¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear 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, ^(A)you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘^(B)You fool! This very night ^[a](C)your soul is required of you; and ^(D)now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ So is the man who ^(E)stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

The Prodigal Son

¹¹ And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^(A)the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his ^[a](B)wealth between them. ¹³ And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. ¹⁴ Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. ¹⁵ So he went and ^[b]hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the ^[c]pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. ¹⁷ But when he came to ^[d]his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ^[e]in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰ So he got up and came to ^[f]his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and ^[g](C)embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out ^(D)the best robe and put it on him, and ^(E)put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was ^(F)dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

³ The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my ^[a]master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.