16Luke 16

1He said also to His disciples: "There was a rich man who had a steward, about whom a report was brought to him, that he was wasting his property.Select Luke 16:1

2He called him and said, "`What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, for I cannot let you hold it any longer.'Select Luke 16:2

3"Then the steward said within himself, "`What am I to do? For my master is taking away the stewardship from me. I am not strong enough for field labour: to beg, I should be ashamed.Select Luke 16:3

4I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from the stewardship they may give me a home in their own houses.'Select Luke 16:4

5"So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and asked the first, `How much are you in debt to my master?'Select Luke 16:5

6"`A hundred firkins of oil,' he replied. "`Here is your account,' said the steward: `sit down quickly and change it into fifty firkins.'Select Luke 16:6

7"To a second he said, "`And how much do you owe?' "`A hundred quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "`Here is your account,' said he: `change it into eighty quarters.'Select Luke 16:7

8"And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.Select Luke 16:8

9"But I charge you, so to use the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.Select Luke 16:9

10The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small matter is dishonest in a great one also.Select Luke 16:10

11If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the wealth that is tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?Select Luke 16:11

12And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that which is not your own, who will give you that which is your own?Select Luke 16:12

13"No servant can be in bondage to two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will cling fast to one and scorn the other. You cannot be bondservants both of God and of gold."Select Luke 16:13

14To all this the Pharisees listened, bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.Select Luke 16:14

15"You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own goodness before men, but God sees your hearts; for that which holds a proud position among men is detestable in God's sight.Select Luke 16:15

16The Law and the Prophets continued until John came: from that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been spreading, and all classes have been forcing their way into it.Select Luke 16:16

17But it is easier for earth and sky to pass away than for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.Select Luke 16:17

18Every man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries her when so divorced from her husband commits adultery.Select Luke 16:18

19"There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself in purple and fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet every day,Select Luke 16:19

20while at his outer door there lay a beggar, Lazarus by name,Select Luke 16:20

21covered with sores and longing to make a full meal off the scraps flung on the floor from the rich man's table. Nay, the dogs, too, used to come and lick his sores.Select Luke 16:21

22"But in course of time the beggar died; and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and had a funeral.Select Luke 16:22

23And in Hades, being in torment, he looked and saw Abraham in the far distance, and Lazarus resting in his arms.Select Luke 16:23

24So he cried aloud, and said, "`Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'Select Luke 16:24

25"`Remember, my child,' said Abraham, `that you had all your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving consolation and you are in agony.Select Luke 16:25

26And, besides all this, a vast chasm is immovably fixed between us and you, put there in order that those who desire to cross from this side to you may not be able, nor any be able to cross over from your side to us.'Select Luke 16:26

27"`I entreat you then, father,' said he, `to send him to my father's house.Select Luke 16:27

28For I have five brothers. Let him earnestly warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'Select Luke 16:28

29"`They have Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; `let them hear them.'Select Luke 16:29

30"`No, father Abraham,' he pleaded; `but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'Select Luke 16:30

31"`If they are deaf to Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham, `they would not be led to believe even if some one should rise from the dead.'"Select Luke 16:31