God’s Gracious Dealings

8 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you ^(A)may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. ^2 (B)And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has ^(C)led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, ^(D)putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you ^[a]understand that ^(E)man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (F)Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. ^5 (G)So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to ^[b]fear Him. ⁷ For ^(H)the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ When ^(I)you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful that you do not ^(J)forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; ¹² otherwise, ^(K)when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, ¹⁴ then your heart will ^[c]become proud and you will ^(L)forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[d]slavery; ¹⁵ He who led you through ^(M)the great and terrible wilderness, with its ^(N)fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who ^(O)brought water for you out of the rock of flint. ¹⁶ In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna ^(P)which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to ^(Q)put you to the test, to do good for you ^[e]in the end. ¹⁷ Otherwise, ^(R)you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ But you are to remember the Lord your God, for ^(S)it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, ^(T)I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so ^(U)you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

Parable of Ten Virgins

25 “Then ^(A)the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their ^(B)lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were ^(C)prudent. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them; ⁴ but the ^(D)prudent ones took oil in flasks with their lamps. ⁵ Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy and began to sleep. ⁶ But at midnight ^[a]there finally was a shout: ‘Behold, the groom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ However, the ^(E)prudent ones answered, ‘No, there most certainly would not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ But while they were ^[b]on their way to buy the oil, the groom came, and those who were ^(F)ready went in with him to ^(G)the wedding feast; and ^(H)the door was shut. ¹¹ Yet later, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘^(I)Lord, lord, open up for us.’ ¹² But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ ^13 (J)Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.

Parable of the Talents

¹⁴ “^(K)For it is just like a man ^(L)about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five ^[c](M)talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he ^(N)went on his journey. ¹⁶ The one who had received the five ^(O)talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents. ¹⁷ In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. ¹⁸ But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his ^[d]master’s money.

¹⁹ “Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *^(P)settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The one who had received the five ^(Q)talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^(R)faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will ^(S)put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your ^[e]master.’

²² “Also the one who had received the two ^(T)talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and ^(U)faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²⁴ “Now the one who had received the one ^(V)talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You ^[f]worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have ^[g]put my money in the bank, and ^[h]on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ²⁸ Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹ “^(W)For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ³⁰ And throw the worthless slave into ^(X)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Judgment

³¹ “But when ^(Y)the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then ^(Z)He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² And all the nations will be ^(AA)gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, ^(AB)just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep ^(AC)on His right, but the goats ^(AD)on the left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, ^(AE)inherit the kingdom prepared for you ^(AF)from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For ^(AG)I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; ^(AH)I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; ^36 (AI)naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you ^(AJ)visited Me; ^(AK)I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And ^(AL)the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, ^(AM)to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘^(AN)Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the ^(AO)eternal fire which has been prepared for ^(AP)the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not ^[i]take care of You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into ^(AQ)eternal punishment, but the righteous into ^(AR)eternal life.”