Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Luke Part 5

011:041 But as to what is within, give alms, and instantly all is clean in you.

011:042 "But alas for you Pharisees! for you pay t.i.thes on your mint and rue and every kind of garden vegetable, and are indifferent to justice and the love of G.o.d. These are the things you ought to have attended to, while not neglecting the others.

011:043 Alas for you Pharisees! for you love the best seats in the synagogues, and you like to be bowed to in places of public resort.

011:044 Alas for you! for you are like the tombs which lie hidden, and the people who walk over them are not aware of their existence."

011:045 Hereupon one of the expounders of the Law exclaimed, "Rabbi, in saying such things you reproach us also."

011:046 "Alas too for you expounders of the Law!" replied Jesus, "for you load men with c.u.mbrous burdens which you yourselves will not touch with one of your fingers.

011:047 Alas for you! for you repair the tombs of the Prophets, whom your forefathers killed.

011:048 It follows that you bear testimony to the actions of your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof.

They slew, you build.

011:049 "For this reason also the Wisdom of G.o.d has said, 'I will send Prophets and Apostles to them, of whom they will kill some and persecute others,'

011:050 so that the blood of all the Prophets, that is being shed from the creation of the world onwards, may be required from the present generation.

011:051 Yes, I tell you that, from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the House, it shall all be required from the present generation.

011:052 "Alas for you expounders of the Law! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered, and those who wanted to enter you have hindered."

011:053 After He had left the house, the Scribes and Pharisees commenced a vehement attempt to entangle Him and make Him give off-hand answers on numerous points, 011:054 lying in wait to catch some unguarded expression from His lips.

012:001 Meanwhile the people had come streaming towards Him by tens of thousands, so that they were trampling one another under foot.

And now He proceeded to say to His disciples first, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is to say, beware of hypocrisy.

012:002 There is nothing that is covered up which will not be uncovered, nor hidden which will not become known.

012:003 Whatever therefore you have said in the dark, will be heard in the light; and what you have whispered within closed doors will be proclaimed from the house-tops.

012:004 "But to you who are my friends I say, "'Be not afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing further.

012:005 I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who after killing has power to throw into Gehenna: yes, I say to you, fear him.

012:006 Are not five sparrows sold for a penny? and yet not one of them is a thing forgotten in G.o.d's sight.

012:007 But the very hairs on your heads are all counted. Away with fear: you are more precious than a mult.i.tude of sparrows.'

012:008 "And I tell you that every man who shall have acknowledged me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of G.o.d.

012:009 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of G.o.d.

012:010 "Moreover every one who shall speak against the Son of Man, may obtain forgiveness; but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never obtain forgiveness.

012:011 And when they are bringing you before synagogues and magistrates and governors, do not anxiously ponder the manner or matter of your defence, nor what you are to say; 012:012 for the Holy Spirit shall teach you at that very moment what you must say."

012:013 Just then a man in the crowd appealed to Him. "Rabbi," he said, "tell my brother to give me a share of the inheritance."

012:014 "Man," He replied, "who has const.i.tuted me a judge or arbitrator over you?"

012:015 And to the people He said, "Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for no one's life consists in the superabundance of his possessions."

012:016 And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's lands,"

He said, "yielded abundant crops, 012:017 and he debated within himself, saying, "'What am I to do?

for I have no place in which to store my crops.'

012:018 "And he said to himself, "'This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will store up all my harvest and my wealth; 012:019 and I will say to my life, "'Life, you have ample possessions laid up for many years to come: take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.'

012:020 "But G.o.d said to him, "'Foolish man, this night your life is demanded from you; and these preparations--for whom shall they be?'

012:021 "So is it with him who ama.s.ses treasure for himself, but has no riches in G.o.d."

012:022 Then turning to His disciples He said, "For this reason I say to you, 'Dismiss all anxious care for your lives, inquiring what you are to eat, and for your bodies, what you are to put on.'

012:023 For life is a greater gift than food, and the body is a greater gift than clothing.

012:024 Observe the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, and have neither store-chamber nor barn. And yet G.o.d feeds them.

How far more precious are you than the birds!

012:025 And which of you is able by anxious thought to add a moment to his life?

012:026 If then you are unable to do even a very little thing, why be over-anxious about other matters?

012:027 Observe the lilies, how they grow. They neither labour nor spin.

And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was as beautifully dressed as one of these.

012:028 But if G.o.d so clothes the vegetation in the fields, that blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, how much more certainly will He clothe you, you men of feeble faith!

012:029 "Therefore, do not be asking what you are to eat nor what you are to drink; and do not waver between hope and fear.

012:030 For though the nations of the world pursue these things, as for you, your Father knows that you need them.

012:031 But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit, and these things shall be given you in addition.

012:032 "Dismiss your fears, little flock: your Father finds a pleasure in giving you the Kingdom.

012:033 Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that will never wear out, a treasure inexhaustible in Heaven, where no thief can come nor moth consume.

012:034 For where your wealth is stored, there also will your heart be.

012:035 "Have your girdles on, and let your lamps be alight; 012:036 and be yourselves like men waiting for their master-- on the look-out till he shall return from the wedding feast-- that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door instantly.

012:037 Blessed are those servants, whom their Master when He comes shall find on the watch. I tell you in solemn truth, that He will tie an ap.r.o.n round Him, and will bid them recline at table while He comes and waits on them.

012:038 And whether it be in the second watch or in the third that He comes and finds them so, blessed are they.

012:039 Of this be sure, that if the master of the house had known what time the robber was coming, he would have kept awake and not have allowed his house to be broken into.

012:040 Be you also ready, for at an hour when you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come."

012:041 "Master," said Peter, "are you addressing this parable to us, or to all alike?"

012:042 "Who, then," replied the Lord, "is the faithful and intelligent steward whom his Master will put in charge of His household to serve out their rations at the proper times?

012:043 Blessed is that servant whom his Master when He comes shall find so doing.

012:044 I tell you truly that He will put him in authority over all His possessions.

012:045 But if that servant should say in his heart, 'My Master is a long time in coming,' and should begin to beat the menservants and the maids, and to eat and drink, drinking even to excess; 012:046 that servant's Master will come on a day when he is not expecting Him and at an hour that he knows not of, and will punish him severely, and make him share the lot of the unfaithful.

012:047 And that servant who has been told his Master's will and yet made no preparation and did not obey His will, will receive many lashes.

012:048 But he who had not been told it and yet did what deserved the scourge, will receive but few lashes. To whomsoever much has been given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been entrusted, of him a larger amount will be demanded.

012:049 "I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my desire?

Oh that it were even now kindled!

012:050 But I have a baptism to undergo; and how am I pent up till it is accomplished!

012:051 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you that I came to bring dissension.

012:052 For from this time there will be in one house five persons split into parties. Three will form a party against two and two will form a party against three; 012:053 father against son and son against father; mother attacking daughter and daughter her mother, mother-in-law her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law her mother-in-law."

012:054 Then He said to the people also, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'There is to be a shower;'

and it comes to pa.s.s.

012:055 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be burning hot;' and it comes to pa.s.s.

012:056 Vain pretenders! You know how to read the aspect of earth and sky.

How is it you cannot read this present time?

012:057 "Why, too, do you not of yourselves arrive at just conclusions?

012:058 For when, with your opponent, you are going before the magistrate, on the way take pains to get out of his power; for fear that, if he should drag you before the judge, the judge may hand you over to the officer of the court, and the officer lodge you in prison.

012:059 Never, I tell you, will you get free till you have paid the last farthing."

013:001 Just at that time people came to tell Him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

013:002 "Do you suppose," He asked in reply, "that those Galilaeans were worse sinners than the ma.s.s of the Galilaeans, because this happened to them?

013:003 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you are not penitent you will all perish as they did.

013:004 Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, do you suppose they had failed in their duty more than all the rest of the people who live in Jerusalem?

013:005 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you do not repent you will all perish just as they did."

013:006 And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said, "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none.

013:007 So he said to the gardener, "'See, this is the third year I have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find any.

Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually wasted?'

013:008 "But the gardener pleaded, "'Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it.

013:009 If after that it bears fruit, well and good; if it does not, then you shall cut it down.'"

013:010 Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues 013:011 where a woman was present who for eighteen years had been a confirmed invalid: she was bent double, and was unable to lift herself to her full height.

013:012 But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her, "Woman, you are free from your weakness."

013:013 And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to G.o.d.

013:014 Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in the week on which people ought to work.

On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured, and not on the Sabbath day."

013:015 But the Lord's reply to him was, "Hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his bullock or his a.s.s from the stall and lead him to water?

013:016 And this woman, daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan had bound for no less than eighteen years, was she not to be loosed from this chain because it is the Sabbath day?"

013:017 When He had said this, all His opponents were ashamed, while the whole mult.i.tude was delighted at the many glorious things continually done by Him.

013:018 This prompted Him to say, "What is the Kingdom of G.o.d like?

and to what shall I compare it?

013:019 It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost."

013:020 And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of G.o.d?

013:021 It is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel of flour, to work there till the whole is leavened."

013:022 He was pa.s.sing through town after town and village after village, steadily proceeding towards Jerusalem, 013:023 when some one asked Him, "Sir, are there but few who are to be saved?"

013:024 "Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate,"