5
"So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and asked the first, `How much are you in debt to my master?'
6
"`A hundred firkins of oil,' he replied. "`Here is your account,' said the steward: `sit down quickly and change it into fifty firkins.'
7
"To a second he said, "`And how much do you owe?' "`A hundred quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "`Here is your account,' said he: `change it into eighty quarters.'
8
"And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.
9
"But I charge you, so to use the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.
10
The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small matter is dishonest in a great one also.
11
If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the wealth that is tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?
12
And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that which is not your own, who will give you that which is your own?
13
"No servant can be in bondage to two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will cling fast to one and scorn the other. You cannot be bondservants both of God and of gold."
14
To all this the Pharisees listened, bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.
15
"You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own goodness before men, but God sees your hearts; for that which holds a proud position among men is detestable in God's sight.