Luke 12:13-34

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 ¹Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. ”

14 But he said to him, ²“Man, ³who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? ”

15 And he said to them, ⁴“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. ”

16 And he told them a parable, saying, ⁵“The land of a rich man produced plentifully,

17 and he thought to himself, ⁶‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? ’

18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my ⁷barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up ⁸for many years; relax, ⁹eat, drink, be merry. ”’

20 But God said to him, ¹⁰‘Fool! ¹¹This night ¹²your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, ¹³whose will they be? ’

21 So is the one ¹⁴who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. ”

Do Not Be Anxious

22 And he said to his disciples, ¹⁵“Therefore I tell you, ¹⁶do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

24 ¹⁷Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. ¹⁸Of how much more value are you than the birds!

25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ¹⁹span of life? ^[a]

26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ^[b] yet I tell you, ²⁰even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, ²¹O you of little faith!

29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor ²²be worried.

30 For ²³all the nations of the world seek after these things, and ²⁴your Father knows that you need them.

31 Instead, ²⁵seek ²⁶his^[c] kingdom, ²⁷and these things will be added to you.

32 ²⁸“Fear not, little ²⁹flock, for ³⁰it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you ³¹the kingdom.

33 ³²Sell your possessions, and ³³give to the needy. ³⁴Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with ³⁵a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

34 ³⁶For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Cross References

• 1. 12:13 ch. 11:27
• 2. 12:14 Mic. 6:8; Rom. 2:1, 3; 9:20
• 3. 12:14 [Ex. 2:14; Acts 7:27]
• 4. 12:15 1 Tim. 6:6-11; [Heb. 13:5]
• 5. 12:16 [Ps. 49:16-20]
• 6. 12:17 [Eccles. 5:10]
• 7. 12:18 ver. 24
• 8. 12:19 [Prov. 27:1; James 4:13-15]
• 9. 12:19 Eccles. 2:24; 11:9; 1 Cor. 15:32; [ch. 15:23]
• 10. 12:20 Jer. 17:11; [Matt. 16:26]
• 11. 12:20 [See ver. 19 above]
• 12. 12:20 Job 27:8
• 13. 12:20 Ps. 39:6; [Job 27:17-22; Eccles. 2:18, 21]
• 14. 12:21 Matt. 6:19, 20
• 15. 12:22 For ver. 22-31, see Matt. 6:25-33
• 16. 12:22 ver. 11; ch. 10:41; Matt. 10:19; 13:22 (Gk.); 1 Cor. 7:32 (Gk.); Phil. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:7
• 17. 12:24 [Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9]
• 18. 12:24 See ver. 7
• 19. 12:25 ch. 2:52 (Gk.)
• 20. 12:27 1 Kgs. 10:4-7
• 21. 12:28 Matt. 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; [ch. 17:6]
• 22. 12:29 [James 1:6]
• 23. 12:30 Matt. 6:8
• 24. 12:30 Matt. 6:8
• 25. 12:31 [Matt. 5:6, 20]
• 26. 12:31 ch. 11:2
• 27. 12:31 [1 Kgs. 3:11-14; Mark 10:29, 30; 1 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 3:9]
• 28. 12:32 Isa. 41:14; 44:2
• 29. 12:32 Isa. 40:11; Matt. 26:31; John 10:16; 21:15-17; Acts 20:28, 29; 1 Pet. 5:2, 3
• 30. 12:32 [ch. 10:21; Matt. 11:26; Eph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 2:13]
• 31. 12:32 ch. 22:29; See Matt. 13:19
• 32. 12:33 See Matt. 19:21
• 33. 12:33 ch. 11:41
• 34. 12:33 [ch. 16:9]
• 35. 12:33 Matt. 6:20; [ver. 21; 1 Pet. 1:4]
• 36. 12:34 Matt. 6:21

Footnotes

• [a] 12:25 Or 'a single cubit to his stature'; a 'cubit' was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
• [b] 12:27 Some manuscripts 'Consider the lilies; they neither spin nor weave'
• [c] 12:31 Some manuscripts 'God’s'