Luke 12 (New American Standard)

God Knows and Cares

1 Under these circumstances, after ^aso many thousands of ^bpeople had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, "¹ Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. . 2 "²But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have ^cwhispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon ³the housetops. 4 "I say to you, ⁴My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 5 "But I will ^dwarn you whom to fear : ⁵fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into ^e6hell ; yes, I tell you, fear Him! 6 "Are not ⁷five sparrows sold for two ^fcents ? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 "⁸Indeed , the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear ; you are more valuable than many sparrows. 8 "And I say to you, everyone who ⁹confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God ; 9 but ¹⁰he who denies Me before men will be denied ¹¹before the angels of God. 10 "¹²And everyone who ^gspeaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. 11 "When they bring you before ¹³the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not ¹⁴worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say ; 12 for ¹⁵the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

Covetousness Denounced

13 Someone ^hin the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But He said to him, "¹⁶Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15 Then He said to them, "¹⁷Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed ; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." 16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops ?' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I will do : I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, ¹⁸you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, '¹⁹You fool ! This very night ⁱ²⁰your soul is required of you; and ²¹now who will own what you have prepared ?' 21 "So is the man who ²²stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." 22 And He said to His disciples, "²³For this reason I say to you, ^jdo not worry about your ^klife, as to what you will eat ; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 23 "For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 "Consider the ²⁴ravens, for they neither sow nor reap ; they have no storeroom nor ²⁵barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds ! 25 "And which of you by worrying can add a single ^l26hour to his ^mlife's span ? 26 "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters ? 27 "Consider the lilies, how they grow : they neither toil nor spin ; but I tell you, not even ²⁷Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 28 "But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? ²⁸You men of little faith ! 29 "And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not ²⁹keep worrying. 30 "For ⁿall these things the nations of the world eagerly seek ; but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 "But seek His kingdom, and ³⁰these things will be added to you. 32 "³¹Do not be afraid, ³²little flock, for ³³your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 33 "³⁴Sell your possessions and give to charity ; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, ³⁵an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 "For ³⁶where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Be in Readiness

35 "^o37Be dressed in ³⁸readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36 "Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find ³⁹on the alert when he comes ; truly I say to you, that ⁴⁰he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 "⁴¹Whether he comes in the ^psecond watch, or even in the ^qthird, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 "⁴²But ^rbe sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be ^s43broken into. 40 "⁴⁴You too, be ready ; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not ^texpect." 41 Peter said, "Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or ⁴⁵to everyone else as well ?" 42 And ⁴⁶the Lord said, "⁴⁷Who then is the faithful and sensible ⁴⁸steward, whom his master will put in charge of his ^uservants, to give them their rations at the proper time ? 43 "Blessed is that ⁴⁹slave whom his ^vmaster finds so doing when he comes. 44 "Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 "But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master ^wwill be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves , both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk ; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 "And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will ⁵⁰receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not ⁵¹know it, and committed deeds worthy of ^xa flogging, will receive but few. ⁵²From everyone who has been given much, much will be required ; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Christ Divides Men

49 "I ^yhave come to cast fire upon the earth ; and ^zhow I wish it were already kindled ! 50 "But I have a ⁵³baptism to ^aaundergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished ! 51 "⁵⁴Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth ? I tell you, no, but rather division ; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 "They will be divided, ⁵⁵father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." 54 And He was also saying to the crowds, "⁵⁶When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out. 55 "And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a ⁵⁷hot day,' and it turns out that way. 56 "You hypocrites ! ⁵⁸You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but ^bbwhy do you not analyze this present time ? 57 "And ⁵⁹why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right ? 58 "For ⁶⁰while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to ^ccsettle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 "I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last ^dd61cent."