Luke 12:8–34

⁸‘And I say to you, Every one—whoever may confess with me before men, the Son of Man also shall confess with him before the messengers of God, ⁹and he who hath denied me before men, shall be denied before the messengers of God, ¹⁰and every one whoever shall say a word to the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven to him, but to him who to the Holy Spirit did speak evil, it shall not be forgiven.

¹¹‘And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what ye may reply, or what ye may say, ¹²for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that hour what it behoveth you to say.’

¹³And a certain one said to him, out of the multitude, ‘Teacher, say to my brother to divide with me the inheritance.’ ¹⁴And he said to him, ‘Man, who set me a judge or a divider over you?’ ¹⁵And he said unto them, ‘Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one’s goods is his life.’ ¹⁶And he spake a simile unto them, saying, ‘Of a certain rich man the field brought forth well; ¹⁷and he was reasoning within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where I shall gather together my fruits? ¹⁸and he said, This I will do, I will take down my storehouses, and greater ones I will build, and I will gather together there all my products and my good things, ¹⁹and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years, be resting, eat, drink, be merry.

²⁰‘And God said to him, Unthinking one! this night thy soul they shall require from thee, and what things thou didst prepare—to whom shall they be? ²¹so is he who is treasuring up to himself, and is not rich toward God.’

²²And he said unto his disciples, ‘Because of this, to you I say, Be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat; nor for the body, what ye may put on; ²³the life is more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing.

²⁴‘Consider the ravens, that they sow not, nor reap, to which there is no barn nor storehouse, and God doth nourish them; how much better are ye than the fowls? ²⁵and who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit? ²⁶If, then, ye are not able for the least—why for the rest are ye anxious?

²⁷‘Consider the lilies, how do they grow? they labour not, nor do they spin, and I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these; ²⁸and if the herbage in the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow into an oven is cast, God doth so clothe, how much more you—ye of little faith?

²⁹‘And ye—seek not what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, and be not in suspense, ³⁰for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father hath known that ye have need of these things; ³¹but, seek ye the reign of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

³²‘Fear not, little flock, because your Father did delight to give you the reign; ³³sell your goods, and give alms, make to yourselves bags that become not old, a treasure unfailing in the heavens, where thief doth not come near, nor moth destroy; ³⁴for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.