“To what then should I compare the people ¹  of this generation, and what are they like?

Thus Jesus ¹  asked, ²  “What is the kingdom of God ³  like? ⁴  To ⁵  what should I compare it?

Again ¹  he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? ² 

“Salt ¹  is good, but if salt loses its flavor, ²  how can its flavor be restored?

if ¹  we are being examined ²  today for a good deed ³  done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed ⁴  –

So ¹  Peter ²  stayed many days in Joppa with a man named ³  Simon, a tanner. ⁴ 

This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner, ¹  whose house is by the sea.”

Therefore when you sent for me, ¹  I came without any objection. Now may I ask why ²  you sent for me?”

He also asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to present it?

“A certain creditor ¹  had two debtors; one owed him ²  five hundred silver coins, ³  and the other fifty.

He said, ¹  “In a certain city ²  there was a judge ³  who neither feared God nor respected people. ⁴ 

and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.

See to it, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that none of you has ³  an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes ⁴  the living God. ⁵ 

“To ¹  what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, ² 

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons ¹  cast them ²  out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Salt ¹  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ²  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

“Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and puts them into practice ¹  – I will show you what he is like:

Now if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons ¹  cast them ²  out? Therefore they will be your judges.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹  will be demanded back from ²  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ³ 

so that the word ¹  of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled. He said, ²  “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord ³  been revealed?” ⁴