6. And he told this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
7. So he said to the gardener, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find any. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?’
8. But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on it.
9. And if indeed it produces fruit in the coming year, so much the better, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
10. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11. And behold, a woman was there who had a spirit that had disabled her for eighteen years, and she was bent over and not able to straighten herself up completely.
12. And when he saw her, Jesus summoned her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability!”
13. And he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and glorified God.
14. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, answered and said to the crowd, “There are six days on which it is necessary to work. Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the day of the Sabbath!”
15. But the Lord answered and said to him, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you untie his ox or his donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it away to water it?
16. And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound eighteen long years—is it not necessary that she be released from this bond on the day of the Sabbath?”
17. And when he said these things, all those who opposed him were humiliated, and the whole crowd was rejoicing at all the splendid things that were being done by him.
18. Therefore he said, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?
19. It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”
20. And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
21. It is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
22. And he was going throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his journey toward Jerusalem.