Luke 13:6-9

Jesus' story about a fig tree that has no fruit

6 Then Jesus told this story. ‘A man had a garden where he grew fruit. He had planted a fig tree there. But when he came to look for fruit on it, he could not find any. 7 So he said to his gardener, “Look, for three years, I have hoped to find fruit on this tree. But I have never found any. So cut the tree down! I do not think that it should be here. It is wasting the ground.”

8 The gardener replied, “Master, please leave the tree in the ground for one more year. Let me dig around it and let me put some good soil there. 9 If I do that, next year, the fig tree may have some fruit on it. If it does not, I will cut it down for you.” ’