Luke 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through the city.

There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and very wealthy.

He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he couldn't because of the crowd — he was too short.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was about to pass that way.

When Jesus reached that spot, he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down right now. I need to stay at your house today."

Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with excitement.

When the crowd saw this, they all started grumbling. "He's gone to be the guest of a man who has failed everyone," they said.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord — I'm giving half of everything I own to the poor right now. And if I've cheated anyone out of anything, I'm paying them back four times over."

Jesus said to him, "Today rescue has come to this household, because this man too is a son of Abraham."

Because the Son of Man came to find and rescue people who are lost."

While they were listening to this, Jesus told them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they assumed God's kingdom was about to appear at any moment.

So he said, "A man from a noble family traveled to a distant country to be appointed king and then return.

He called ten of his servants and gave them each a mina — about four months' wages. 'Put this money to work until I come back,' he told them.

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be king over us.'

But he was appointed king and returned. Then he summoned the servants he had given the money to, so he could find out what they had earned with it.

The first one came forward and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more minas.'

'Well done!' the king said. 'You've been trustworthy with something small, so take charge of ten cities.'

The second one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has made five more minas.'

The king told him, 'You take charge of five cities.'

Then another one came and said, 'Sir, here's your mina. I kept it wrapped up in a cloth.

I was afraid of you because you're a hard man. You take out what you didn't put in, and you harvest what you didn't plant.'

The king replied, 'I'll judge you by your own words, you worthless servant. So you knew I was a hard man, taking out what I didn't put in and harvesting what I didn't plant?

Then why didn't you at least put my money in the bank? That way I could have collected it with interest when I got back.'

Then he said to those standing nearby, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'

'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten minas!'

'I'm telling you,' he replied, 'everyone who has something will be given more. But the one who has nothing — even what they have will be taken away.

And as for those enemies of mine who didn't want me to be king — bring them here and execute them in front of me.'"

After saying this, Jesus went on ahead, heading up toward Jerusalem.

As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his students ahead.

"Go into the village ahead of you," he told them. "As you enter it, you'll find a young donkey tied up that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say, 'The Lord needs it.'"

The two he sent went and found everything exactly as he had told them.

As they were untying the young donkey, its owners asked, "Why are you untying the donkey?"

They answered, "The Lord needs it."

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the donkey, and helped Jesus onto it.

As he rode along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

As he came near the downhill path from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his students began to celebrate and praise God with loud voices for all the powerful things they had seen.

They were shouting, "The king who comes in the name of the Lord — he is the one to be praised! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest places!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell your students to be quiet!"

He answered, "I'm telling you — if they kept quiet, the stones themselves would start shouting."

As he got close and saw the city, he broke down and cried over it.

"If only you had recognized today what would bring you peace! But now it's hidden from your eyes.

The days are coming when your enemies will build siege walls around you, surround you, and close in on you from every side.

They'll level you to the ground — you and your children within your walls. They won't leave one stone on top of another, because you didn't recognize the moment when God came to you."

Then Jesus entered the temple and began driving out the people who were selling things there.

"The Scriptures say, 'My house will be a house of prayer,'" he told them. "But you've turned it into a hideout for thieves."

He was teaching in the temple every day. The chief priests, the legal experts, and the leading citizens were trying to kill him,

but they couldn't figure out how to do it, because all the people hung on every word he said.