Luke 13:1-12

¹Some people who were listening to Jesus at that time told him about some people from Galilee district who had gone to Jerusalem. Pilate, the Roman governor, had ordered soldiers to kill them MTY while they were offering sacrifices in the Temple there.

²Jesus replied to them, “Do you think that this happened to those people from Galilee because they were more sinful than all the other people from Galilee?

³I assure you, that was not so! But instead of being concerned about them, you need to remember that God will similarly punish you eternally if you do not turn away from your sinful behavior.

⁴Or, consider the eighteen people who died when the tower at Siloam outside Jerusalem fell on them. Do you think that this happened to them because they were more sinful than all the other people who lived in Jerusalem?

⁵I assure you, that was not so! But instead, you need to realize that God will similarly punish you eternally if you do not stop your sinful behavior!”

⁶Then Jesus told them this illustration to show what God would do to the Jews, whom he continually blessed, but who did not do things that please him: “A man planted a fig tree on his farmland. ◄ Each year/Many times► he came to it looking for figs, but there were no figs.

⁷Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here ! I have been looking for fruit on this fig tree every year for the past three years, but there have been no figs. Cut it down! ◄It is just using up the nutrients in the soil for nothing!/Why should it continue using up the nutrients in the soil for nothing?► RHQ’

⁸But the gardener replied to the owner, ‘Sir, leave it here for another year. I will dig around it and put manure around it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year, we (inc) will allow it to keep growing. If it does not bear fruit next year, you (sg) can cut it down.’”

¹⁰One ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►, Jesus was teaching people in one of the Jewish meeting places.

¹¹There was a woman there whom an evil spirit MTY had crippled for eighteen years. She was always bent over; she could not stand up straight.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called her over to him. He said to her, “Woman, I am freeing you (sg) from your illness!”