Matthew 19:16–30

The Rich Young Man

¹⁶Once a man came to Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?”

¹⁷“Why do you ask me concerning what is good?” answered Jesus. “There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.”

^18*“What commandments?” he asked.

Jesus answered, “Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; ^19*respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

²⁰“I have obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else do I need to do?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.”

²²When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.

²³Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. ²⁴I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked.

²⁶Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible.”

²⁷Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?”

^28*Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. ^30*But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.