44
"Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
45
"But if that slavesays in his heart, 'My master will be a longtime in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves*, both men and women, and to eat and drink and getdrunk;
46
the master of that slave will come on a daywhen 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'swill and did not getreadyoract in accord with his will, will1receivemanylashes,
48
but the one who did not 2know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. 3From everyonewho has been givenmuch, much will be required; and to whom they entrustedmuch, of him they will askall the more.
Christ Divides Men
49"I have come to castfire upon the earth; and how I wish it were alreadykindled!
50
"But I have a 4baptism to undergo, and howdistressed I am until it is accomplished!
51
"5Do you suppose that I came to grantpeace on earth? I tell you, no, but ratherdivision;
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for from now on five members in onehousehold will be divided, threeagainsttwo and twoagainstthree.
53
"They will be divided, 6fatheragainstson and sonagainstfather, motheragainstdaughter and daughteragainstmother, mother-in-lawagainstdaughter-in-law and daughter-in-lawagainstmother-in-law."
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And He was alsosaying to the crowds, "7When you see a cloudrising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.