16 Also [Jesus] said to the disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a ^[a]manager of his estate, and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that he was squandering his [master’s] possessions.

² And he called him and said to him, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management [of my affairs], for you can be [my] manager no longer.

³ And the manager of the estate said to himself, What shall I do, seeing that my master is taking the management away from me? I am not able to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ I have come to know what I will do, so that they [my master’s debtors] may accept and welcome me into their houses when I am put out of the management.

⁵ So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, How much do you owe my master?

⁶ He said, A hundred measures [about 900 gallons] of oil. And he said to him, Take back your written acknowledgement of ^[b]obligation, and sit down quickly and write fifty [about 450 gallons].

⁷ After that he said to another, And how much do you owe? He said, A hundred measures [about 900 bushels] of wheat. He said to him, Take back your written acknowledgement of ^[c]obligation, and write eighty [about 700 bushels].

⁸ And [his] master praised the dishonest (unjust) manager for acting ^[d]shrewdly and ^[e]prudently; for the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in [^[f]relation to] their own generation [to their own age and ^[g]kind] than are the sons of light.

⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (^[h]deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings).

¹⁰ He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much.

¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (^[i]deceitful riches, money, possessions), who will entrust to you the true riches?

¹² And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, ^[j]the true riches]?

¹³ No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or ^[k]anything in which you trust and on which you rely).

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were covetous and lovers of money, heard all these things [taken together], and they began to sneer at and ridicule and scoff at Him.

¹⁵ But He said to them, You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is detestable and abhorrent (an abomination) in the sight of God.^(A)

¹⁶ Until John came, there were the Law and the Prophets; since then the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone strives violently to go in [would force his ^[l]own way rather than God’s way into it].

¹⁷ Yet it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to fail and become void.

¹⁸ Whoever divorces (dismisses and repudiates) his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹ There was a certain rich man who [habitually] clothed himself in purple and fine linen and ^[m]reveled and feasted and made merry in splendor every day.

²⁰ And at his gate there ^[n]was [carelessly] dropped down and left a certain ^[o]utterly destitute man named Lazarus, [reduced to begging alms and] covered with [^[p]ulcerated] sores.

²¹ He [eagerly] desired to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover, the dogs even came and licked his sores.

²² And it occurred that the man [reduced to] begging died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³ And in Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.

²⁵ But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received [what is due you in] comforts and delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.

²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who want to pass from this [place] to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us.

²⁷ And [the man] said, Then, father, I beseech you to send him to my father’s house—

²⁸ For I have five brothers—so that he may give [solemn] testimony and warn them, lest they too come into this place of torment.

²⁹ But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear and listen to them.

³⁰ But he answered, No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent (^[q]change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins).

³¹ He said to him, If they do not hear and listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded and convinced and believe [even] if someone should rise from the dead.

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, named Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

² He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

³ This man went from his city year by year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were the Lord’s priests.

⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give to Peninnah his wife and all her sons and daughters portions [of the sacrificial meat].

⁵ But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had given her no children.

⁶ [This embarrassed and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless.

⁷ So it was year after year; whenever Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah provoked her, so she wept and did not eat.

⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you cry? And why do you not eat? And why are you grieving? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

⁹ So Hannah rose after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat beside a post of the temple (tent) of the Lord.

¹⁰ And [Hannah] was in distress of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly.

¹¹ She vowed, saying, O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and [earnestly] remember, and not forget Your handmaid but will give me a son, I will give him to the Lord all his life; no razor shall touch his head.

¹² And as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth.

¹³ Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.

¹⁴ Eli said to her, How long will you be intoxicated? Put wine away from you.

¹⁵ But Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul before the Lord.^(A)

¹⁶ Regard not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking.

¹⁷ Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.

¹⁸ Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So [she] went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad.

¹⁹ The family rose early the next morning, worshiped before the Lord, and returned to their home in Ramah. Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

²⁰ Hannah became pregnant and in due time bore a son and named him Samuel [heard of God], Because, she said, I have asked him of the Lord.

²¹ And Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.

²² But Hannah did not go, for she said to her husband, I will not go until the child is weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there as long as he lives.

²³ Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the Lord establish His word. So Hannah remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

²⁴ When she had ^[a]weaned him, she took him with her, with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin bottle of wine [to pour over the burnt offering for a sweet odor], and brought Samuel to the Lord’s house in Shiloh. The child was growing.

²⁵ Then they slew the bull, and brought the child to Eli.

²⁶ Hannah said, Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord.

²⁷ For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted my petition made to Him.

²⁸ Therefore I have given him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is given to the Lord. And they worshiped the Lord there.

2 Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults and triumphs in the Lord; my horn (my strength) is lifted up in the Lord. My mouth is no longer silent, for it is opened wide over my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.

² There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides You; there is no Rock like our God.

³ Talk no more so very proudly; let not arrogance go forth from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

⁵ Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children languishes and is forlorn.

⁶ The Lord slays and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He lifts up.

⁸ He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with nobles and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.

⁹ He will guard the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked shall be silenced and perish in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁰ The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them will He thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge [all peoples] to the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to ^[b]His king (King) and exalt the power of His anointed (Anointed ^[c]His Christ).^(B)

¹¹ Elkanah and his wife Hannah returned to Ramah to his house. But the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.

¹² The sons of Eli were base and worthless; they did not know or regard the Lord.

¹³ And the custom of the priests with the people was this: when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the flesh was boiling with a fleshhook of three prongs in his hand;

¹⁴ And he thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh with all the Israelites who came there.

¹⁵ Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came and said to the man who sacrificed, Give the priest meat to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.

¹⁶ And if the man said to him, Let them burn the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want, the priest’s servant would say, No! Give it to me now or I will take it by force.

¹⁷ So the sin of the [two] young men was very great before the Lord, for they despised the offering of the Lord.

¹⁸ But Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girded with a linen ephod.

¹⁹ Moreover, his mother made him a little robe and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

²⁰ And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, May the Lord give you children by this woman for the gift she asked for and gave to the Lord. Then they would go to their own home.

²¹ And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.

²² Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

²³ And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people.

²⁴ No, my sons; it is no good report which I hear the Lord’s people spreading abroad.

²⁵ If one man wrongs another, God will mediate for him; but if a man wrongs the Lord, who shall intercede for him? Yet they did not listen to their father, for it was the Lord’s will to slay them.

²⁶ Now the boy Samuel grew and was in favor both with the Lord and with men.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus has the Lord said: I plainly revealed Myself to the house of your father [forefather Aaron] when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house.

²⁸ Moreover, I selected him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer on My altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me. And I gave [from then on] to the house of your father [forefather] all the offerings of the Israelites made by fire.

²⁹ Why then do you kick [trample upon, treat with contempt] My sacrifice and My offering which I commanded, and honor your sons above Me by fattening yourselves upon the choicest part of every offering of My people Israel?

³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says, I did promise that your house and that of your father [forefather Aaron] should go in and out before Me forever. But now the Lord says, Be it far from Me. For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

³¹ Behold, the time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your own father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in your house.

³² And you shall behold the distress of My house, even in all the prosperity which God will give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

³³ Yet I will not cut off from My altar every man of yours; some shall survive to weep and mourn [over the family’s ruin], but all the increase of your house shall die in their best years.^(C)

³⁴ And what befalls your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be a sign to you—in one day they both shall die. [Fulfilled in I Sam. 4:17, 18.]

³⁵ And I will raise up for Myself a ^[d]faithful priest (Priest), who shall do according to what is in My heart and mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed (Anointed) forever.^(D)

³⁶ Everyone who is left in your house shall come crouching to him for a piece of silver and a bit of bread and say, Put me, I pray you, into a priest’s office so I may have a piece of bread.