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."

Footnotes 15

  • [a]. Or Traps, or Bait-sticks, or Causes of stumbling, or Causes of sin
  • [b]. Lit It is impossible for offenses not to come
  • [c]. Large stone used for grinding grains into flour
  • [d]. Other mss add against you
  • [e]. Lit faith like
  • [f]. Lit eat, tuck in your robe, or eat, gird yourself
  • [g]. Other mss add I don't think so
  • [h]. Or through the middle of
  • [i]. Lit cleansed
  • [j]. Lit Were they not found returning
  • [k]. Or faith has saved you
  • [l]. Lit they will not say
  • [m]. Other mss read to save his life
  • [n]. Or tries to retain his life
  • [o]. Other mss omit bracketed text

Luke 17 Commentaries

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.