Luke 16:1-31
16 Then he went on to say also to the disciples: “A certain man was rich and he had a steward,*+ and this one was accused to him as handling his goods wastefully.+
2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Hand in the account+ of your stewardship, for you can no longer manage the house.’
3 Then the steward said to himself, ‘What am I to do, seeing that my master+ will take the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, I am ashamed to beg.
4 Ah! I know what I shall do, so that, when I am put out of the stewardship, people will receive me into their homes.’+
5 And calling to him each one of the debtors of his master he proceeded to say to the first, ‘How much are you owing my master?’
6 He said, ‘A hundred bath measures* of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your written agreement back and sit down and quickly write fifty.’
7 Next, he said to another one, ‘Now you, how much are you owing?’ He said, ‘A hundred cor measures* of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your written agreement back and write eighty.’
8 And his master commended the steward, though unrighteous, because he acted with practical wisdom;+ for the sons of this system of things* are wiser in a practical way toward their own generation than the sons of the light are.+
9 “Also, I say to YOU, Make friends+ for yourselves by means of the unrighteous riches,*+ so that, when such fail, they may receive YOU into the everlasting dwelling places.*+
10 The person faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and the person unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much.+
11 Therefore, if YOU have not proved yourselves faithful in connection with the unrighteous riches, who will entrust YOU with what is true?+
12 And if YOU have not proved yourselves faithful in connection with what is another’s,+ who will give YOU what is for yourselves?*
13 No house servant can be a slave to two masters; for, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. YOU cannot be slaves to God and to riches.”*+
14 Now the Pharisees, who were money lovers, were listening to all these things, and they began to sneer at him.+
15 Consequently he said to them: “YOU are those who declare yourselves righteous before men,+ but God knows YOUR hearts;+ because what is lofty among men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight.+
16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John.+ From then on the kingdom of God is being declared as good news,* and every sort of person is pressing forward toward it.+
17 Indeed, it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away+ than for one particle+ of a letter of the Law to go unfulfilled.+
18 “Everyone that divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery,* and he that marries a woman divorced* from a husband commits adultery.+
19 “But a certain man+ was rich, and he used to deck himself with purple and linen, enjoying himself from day to day with magnificence.+
20 But a certain beggar* named Lazʹa·rus* used to be put at his gate, full of ulcers
21 and desiring to be filled with the things dropping from the table of the rich man. Yes, too, the dogs would come and lick his ulcers.
22 Now in course of time the beggar died+ and he was carried off by the angels to the bosom+ [position]* of Abraham.+
“Also, the rich man died+ and was buried.
23 And in Haʹdes* he* lifted up his eyes, he existing in torments,+ and he saw Abraham afar off and Lazʹa·rus in the bosom [position] with him.
24 So he called and said, ‘Father Abraham,+ have mercy on me and send Lazʹa·rus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,+ because I am in anguish in this blazing fire.’+
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you received in full your good things in your lifetime, but Lazʹa·rus correspondingly the injurious things. Now, however, he is having comfort here but you are in anguish.+
26 And besides all these things, a great chasm+ has been fixed between us and YOU people,+ so that those wanting to go over from here to YOU people cannot, neither may people cross over from there to us.’+
27 Then he said, ‘In that event I ask you, father, to send him to the house of my father,
28 for I have five brothers, in order that he may give them a thorough witness, that they also should not get into this place of torment.’
29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses+ and the Prophets;+ let them listen to these.’+
30 Then he said, ‘No, indeed, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent.’
31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses+ and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”
Footnotes
^ Or, “a house manager.” Gr., oi·ko·noʹmon; J22(Heb.), soh·khen-baʹyith.
^ A bath equaled 22 L (5.81 gal).
^ A cor equaled 220 L (200 dry qt).
^ Or, “order of things.” Gr., ai·oʹnos; Lat., saeʹcu·li; J17,18,22(Heb.), ha·ʽoh·lamʹ, “the order of things.”
^ Lit., “everlasting tents.”
^ Lit., “mammon of the unrighteousness.” Gr., ma·mo·naʹ tes a·di·kiʹas.
^ Or, “what is your own,” P75אADWVgSyh,p,s; B, “what is our own.”
^ Lit., “to mammon.” Gr., ma·mo·naiʹ; Lat., ma·moʹnae; J17,18,22(Heb.), ham·ma·mohnʹ, “the mammon.”
^ “Is being declared as good news.” Gr., eu·ag·ge·liʹze·tai; Lat., e·van·ge·li·zaʹtur; J22(Heb.), mith·bas·seʹreth.
^ Lit., “loosed off.”
^ Or, “poor man.”
^ “Lazarus,” אAB; J18,22(Heb.), ʼEl·ʽa·zarʹ, “Eleazar,” meaning “God Has Helped.”
^ “Bosom [position],” as when reclining in front of another on the same couch at a meal.
^ “And was buried. And in Hades he,” AB; א*, “and was buried in Hades he”; Vg(Lat.), “and he was buried in in·ferʹno. But he.”
^ “Hades,” אAB; J6-8,10-18,22, “Sheol”; Lat., in·ferʹno. See App 4B.
