Luke 19

Zacchaeus meets Jesus

1 Jesus went into Jericho and he was walking through the city. 2 There was a man there called Zacchaeus. He was a leader of the men who took taxes from people. He had become very rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was. There was a big crowd there and he was a small man. So he could not see Jesus. 4 He ran on in front of the crowd and he climbed up a fig tree. He could see Jesus more easily from the tree, because Jesus would walk along that way. 5 When Jesus came to the tree, he looked up at Zacchaeus. He said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly. Today I must stay in your home.’

6 So Zacchaeus came down immediately and took Jesus into his home. He was very happy about this. 7 The people saw what had happened. They were not happy and they were saying, ‘Jesus has gone to stay in the home of a man who does bad things.’

8 Zacchaeus stood up in front of everyone. He said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Listen, Master! I will give half of all the things that I have to poor people. I may have cheated some people. If so, I will give back four times as much money as I took from them.’

9 Jesus said to him, ‘Today God has saved people in this home. Now Zacchaeus also belongs to the true family of Abraham. 10 I, the Son of Man, came to look for people who are far away from God. They are in danger and I have come to save them.’

Jesus' story about a man's 10 servants

11 While the people were still listening, Jesus told them a story. He did this because the people had wrong thoughts about the kingdom of God. Jesus was now getting near to Jerusalem. So the people with him were thinking that God's kingdom would soon come.

12 Jesus said to them, ‘An important man left his home and he travelled a long way to another country. He went there to receive authority to rule his own country. After that, he would return home and he would be king. 13 Before he left, he asked ten of his servants to come to him. He gave each of them ten bags of silver coins. He told them, “Use this money to get more money for me while I am away.”

14 But the people who lived in this man's country did not like him. So they sent some of their people to the foreign country with a message. They said, “We do not want this man to rule as king over us.”

15 Then the man returned home and he was now their king. He asked his ten servants who had received the money to come to him. He wanted to know how they had used the money and how much more money they had now.

16 The first servant came to him and said, “Master, your money has produced ten more bags of silver coins for you.” 17 The king was happy and said to his servant, “You have done well. You are a good servant that I can trust. You have used a small amount of money well. So now you will rule over ten cities.”

18 The second servant came and he said, “Master, your money has made five more bags of silver coins.” 19 The king replied, “You will rule over five cities.”

20 Then another servant came. He said, “Master, here is your money. I put it away in a piece of cloth to keep it safe. 21 I did this because I was afraid of you. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take things that do not belong to you. You take food from fields where you did not plant any seed.”

22 The king replied, “You are a very bad servant! I will use your own words to show you that you have done the wrong thing. You say that I tell people what they should do all the time. You say that I take things that do not belong to me. You say that I take food from fields where I did not plant any seed. If you know all that about me, 23 you should have put my money into the bank. Then, when I came home, I would have received my money back, with some extra money.”

24 Some other servants were standing near to their master. He said to them, “Take the money from this bad servant. Give it to the servant who has 10 bags of silver coins.” 25 But they replied, “Master, that servant already has ten bags of money.”

26 The king said, “Let me tell you this. Some people have received good things. They will all receive more. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 27 Now I must punish these other people who did not want me to rule over them. Bring them here and kill them in front of me.” ’

Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem

28 When Jesus had said all this, he went on in front of them. He was going towards Jerusalem. 29 He was getting near to two villages called Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further. 30 He told them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will find a young donkey that someone has tied there. Nobody has yet ridden on it. Undo the rope and bring the donkey here to me. 31 Someone may ask you, “Why are you taking the donkey?” Then say to them, “The Master needs it.” ’

32 The two disciples went into the village. They saw everything there that Jesus had told them about. 33 While they were taking the young donkey, some men spoke to them. The donkey belonged to them. They asked the disciples, ‘Why are you taking the donkey?’

34 The disciples replied, ‘The Master needs it.’

35 They brought the donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on its back. Then they helped Jesus to sit on it. 36 While he was riding along, the people were putting their coats down on the road in front of him.

37 Jesus came to the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of his disciples were very happy. They began to praise God with loud voices. They thanked him for all the great things that they had seen. 38 They said:

‘May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority!

May everything be well in heaven!

We praise our great God above!’

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, stop your disciples from saying these things.’

40 Jesus replied, ‘Let me tell you this. If these people were quiet, the stones of the city would shout out instead!’

Jesus weeps for Jerusalem and its people

41 When Jesus got near to Jerusalem, he looked at the city. He cried because he felt very sorry for the people in it. 42 He said, ‘You needed to know what would really help you. Then you could have lived in peace. But now you are unable to understand properly. 43 As a result, days of trouble will come to you. Your enemies will build a wall around the city. They will shut you in completely and they will not let you leave. 44 So your enemies will knock you down. They will completely destroy your city and all the people who live in it. They will not leave even one stone on top of another stone. You did not understand that God had come to save you at this time. That is why these bad things will happen to you.’

Jesus teaches in the temple

45 Jesus went into the yard of the temple. Some people were selling things there. He began to make them all leave that place. 46 He said to them, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people come to pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’

47 Jesus was teaching every day in the temple. The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law wanted to kill him. Some other important people also wanted to kill him. 48 But all the people were listening to Jesus very carefully. They wanted to hear everything that he was saying. So those leaders did not know how they could kill him.