"Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox: "'See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Then Jesus told a parable to those who had been invited [i.e., the dinner guests at the Pharisee's house. See verse 1], because He noticed how they were choosing places of honor [at the dinner table]. [So], He said to them,

"When somebody invites you to a wedding reception, do not recline at the head of the table [Note: See Matt. 23:6], for maybe someone more honorable than you has been invited by the host.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

"So the servant came and brought these answers to his master, and they stirred his anger. "'Go out quickly,' he said, 'into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow. You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them all in here.'

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down [and] calculate the cost [to see] if he has [enough] {to complete it}?

{Otherwise} [after] he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish [it], all who see [it] will begin to ridicule him,

all that see it, should deride him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish.

It is not suitable for the soil [i.e., for growing crops] or for fertilizer, but [only] for people to throw out. [See note on Matt. 5:13]. The person who has ears to hear with ought to listen [to this] carefully."

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if one of them gets loose and goes away, will not let the ninety-nine be in the waste land by themselves, and go after the wandering one, till he sees where it is?

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

But he made answer and said to his father, See, all these years I have been your servant, doing your orders in everything: and you never gave me even a young goat so that I might have a feast with my friends:

upon which the steward said in himself, what shall I do, now my master strips me of my employment? dig I cannot: and 'tis shameful to beg: I see it now,

I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from the stewardship they may give me a home in their own houses.'

And he said, You take care to seem right in the eyes of men, but God sees your hearts: and those things which are important in the opinion of men, are evil in the eyes of God.

The law of Moses and the prophets prophesied [See Matt. 11:13] until [the time of] John [the Immerser]. From that time onward the good news of the [coming] kingdom of God is [being] preached, and everyone is [attempting to] enter it forcibly [i.e., before its appointed time. See Acts 1:6-7].

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away [i.e., to be destroyed. See II Pet. 3:3], than for one portion of a letter of the law of Moses to be dropped.

"Every person who divorces his wife and marries another woman becomes sexually unfaithful to her [i.e., because he is still regarded by God as married to his first wife. See Matt. 19:9]. And the person who marries someone who has been divorced by her husband commits sexual sin with her [i.e., because she is still rightfully married to her first husband].

And in hades lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Will he not say, Get a meal for me, and make yourself ready and see to my needs till I have had my food and drink; and after that you may have yours?

And as He entered a certain village, He was met by ten men with infectious skin diseases, who were standing some distance away [Note: Restrictions in the Jewish law prevented contact with persons having infectious diseases. See Lev. 13:45ff],

And when he saw them he said, Go, and let the priests see you. And, while they were going, they were made clean.

and one of them having seen that he was healed did turn back, with a loud voice glorifying God,

And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you.

And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

For as in a thunderstorm the bright light is seen from one end of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be when his time comes.

Bear in mind the wife of Lot! Whosoever shall seek to make his life his own, shall lose it,

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

I tell you, on that night [i.e., when Jesus returns. See verse 30], there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken [i.e., to be with the Lord] while the other one will be left [i.e., to be punished by the Lord].

There will be two men in a field [i.e., doing farm work]; one will be taken [i.e., to be with the Lord], while the other one will be left [i.e., to be punished by the Lord]." See Matt. 24:40}}

And they asked Jesus, "Where [will this happen], Lord?" And He answered them, "Wherever there is a [dead] body [you will see] vultures gathered there also."

still, as this widow is bothering me, I will see justice done to her ??not to have her for ever coming and pestering me.'

And will not God surely {see to it that justice is done} to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night, and will he delay toward them?

I tell you that {he will see to it that justice is done} for them soon! Nevertheless, [when] the Son of Man comes, then will he find faith on earth?"

And they were bringing near also the babes, that he may touch them, and the disciples having seen did rebuke them,

But Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, "Allow these little children to come to me and stop trying to prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these [i.e., humble ones. See Matt. 19:14].

Then a certain ruler [Note: This man was young and rich. See Matt. 19:16-22] asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what should I do in order to inherit never ending life?"

And having seen him become very sorrowful, Jesus said, How difficultly those who have riches will enter into the kingdom of God.

And Peter said, See, we have given up what is ours to come after you.

Then He drew the Twelve to Him and said, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the Prophets which refers to the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

But they did not take in the sense of any of these words, and what he said was not clear to them, and their minds were not able to see it.

And it happened as Jesus was approaching Jericho [Note: This was a town about eighteen miles northeast of Jerusalem], that a certain blind man was [seen] sitting along side of the road, begging.

What wilt thou that I shall do to thee? And he said, Lord, that I may see.

And Jesus said to him, See: thy faith has healed thee.

And straight away he was able to see, and he went after him, giving glory to God; and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God.

And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.

and having seen it, they were all murmuring, saying -- 'With a sinful man he went in to lodge!'

And Zacchaeus, waiting before him, said to the Lord, See, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone wrongly, I give him back four times as much.

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Because I was in fear of you, for you are a hard man: you take up what you have not put down, and get in grain where you have not put seed.

He said to him, By the words of your mouth you will be judged, you bad servant. You had knowledge that I am a hard man, taking up what I have not put down and getting in grain where I have not put seed;

But bring those enemies of mine here [i.e., the citizens. See verse 14], who did not want me to rule over them, and kill them in front of me.'"

And when Jesus had said this, He went on ahead [of His disciples. See Matt. 21:1] up to Jerusalem.

Saying, Go into the little town in front of you, and on going in you will see a young ass fixed with a cord, on which no man has ever been seated; let him loose and take him.

So, they brought the colt to Jesus and spread their clothing on it, [then] placed Jesus on it [i.e., held the animal still as Jesus mounted it, since it had never been ridden before. See verse 30].

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

And when he came near, having seen the city, he wept over it,

Saying, If you, even you, had knowledge today, of the things which give peace! but you are not able to see them.

And will make you level with the earth, and your children with you; and there will not be one stone resting on another in you, because you did not see that it was your day of mercy.

Yet they could not see what to do, for the people all hung upon his words.

Then Jesus began speaking to the people. [Note: And perhaps to the religious leaders as well. See Mark 11:18 with 12:1]. He told them this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, then leased it out to tenant farmers and went to another country for a long time.

Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

and having seen him, the husbandmen reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir; come, we may kill him, that the inheritance may become ours;

Let me see a penny. Whose image and name are on it? And they said, Caesar's.

and they asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote unto us, that if a man's brother die, having a wife, and he be childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

And Jesus said to them [i.e., the Pharisees. See Matt. 22:41], "How is it that they [i.e., the experts in the law of Moses. See Mark 12:35] can say that the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one] is the son of David?

Then, as someone [i.e., of His disciples. See Mark 13:1], spoke of how the Temple was decorated with beautiful stones and objects dedicated as gifts, Jesus said,

"[As for] these [things] that you see--days will come in which not [one] stone will be left on [another] stone that will not be thrown down!"

And he said, See that ye be not led astray, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am he, and the time is drawn nigh: go ye not therefore after them.

But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand.

For these are times for punishment [i.e., to be inflicted on Jerusalem], so that everything written [i.e., by the prophets] may be fulfilled [i.e., about Jerusalem's destruction. See Dan. 9:26-27].

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And he made a story for them: See the fig-tree, and all the trees;

when they now shoot forth, ye see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now nigh.

Even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh.

Although the sky and the earth will pass away [See II Pet. 3:10], my words will not pass away [i.e., they will certainly come true].

So the high priests and the scribes continued to seek how they might put Him to death, for they were afraid of the people.

So, he left [probably the house of Simon, the man healed of an infectious skin disease. See Matt. 26:6-13] and went and discussed with the leading priests and captains [i.e., of the Temple guard] how he could turn Jesus over to them.

He in turn accepted their offer and began to seek a favorable opportunity to betray Him to them without exciting an uprising.

And he said to them, When you go into the town you will see a man coming to you with a vessel of water; go after him into the house into which he goes.

And when the time came [for the Passover meal], Jesus reclined with His apostles [at the table]. [Note: See Matt. 23:6].

For I tell you, I will not eat it again until [I do so when] it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God [See Matt. 26:29]."

But look, the hand of the one who is turning me over [i.e., to the Jewish leaders] is with me on the table [i.e., dipping his hand in the sauce bowl. See Matt. 26:23].

And they began to seek together among themselves, which of them it should be that was about to do this thing.

so you can eat and drink at my table in my [coming] kingdom. [Also] you will sit on [twelve] thrones [See Matt. 19:28], judging the twelve tribes of Israel [i.e., judging God's people through their writings].

Lord, said they, you see, we have two swords. he reply'd, that's enough.

Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. [See Matt. 4:11].

And those about him, having seen what was about to be, said to him, 'Sir, shall we smite with a sword?'

Then a certain one of them struck the head priest's slave and sheared off his right ear. [Note: It was Peter who struck this man, whose name was Malchus. See John 18:10].

Then they arrested Jesus and led Him away to the head priest's house [i.e., Caiaphas. See Matt. 26:57]. But Peter followed Him from a distance [i.e., as they went to the head priest's courtyard].

And when they [i.e., the priest's servants] had built a fire in the middle of the courtyard, they sat down together [i.e., to warm themselves. See Mark 14:67], with Peter [sitting] among the group.

And a certain maid, having seen him sitting by the light, and having fixed her eyes upon him, said, And this man was with him.

And after a little while, another man having see him, said, Thou also are from them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.

And about an hour later someone else stated emphatically, "I know for sure that this man was also with him [i.e., Jesus], for he is from Galilee [too]." [Note: Peter's accent gave him away. See Matt. 26:73].

But Pilate, turning to the Chief Priests and the people, said: "I do not see anything to find fault with in this man."

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was of a long time desirous to see him, because he had heard concerning him; and he hoped to see some miracle done by him.