and seeing a fig-tree on the road-side He went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. "On you," He said, "no fruit shall ever again grow." And immediately the fig-tree withered away.

When the disciples saw it they exclaimed in astonishment, "How instantaneously the fig-tree has withered away!"

"I solemnly tell you," said Jesus, "that if you have an unwavering faith, you shall not only perform such a miracle as this of the fig-tree, but that even if you say to this mountain, 'Be thou lifted up and hurled into the sea,' it shall be done;

"Now learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branches have now become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you all know that summer is near.

But in the distance He saw a fig-tree in full leaf, and went to see whether perhaps He could find some figs on it. When however He came to it, He found nothing but leaves (for it was not fig time)

In the early morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree withered to the roots;

and Peter, recollecting, said to Him, "Look, Rabbi, the fig-tree which you cursed is withered up."

"Learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branch has become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you know that summer is near.

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.

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?'

And He spoke a parable to them. "See," He said, "the fig-tree and all the trees.

"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. "Before Philip called you," said Jesus, "when you were under the fig-tree I saw you."

"Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig-tree,'" replied Jesus, "do you believe? You shall see greater things than that."

Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.

The stars in the sky also fell to the earth, as when a fig-tree, upon being shaken by a gale of wind, casts its unripe figs to the ground.