Luke 17

Warnings from Jesus

1 He said to His disciples, "Offenses ^[a] will certainly come, ^[b] but woe to the one they come through!

2 It would be better for him if a millstone ^[c] were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

3 Be on your guard. If your brother sins, ^[d] rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Faith and Duty

5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

6 "If you have faith the size of ^[e] a mustard seed," the Lord said, "you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

7 "Which one of you having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?

8 Instead, will he not tell him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, ^[f] and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink'?

9 Does he thank that slave because he did what was commanded? ^[g]

10 In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, 'We are good-for-nothing slaves; we've only done our duty.' "

The 10 Lepers

11 While traveling to Jerusalem, He passed between^[h] Samaria and Galilee.

12 As He entered a village, 10 men with serious skin diseases met Him. They stood at a distance

13 and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

14 When He saw them, He told them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And while they were going, they were healed.^[i]

15 But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.

16 He fell facedown at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan.

17 Then Jesus said, "Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine?

18 Didn't any return ^[j] to give glory to God except this foreigner?"

19 And He told him, "Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well." ^[k]

The Coming of the Kingdom

20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, He answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable;

21 no one will say, ^[l] 'Look here!' or 'There!' For you see, the kingdom of God is among you."

22 Then He told the disciples: "The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won't see it.

23 They will say to you, 'Look there!' or 'Look here!' Don't follow or run after them.

24 For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in His day.

25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man:

27 people went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: people went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.

29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.

30 It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

31 On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back.

32 Remember Lot's wife!

33 Whoever tries to make his life secure ^[m] ^[n] will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

34 I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other will be left.

35 Two women will be grinding grain together: one will be taken and the other left. [

36 Two will be in a field: one will be taken, and the other will be left."] ^[o]

37 "Where, Lord?" they asked Him. He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered."

PREVIOUS Luke 16 NEXT Luke 18

Luke 17 Commentary

Chapter 17

To avoid offences, To pray for increase of faith, Humility taught.11-19. Ten lepers cleansed. (1-10) Christ's kingdom. (20-37)

Verses 1-10 It is no abatement of their guilt by whom an offence comes, nor will it lessen their punishment that offences will come. Faith in God's pardoning mercy, will enable us to get over the greatest difficulties in the way of forgiving our brethren. As with God nothing is impossible, so all things are possible to him that can believe. Our Lord showed his disciples their need of deep humility. The Lord has such a property in every creature, as no man can have in another; he cannot be in debt to them for their services, nor do they deserve any return from him.

Verses 11-19 A sense of our spiritual leprosy should make us very humble whenever we draw near to Christ. It is enough to refer ourselves to the compassions of Christ, for they fail not. We may look for God to meet us with mercy, when we are found in the way of obedience. Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks. It becomes us, like him, to be very humble in thanksgivings, as well as in prayers. Christ noticed the one who thus distinguished himself, he was a Samaritan. The others only got the outward cure, he alone got the spiritual blessing.

Verses 20-37 The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.