Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Who Is the Greatest?
(Mark 9.33–37; Luke 9.46–48)
1 At that time the disciples
came to Jesus, asking, “Who
is the greatest in the Kingdom of
heaven?” note
-- --
2 So Jesus called a child, had him
stand in front of them,
3 and said, “I
assure you that unless you change
and become like children, you will
never enter the Kingdom of heaven. note
4 The greatest in the Kingdom of
heaven is the one who humbles himself
and becomes like this child.
5 And whoever welcomes in my
name one such child as this, welcomes
me.
Temptations to Sin
(Mark 9.42–48; Luke 17.1–2)
6 “If anyone should cause one of
these little ones to lose his faith in
me, it would be better for that person
to have a large millstone tied
around his neck and be drowned in
the deep sea.
7 How terrible for the
world that there are things that
make people lose their faith! Such
things will always happen—but how
terrible for the one who causes
them!
8 “If your hand or your foot
makes you lose your faith, cut if off
and throw it away! It is better for
you to enter life without a hand or a
foot than to keep both hands and
both feet and be thrown into the
eternal fire. note
9 And if your eye makes
you lose your faith, take it out and
throw it away! It is better for you to
enter life with only one eye than to
keep both eyes and be thrown into
the fire of hell. note
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
(Luke 15.3–7)
10 “See that you don't despise any
of these little ones. Their angels in
heaven, I tell you, are always in the
presence of my Father in heaven. note note note
12 “What do you think a man does
who has one hundred sheep and one
of them gets lost? He will leave the
other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside
and go and look for the lost
sheep.
13 When he finds it, I tell you,
he feels far happier over this one
sheep than over the ninety-nine that
did not get lost.
14 In just the same
way your note Father in heaven does
not want any of these little ones to
be lost.
A Brother Who Sins
15 “If your brother sins against
you, note go to him and show him his
fault. But do it privately, just between
yourselves. If he listens to
you, you have won your brother
back. note
16 But if he will not listen to
you, take one or two other persons
with you, so that ‘every accusation
may be upheld by the testimony of
two or more witnesses,’ as the scripture
-- --
says. note
17 And if he will not listen
to them, then tell the whole thing to
the church. Finally, if he will not listen
to the church, treat him as
though he were a pagan or a tax collector.
Prohibiting and Permitting
18 “And so I tell all of you: what
you prohibit on earth will be prohibited
in heaven, and what you permit
on earth will be permitted in heaven. note
19 “And I tell you more: whenever
two of you on earth agree about anything
you pray for, it will be done for
you by my Father in heaven.
20 For
where two or three come together in
my name, I am there with them.”
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and
asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on
sinning against me, how many times
do I have to forgive him? Seven
times?”
22 “No, not seven times,” answered
Jesus, “but seventy times seven, note
23 because the Kingdom of heaven is
like this. Once there was a king who
decided to check on his servants' accounts.
24 He had just begun to do so
when one of them was brought in
who owed him millions of dollars.
25 The servant did not have enough
to pay his debt, so the king ordered
him to be sold as a slave, with his
wife and his children and all that he
had, in order to pay the debt.
26 The
servant fell on his knees before the
king. ‘Be patient with me,’ he
begged, ‘and I will pay you everything!’
27 The king felt sorry for him,
so he forgave him the debt and let
him go.
28 “Then the man went out and
met one of his fellow servants who
owed him a few dollars. He grabbed
him and started choking him. ‘Pay
back what you owe me!’ he said.
29 His fellow servant fell down and
begged him, ‘Be patient with me,
and I will pay you back!’
30 But he
refused; instead, he had him thrown
into jail until he should pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what
had happened, they were very upset
and went to the king and told him
everything.
32 So he called the
servant in. ‘You worthless slave!’
he said. ‘I forgave you the whole
amount you owed me, just because
you asked me to.
33 You should have
had mercy on your fellow servant,
just as I had mercy on you.’
34 The
king was very angry, and he sent the
servant to jail to be punished until
he should pay back the whole
amount.”
35 And Jesus concluded, “That is
how my Father in heaven will treat
every one of you unless you forgive
your brother from your heart.”
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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