But they all began making excuses. One said,‘ I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’

众人一口同音地推辞。头一个说：‘我买了一块地，必须去看看。请你准我辞了。’

众人异口同声地推辞。头一个对他说：‘我买了一块地，必须去看看。请你准我辞了。’

众人异口同声地推辞。头一个对他说：‘我买了一块地，必须去看看。请你准我辞了。’

可是，他们都找借口推辞。头一个说，‘我刚买了一块田，必须去看一看，请恕我不能参加。’

众人一致推辞，头一个说：‘我买了一块地，不得不去看一看，请原谅我。’

“可是他们都开始一致地推辞。第一个说：‘我买了一块地，必须去看看，请你容我推辞吧。’

眾人一口同音地推辭。頭一個說：『我買了一塊地，必須去看看。請你准我辭了。』

眾人異口同聲地推辭。頭一個對他說：『我買了一塊地，必須去看看。請你准我辭了。』

眾人異口同聲地推辭。頭一個對他說：『我買了一塊地，必須去看看。請你准我辭了。』

可是，他們都找藉口推辭。頭一個說，『我剛買了一塊田，必須去看一看，請恕我不能參加。』

眾人一致推辭，頭一個說：‘我買了一塊地，不得不去看一看，請原諒我。’

大家就一樣地推辭。頭一個對他說：「我買了一塊田地，必須出去看看；求你准我辭。」

「可是他們都開始一致地推辭。第一個說：『我買了一塊地，必須去看看，請你容我推辭吧。』

眾辭之、如出一心、一人曰、我適購田、須往視之、請辭、

眾辭、如出一心、一人曰、我買田、須往視之、請辭、

眾辭如出一心、其一人曰、我適購田、欲往視之、請辭、

客同聲辭謝；首曰：「予置一地、必須往視、請辭。」

“ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said,‘ I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

“ But they all had the same idea. They began to make excuses. The first one said,‘ I have just bought a field. I have to go and see it. Please excuse me.’

But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him,‘ I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’

“ But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him,‘ I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him,‘ I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; please consider me excused.’

But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him,‘ I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused.

“ But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him,‘ I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

And they all with one[ consent] began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him,‘ I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’

They all as one began to make excuses.“ The first said to him,‘ I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’

When Jesus saw this, he said,“ How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!

But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.

They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

God has told his people,“ Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen.So the Lord will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say,“ We can’t read it because it is sealed.”When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say,“ We don’t know how to read.”

Then I said,“ But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the Lord. They don’t understand God’s laws.So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the Lord and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.

He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.

“ When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.“ And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business— eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.Yes, it will be‘ business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.

And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said,“ Your blood is upon your own heads— I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles.”

“ Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”They talked it over among themselves.“ If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John.

In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.

Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia.

But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared,“ It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles.

To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all.

Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.

And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul:“ The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,‘ Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

This is what the Lord says:“ Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply,‘ No, that’s not the road we want!’I posted watchmen over you who said,‘ Listen for the sound of the alarm.’ But you replied,‘ No! We won’t pay attention!’

But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.