The Unrighteous Manager

16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was ^[a]reported to him as ^(A)squandering his possessions. ² And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since my ^[b]master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to ^[c]dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ And he summoned each one of his ^[d]master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred ^[e]jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred ^[f]kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ And his ^[g]master complimented the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of ^(B)this age are more shrewd in relation to their own ^[h]kind than the ^(C)sons of light. ⁹ And I say to you, ^(D)make friends for yourselves by means of the ^[i](E)wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it ^[j]is all gone, ^(F)they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “^(G)The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not ^[k]been faithful in the use of unrighteous ^[l](H)wealth, who will entrust the true wealth to you? ¹² And if you have not ^[m]been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ^13 (I)No ^[n]servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^[o](J)wealth.”

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were ^(K)lovers of money, were listening to all these things and ^(L)were ^[p]ridiculing Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are the ones who ^(M)justify yourselves in the sight of people, but ^(N)God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “^(O)The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John came; since that time ^(P)the gospel of the kingdom of God ^[q]has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ^17 (Q)But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one ^[r]stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

¹⁸ “^(R)Everyone who ^[s]divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is ^[t]divorced from a husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day. ²⁰ And a poor man named Lazarus ^(S)was laid at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹ and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores. ²² Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to ^[u](T)Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And in ^(U)Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his ^[v]arms. ²⁴ And he cried out and said, ‘^(V)Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in ^(W)this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that ^(X)during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶ And ^[w]besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—in order that he may ^(Y)warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’ ²⁹ But Abraham *said, ‘They have ^[x](Z)Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ But he said, ‘No, ^(AA)father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ ³¹ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Instructions

17 Now He said to His disciples, “^(AB)It is inevitable that ^[y]stumbling blocks come, but woe to one through whom they come! ^2 (AC)It is better for him if a millstone is hung around his neck and he ^[z]is thrown into the sea, than that he may cause one of these little ones to ^[aa]sin. ^3 [ab]Be on your guard! ^(AD)If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he sins against you ^(AE)seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

^5 (AF)The apostles said to ^(AG)the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ But ^(AH)the Lord said, “If you ^[ac]had faith ^[ad]the size of ^(AI)a mustard seed, you could say to this ^(AJ)mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would ^[ae]obey you.

⁷ “Now which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him after he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and recline at the table to eat’? ⁸ On the contrary, will he not say to him, ‘^(AK)Prepare something for me to eat, and properly ^[af]clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and ^[ag]afterward you ^[ah]may eat and drink’? ⁹ He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? ¹⁰ So you too, when you do all the things which were commanded you, say, ‘We are ^[ai]unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”

Ten Men with Leprosy Healed

¹¹ While He was ^(AL)on the way to Jerusalem, ^(AM)He was passing ^[aj]between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as He entered a village, ten men with leprosy who ^(AN)stood at a distance met Him; ¹³ and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, ^(AO)Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “^(AP)Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, ^(AQ)glorifying God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a ^(AR)Samaritan. ¹⁷ But Jesus responded and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? ^18 [ak]Was no one found who returned to ^(AS)give glory to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; ^(AT)your faith has ^[al]made you well.”

Second Coming Foretold

²⁰ Now He was questioned by the Pharisees ^(AU)as to when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with ^[am](AV)signs that can be observed; ²¹ nor will ^(AW)they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is ^[an]in your midst.”

²² And He said to the disciples, “^(AX)The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ^23 (AY)And they will say to you, ‘Look there,’ or, ‘Look here!’ Do not leave, and do not run after them. ^24 (AZ)For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part ^[ao]of the sky, shines to the other part ^[ap]of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. ^25 (BA)But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ^26 (BB)And just as it happened ^(BC)in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷ people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ^28 [aq]It was the same as happened in ^(BD)the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building; ²⁹ but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and ^[ar]brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be ^[as]just the same on the day that the Son of Man ^(BE)is revealed. ³¹ On that day, the one who will be ^(BF)on the ^[at]housetop, ^[au]with his goods in the house, must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one in the field must not turn back. ^32 (BG)Remember Lot’s wife. ^33 (BH)Whoever strives to ^[av]save his ^[aw]life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ^35 (BI)There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁶ [^[ax](BJ)Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] ³⁷ And responding, they *said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “^(BK)Where the body is, there also the ^[ay]vultures will be gathered.”