| Chapter 17 |
1 |
Jesus said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that causes of stumbling should come; but alas for him through whom they come! |
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It would be well for him if, with a millstone round his neck, he were lying at the bottom of the sea, rather than that he should cause even one of these little ones to fall. |
3 |
Be on your guard. "If your brother acts wrongly, reprove him; and if he is sorry, forgive him; |
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and if seven times in a day he acts wrongly towards you, and seven times turns again to you and says, `I am sorry,' you must forgive him." |
5 |
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith." |
6 |
"If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed, you might command this black-mulberry-tree, `Tear up your roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey you. |
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But which of you who has a servant ploughing, or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the farm, `Come at once and take your place at table,' |
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and will not rather say to him, `Get my dinner ready, make yourself tidy, and wait upon me till I have finished my dinner, and then you shall have yours'? |
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Does he thank the servant for obeying his orders? |
10 |
So you also, when you have obeyed all the orders given you, must say, "`There is no merit in our service: what we have done is only what we were in duty bound to do.'" |
11 |
As they pursued their journey to Jerusalem, He passed through Samaria and Galilee. |
12 |
And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him who were lepers and stood at a distance. |
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In loud voices they cried out, "Jesus, Rabbi, take pity on us." |
14 |
Perceiving this, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the Priests." And while on their way to do this they were made clean. |
15 |
One of them, seeing that he was cured, came back, adoring and praising God in a loud voice, |
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and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, thanking Him. He was a Samaritan. |
17 |
"Were not all ten made clean?" Jesus asked; "but where are the nine? |
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Have none been found to come back and give glory to God except this foreigner?" |
19 |
And He said to him, "Rise and go: your faith has cured you." |
20 |
Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, He answered, "The Kingdom of God does not so come that you can stealthily watch for it. |
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Nor will they say, `See here!' or `See there!' --for the Kingdom of God is within you." |
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Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the days of the Son of Man, but will not see one. |
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And they will say to you, `See there!' `See here!' Do not start off and go in pursuit. |
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For just as the lightning, when it flashes, shines from one part of the horizon to the opposite part, so will the Son of Man be on His day. |
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But first He must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the present generation. |
26 |
"And as it was in the time of Noah, so will it also be in the time of the Son of Man. |
27 |
Men were eating and drinking, taking wives and giving wives, up to the very day on which Noah entered the Ark, and the Deluge came and destroyed them all. |
28 |
The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building; |
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but on the day that Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from the sky and destroyed them all. |
30 |
Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted from the Son of Man. |
31 |
"On that day, if a man is on the roof and his property indoors, let him not go down to fetch it; and, in the same way, he who is in the field, let him not turn back. |
32 |
Remember Lot's wife. |
33 |
Any man who makes it his object to keep his own life safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it. |
34 |
On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in one bed: one will be taken away and the other left behind. |
35 |
There will be two women turning the mill together: one will be taken away and the other left behind." |
36 |
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37 |
"Where, Master?" they inquired. "Where the dead body is," He replied, "there also will the vultures flock together." |