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Luke 13

1At that very time some people were present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish likewise. 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 repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

6He told this parable: “Someone had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7He said to the vineyard worker, ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and found none. Cut it down! Why should it even use up the soil?’ 8But he answered him, ‘Master, leave it this year too, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; otherwise, you can cut it down.’”

10He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11And look, a woman had a spirit of weakness for eighteen years. She was bent over and unable to straighten up completely. 12When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are released from your weakness.” 13He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was straightened up and glorified God. 14But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done. So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15The Lord answered him, “Hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough and lead it away to give it a drink? 16And should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things he was doing.

18So he said, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19It is like a mustard seed that someone took and threw into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky made their homes in its branches.” 20Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21It is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

22He traveled through towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. 23Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few being saved?” He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us!’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will tell you, ‘I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of unrighteousness!’ 28There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. 29People will come from east and west, north and south, and recline at the table 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 and said to him, “Leave and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.” 32He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I am driving out demons and accomplishing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach my completion.’ 33Yet I must go on today and tomorrow and the following day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem. 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Translation notes 7

13:1–5 — Suffering and guilt. Jesus rejects the conclusion that these victims were worse than others; he does not remove the warning to repent. “More guilty” in verse 4 represents the debt expression “greater debtors,” used here of moral liability.

13:9 — Fruit next year. “Well and good” supplies the unstated result of the first condition. The Greek base attaches “next year” to bearing fruit, not to the later cutting down.

13:11–16 — Weakness and release. The text relates the woman's condition to a spirit and to Satan's binding. “Weakness” avoids inventing a modern diagnosis. “Completely” can also be understood as “at all.” The bond and release vocabulary connects the woman with the animals' untying; “daughter of Abraham” preserves her explicitly gendered standing.

13:21 — Three measures. These are three sata, a large quantity of flour. “Hid” preserves the verb rather than replacing it with a description of the whole kneading process.

13:24–29 — The door. The passage turns a question about how many will be saved into a call to enter. The repeated refusal and exclusion remain. The feast includes people from all directions; the text does not call them all by a single national label.

13:32–33 — Completion and Jerusalem. “I reach my completion” renders a difficult middle or passive form that may refer to the completion of Jesus' work, his death, or his being brought to fulfillment. The third day may carry an echo beyond the immediate travel period, but the draft does not insert “resurrection.” The statement about prophets dying in Jerusalem is a pointed saying, not a rewritten historical census of prophetic deaths.

13:34–35 — Jerusalem and the house. The city is addressed as a woman, followed by plural “you” for her people. The hen image is retained. Some witnesses add “desolate” after “house”; the Greek base does not. The closing acclamation quotes Psalm 118:26.