Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Luke 17
Stumbling, Forgiveness, and Faith
Jesus said to his disciples, “It is impossible for causes of stumbling not to come, but woe to the person through whom they come! It would be better for that person if a millstone were hung around the neck and they were thrown into the sea than for them to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times return to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say when the servant comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and recline at the table’? Will you not instead say, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, fasten your belt, and serve me until I eat and drink; afterward you may eat and drink’? Does the master thank the servant because the servant did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, say, ‘We are servants without a claim; we have done what we ought to have done.’”
Ten Are Cleansed; One Returns
As Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with skin diseases met him. They stood at a distance and called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell facedown at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” He said to the man, “Get up and go. Your faith has saved you.”
The Kingdom and the Son of Man
The Pharisees asked Jesus when God’s kingdom was coming. He answered, “God’s kingdom does not come with observable signs, nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There!’ For look—God’s kingdom is in your midst.” Then he said to the disciples, “Days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. People will tell you, ‘Look there!’ or, ‘Look here!’ Do not go out or follow them. Just as lightning flashes and lights the sky from one side to the other, so the Son of Man will be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it happened in Noah’s days, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in Lot’s days: people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop whose possessions are in the house must not go down to get them, and anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses it will keep it alive. I tell you, that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.” They asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said, “Where the body is, there the vultures will gather.”