Luke 16:1-31 (New American Standard)

The Unrighteous Steward

1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was ^areported to him as ¹squandering his possessions. 2 "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.' 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my ^bmaster is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ; I am ashamed to beg. 4 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.' 5 "And he summoned each one of his ^cmaster's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master ?' 6 "And he said, 'A hundred ^dmeasures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' 7 "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe ?' And he said, 'A hundred ^emeasures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' 8 "And his ^fmaster praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly ; for the sons of ²this age are more shrewd in relation to their own ^gkind than the ³sons of light. 9 "And I say to you, ⁴make friends for yourselves by means of the ^h5wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, ⁶they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. 10 "⁷He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much ; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous ⁱ⁸wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 "⁹No ^jservant can serve two masters ; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^k10wealth." 14 Now the Pharisees, who were ¹¹lovers of money, were listening to all these things and ¹²were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, "You are those who ¹³justify yourselves ^lin the sight of men, but ¹⁴God knows your hearts ; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable ^min the sight of God. 16 "¹⁵The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John ; since that time ¹⁶the gospel of the kingdom of God ⁿhas been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 "¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one ^ostroke of a letter of the Law to fail. 18 "¹⁸Everyone who ^pdivorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is ^qdivorced from a husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 "Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 "And a poor man named Lazarus ¹⁹was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table ; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to ²⁰Abraham's bosom ; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "In ²¹Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "And he cried out and said, '²²Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in ²³this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that ²⁴during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things ; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 'And ^rbesides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' 27 "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house - 28 for I have five brothers -in order that he may ²⁵warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29 "But Abraham said, 'They have ²⁶Moses and the Prophets ; let them hear them.' 30 "But he said, 'No, ²⁷father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent !' 31 "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.' "