¹⁴ You are my friends^(A) if you do what I command.^(B)

¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget^(A) the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,^{(B) 13} and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget^(C) the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”^(A)

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool!^(B) This very night your life will be demanded from you.^(C) Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’^(D)

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”^(E)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.^(A)

¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.^(A)