But the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire."

the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

He used this figure also in speaking to them: "No one tears a piece from a new coat and sews it on an old one, or if he does, he will both tear the new one and the piece from the new one will not match the old one.

And he came down with them and took his stand on a level place with a great throng of his disciples, and a large number of people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and the seacoast district of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.

Every tree is known by its fruit. They do not pick figs off thorns, or gather grapes from brambles.

The ones on the rock are those who receive the message joyfully when they first hear it, but it takes no real root. They believe for a little while, and then in the time of trial they draw back.

But the seed in the good soil means those who listen to the message and keep it in good, true hearts, and yield unfailingly.

Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes!

But Tyre and Sidon will fare better than you at the Judgment!

and he answers from inside, 'Do not bother me; the door is now fastened, and my children and I have gone to bed; I cannot get up and give you any.'

So I tell you, ask, and what you ask will be given you. Search, and you will find what you search for. Knock, and the door will open to you.

For it is always the one who asks who receives, and the one who searches who finds, and the one who knocks to whom the door opens.

Alas for you experts in the Law! For you have taken the key to the door of knowledge, but you have not entered it yourselves, and you have kept out those who tried to enter."

After he left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began to watch him closely and to try to draw him out on many subjects,

Then he said, 'This is what I will do; I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will store all my grain and my goods.

like men waiting for their master to come home from a wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.

Or those eighteen people at Siloam who were killed when the tower fell upon them??o you think they were worse offenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?

He used this figure: "A man had a fig tree growing in his garden, and he went to look for fruit on it, and could not find any.

And he said to the gardener, 'Here I have come three years to look for fruit on this fig tree, without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it waste the ground?'

It is like a mustard seed that a man took and dropped in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the wild birds roosted on its branches."

"You must strain every nerve to get in through the narrow door, for I tell you many will try to get in, and will not succeed,

when the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock on the door, and say, 'Open it for us, sir!' Then he will answer you and say, 'I do not know where you come from,'

What man among you if he wishes to build a tower does not first sit down and estimate the cost of it, to see whether he has enough to complete it?

So if you have proved untrustworthy in using your ill-gotten wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

And the Master said, "If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you might have said to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and planted in the sea,' and it would have obeyed you!

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree, to see him, for Jesus was coming that way.

Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What can I do? I will send them my dear son; perhaps they will respect him.'

For they did not dare to ask him any more questions.

And he gave them an illustration: "See the fig tree and all the trees.

Then he said to them, "This is what I told you when I was still with you??hat everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must come true."