The Coming of the Kingdom of God^(A)

²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,^(B) Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’^(C) because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”^[a]

²² Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,^(D) but you will not see it.^{(E) 23} People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.^{(F) 24} For the Son of Man in his day^[b] will be like the lightning,^(G) which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. ²⁵ But first he must suffer many things^(H) and be rejected^(I) by this generation.^(J)

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah,^(K) so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ “It was the same in the days of Lot.^(L) People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.^{(M) 31} On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.^{(N) 32} Remember Lot’s wife!^{(O) 33} Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.^{(P) 34} I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”^{(Q) [36] [c]}

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked.

He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”^(R)

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.^{(S) 2} He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice^(T) against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”^(U)

⁶ And the Lord^(V) said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out^(W) to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man^(X) comes,^(Y) will he find faith on the earth?”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness^(Z) and looked down on everyone else,^(AA) Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray,^(AB) one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(AC) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast^(AD) twice a week and give a tenth^(AE) of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(AF) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(AG)

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(AH)