Luke 12:1-21

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

A Warning against Hypocrisy

12 Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.^{(A) 2} Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known.^{(B) 3} Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

Exhortation to Fearless Confession

⁴ “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more.^{(C) 5} But I will show you whom to fear: fear the one who, after killing, has authority^[a] to cast into hell.^[b] Yes, I tell you, fear that one!^{(D) 6} Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. ⁷ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.^(E)

⁸ “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,^{(F) 9} but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. ¹⁰ And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.^{(G) 11} When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how or what^[c] you will answer or what you are to say,^{(H) 12} for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”^{(I) 15} And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”^{(J) 16} Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’^{(K) 20} But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’^{(L) 21} So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”^(M)