater than their
teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the
teacher.
41 “And why worry about a speck in your
friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
42 How can you think of saying, ‘Friend,
let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the
log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then
you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
43 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit,
and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs
are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble
bushes.
45 A good person produces good things from
the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the
treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord,
Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?
47 I will show you what it’s like when
someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.
48 It is like a person building a house who
digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and
break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.
49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is
like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down
against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
Luke 7
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this
to the people, he returned to Capernaum.
2 At that time the highly valued slave of
a Roman officer was sick and near death.
3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he
sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave.
4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help
the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said,
5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even
built a synagogue for us.”
6 So Jesus went with them. But just before
they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t
trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an
honor.
7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you.
Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.
8 I know this because I am under the
authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I
only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to
my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.
Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t
seen faith like this in all Israel!”
10 And when the officer’s friends returned
to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
11 Soon afterward Jesus went with his
disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.
12 A funeral procession was coming out as
he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only
son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.
13 When the Lord saw her, his heart
overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.
14 Then he walked over to the coffin and
touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get
up.”
15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to
talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 Great fear swept the crowd, and they
praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has
visited his people today.”
17 And the news about Jesus spread
throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.
18 The disciples of John the Baptist told
John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his
disciples,
19 and he sent them to the Lord to ask him,
“Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for
someone else?”
20 John’s two disciples found Jesus and
said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been
expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”
21 At that very time, Jesus cured many
people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to
many who were blind.
22 Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back
to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good
News is being preached to the poor.
23 And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do
not turn away because of me. ’”
24 After John’s disciples left, Jesus began
talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the
wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind?
25 Or were you expecting to see a man
dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in
luxury are found in palaces.
26 Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and
he is more than a prophet.
27 John is the man to whom the Scriptures
refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will
prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, of all who have ever lived,
none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is
greater than he is!”
29 When they heard this, all the
people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right, for they had
been baptized by John.
30But the Pharisees and experts in religious law
rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.
31 “To what can I compare the people of
this generation?” Jesus asked. “How can I describe them?
32 They are like children playing a game in
the public square. They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs,
and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t weep.’
33 For John the Baptist didn’t spend his
time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a
demon.’
34 The Son of Man, on the other hand,
feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of
tax collectors and other sinners!’
35 But wisdom is shown to be right by the
lives of those who follow it. ”
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have
dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.
37 When a certain immoral woman from that
city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled
with expensive perfume.
38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet,
weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then
she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him
saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what
kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts.
“Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead,
Teacher,” Simon replied.
41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man
loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces
to the other.
42 But neither of them could repay him, so
he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved
him more after that?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for
whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned to the woman and said to
Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t
offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her
tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but
from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil
to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are
many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is
forgiven little shows only little love.”
48Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are
forgiven.”
49 The men at the table said among
themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith
has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 8
1 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the
nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the
Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him,
2 along with some women who had been cured
of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had
cast out seven demons;
3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s
business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own
resources to support Jesus and his disciples.
4 One day Jesus told a story in the form
of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear
him:
5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As
he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was
stepped on, and the birds ate it.
6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to
grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture.
7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew
up with it and choked out the tender plants.
8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil.
This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been
planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear
should listen and understand.”
9 His disciples asked him what this
parable meant.
10 He replied, “You are permitted to
understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the
others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won’t
really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The
seed is God’s word.
12 The seeds that fell on the footpath
represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it
away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved.
13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent
those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep
roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face
temptation.
14 The seeds that fell among the thorns
represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is
crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they
never grow into maturity.
15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil
represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and
patiently produce a huge harvest.
16 “No one lights a lamp and then covers it
with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its
light can be seen by all who enter the house.
17 For all that is secret will eventually
be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to
light and made known to all.
18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To
those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for
those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken
away from them.”
19 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to
see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd.
20 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and
your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.”
21 Jesus replied, “My mother and my
brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples,
“Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and
started out.
23 As they sailed across, Jesus settled
down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling
with water, and they were in real danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him up,
shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he
rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was
calm.
25 Then he asked them, “Where is your
faith?” The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked
each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”
26So they arrived in the region of the
Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee.
27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a
man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had
been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town.
28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and
fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!”
29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil
spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even
when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke
them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s
power.
30 Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons.
31 The demons kept begging Jesus not to
send them into the bottomless pit.
32 There happened to be a large herd of
pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them
enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission.
33 Then the demons came out of the man and
entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the
lake and drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to
the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they
ran.
35 People rushed out to see what had
happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been
freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and
perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.
36 Then those who had seen what happened
told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed.
37 And all the people in the region of the
Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of
fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to
the other side of the lake.
38 The man who had been freed from the
demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying,
39 “No, go back to your family, and tell
them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town
proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.
40 On the other side of the lake the crowds
welcomed Jesus, because they had been waiting for him.
41 Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the
local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home
with him.
42 His only daughter, who was about twelve
years old, was dying. As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the
crowds.
43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for
twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure.
44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the
fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone
denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against
you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately
touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”
47 When the woman realized that she could
not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him.
The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been
immediately healed.
48 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith
has made you well. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking to her, a
messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told
him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
50 But when Jesus heard what had happened,
he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be
healed.”
51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus
wouldn’t let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, James, and the little
girl’s father and mother.
52 The house was filled with people weeping
and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only
asleep.”
53 But the crowd laughed at him because
they all knew she had died.
54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said
in a loud voice, “My child, get up!”
55 And at that moment her life returned,
and she immediately stood up! Then Jesus told them to give her something to
eat.
56 Her parents were overwhelmed, but Jesus insisted
that they not tell anyone what had happened.
Luke 9 NLT
1 One day Jesus called together his twelve
disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal
all diseases.
2 Then he sent them out to tell everyone
about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
3“Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed
them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a
change of clothes.
4 Wherever you go, stay in the same house
until you leave town.
5 And if a town refuses to welcome you,
shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned
those people to their fate.”
6 So they began their circuit of the
villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.
7 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of
Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were
saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead.
8 Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one
of the other prophets risen from the dead.
9 “I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who
is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see
him.
