9. it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”
10. He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
11. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
12. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
13. He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
14. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”
15. The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?
16. This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”
17. When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
18. Then he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?
19. It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’”
20. Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
21. It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed [in] with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
22. He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.