Be in Readiness

35 [a](A)Be prepared, and keep your (B)lamps lit. 36 You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find (C)on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that (D)he will [b]prepare himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and he will come up and serve them. 38 (E)Whether he comes in the [c]second watch, or even in the [d]third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39 (F)But [e]be 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 (G)broken into. 40 (H)You too, be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think He will.”

41 Peter said, “Lord, are You telling this parable to us, or (I)to everyone else as well?” 42 And (J)the Lord said, (K)Who then is the faithful and sensible (L)steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that (M)slave whom his [f]master 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 will take a long time to come,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, and will [g]cut him in two, and assign [h]him a place with the unbelievers. 47 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will (N)receive many blows, 48 but the one who did not (O)know it, and committed acts deserving of [i]a beating, will receive only a few blows. (P)From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 12:35 Lit Have your waist belted
  2. Luke 12:37 Lit belt himself up
  3. Luke 12:38 I.e., 9 p.m. to midnight
  4. Luke 12:38 I.e., midnight to 3 a.m.
  5. Luke 12:39 Lit know
  6. Luke 12:43 Or lord
  7. Luke 12:46 Possibly referring to other extreme punishment
  8. Luke 12:46 Lit his part with
  9. Luke 12:48 Lit blows

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