Luke 19

1Jesus entered Jericho and was making his way through the town. 2A man named Zacchaeus lived there. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he could not see over the crowd, because he was a short man. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was going to come along that road. 5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is the day I have to stay in your home.” 6So he hurried down and gladly welcomed him. 7Everyone who saw it began to mutter and complain. “He has gone to be a guest at the house of a sinner!” they said. 8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Lord, see: half of what I own I am giving to the poor. And if I have taken anything from anyone by cheating, I am paying it back four times over.” 9Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household. This man too is one of Abraham’s sons. 10The Son of Man came to look for what was lost and to save it.”

11As they listened to this, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He did this because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear at once. 12So he said, “A man from a noble family traveled to a faraway country to be made king there, and then to come back home. 13Before he left, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas, one to each. ‘Put this money to work until I come back,’ he told them. 14But the people of his country hated him. They sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ 15He was made king and came back home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made by his trading. 16The first came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17‘Excellent, good servant!’ he replied. ‘You have been trustworthy in a very small matter, so you will have authority over ten cities.’ 18The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ 19To him too he said, ‘You will be over five cities.’ 20Then another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I kept it put away in a piece of cloth. 21I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take out what you never put in, and you harvest what you never planted.’ 22He answered, ‘Your own words condemn you, you wicked servant! So you knew that I am a severe man, taking out what I never put in and harvesting what I never planted? 23Then why did you not put my money in the bank? Then when I came back, I would have collected it with interest.’ 24Then he said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten.’ 25‘Master,’ they said, ‘he has ten minas already!’ 26‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more. But the one who has nothing will lose even what they have. 27As for these enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence.’”

28After saying this, Jesus went on ahead of them, going up to Jerusalem.

29As he came near Bethphage and Bethany, by the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent off two of the disciples. 30“Go to the village ahead of you,” he told them. “As you go into it, you will find a young donkey tied there, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell them, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32Those who had been sent went off and found things just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the young donkey, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the donkey?” 34They answered, “The Lord needs it.” 35They brought the donkey to Jesus, threw their cloaks over it, and helped Jesus get on. 36As he rode along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37As he came close to the city, where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his disciples began to praise God joyfully and loudly for all the mighty deeds they had seen. 38They shouted, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” 39Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop!” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these people were silent, the very stones would shout.”

41When he came nearer and saw the city, he wept over it. 42“If only you too had known on this day the things that lead to peace!” he said. “But now they are hidden from your sight. 43For a time is coming for you when your enemies will build a siege wall against you. They will encircle you and press in on you from all sides. 44They will level you to the ground, you and your children inside you. They will leave no stone on top of another within you, because you did not recognize the time when God came to visit you.”

45Then Jesus went into the temple and began to throw out the people who were selling there. 46He said to them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have turned it into a hideout for robbers.”

47Every day he taught in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes wanted to kill him, and so did the leaders of the people. 48But they could find no way to do it, because all the people clung to him, listening to every word.