Luke 12:35-59

Legacy Standard Bible

Be Ready for His Coming

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

³⁹ “^(F)But ^[c]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 ^[d](G)broken into. ^40 (H)You too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not ^[e]expect.”

⁴¹ Now Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or ^(I)to everyone else as well?” ⁴² And ^(J)the Lord said, “^(K)Who then is the faithful and prudent ^(L)steward, whom his master will put in charge of his ^[f]servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that ^(M)slave whom his ^[g]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 ^[h]will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will ^(N)receive many beatings, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not ^(O)know it, and committed deeds worthy of a beating, will receive but a few. ^(P)From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Not Peace, but Division

⁴⁹ “I ^[i]have come to cast fire upon the earth, and ^[j]how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a ^(Q)baptism to ^[k]undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! ^51 (R)Do you think that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; ⁵² for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, ^(S)father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴ And He was also saying to the crowds, “^(T)When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. ⁵⁵ And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a ^(U)hot day,’ and it happens. ⁵⁶ You hypocrites! ^(V)You know how to examine the appearance of the earth and the sky, but ^[l]why do you not examine this present time?

⁵⁷ “And ^(W)why do you not even judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ For ^(X)while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to ^[m]settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last ^[n](Y)lepton.”