Luke 16

THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST MANAGER

16Now he said to the disciples, “There was a rich^m man who received an accusation that his managerⁿ was squandering^o his possessions. ²So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, ^pbecause you can no longer be my manager.’

³“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵“So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one.

⁶“ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁷“Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’

“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’

⁸“The master praised the unrighteous manager^q because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age^r are more shrewd than the children of light^s in dealing with their own people.^{A 9}And I tell you, make friends^t for yourselves by means of worldly wealth^u so that when it fails,^I they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. ¹⁰Whoever is faithful^v in very little^w is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No^x servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate^y one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

KINGDOM VALUES

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money,^z were listening to all these things and scoffing^aa at him. ¹⁵And he told them, “You are the ones who justify^ab yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.^ac For what is highly admired by people is revolting^ad in God’s sight.

¹⁶“The^ae Law and the Prophets^af were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God^ag has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.^{C 17}But it is easier^a for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

¹⁸“Everyone^b who divorces^c his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,^d and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

¹⁹“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen,^e feasting lavishly every day. ²⁰But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.^{f 21}He longed to be filled^g with what fell from the rich man’s table,^h but instead the dogsⁱ would come and lick his sores. ²²One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side.^j The rich man also died and was buried. ²³And being in torment^k in Hades,^l he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. ²⁴‘Father Abraham!’^m he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agonyⁿ in this flame!’

²⁵“ ‘Son,’^A Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things,^o just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here,^p while you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

²⁷“ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—²⁸because I have five brothers—to warn ^qthem, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; ^rthey should listen to them.’

³⁰“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”^s