Luke 16

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

¹Now he said to the disciples, “There was a rich^a man who received an accusation that his manager^b was squandering^c his possessions. ²So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management,^d because you can no longer be my manager.’

³“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵“So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master? ’ he asked the first one.

⁶“ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁷“Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe? ’

“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’

⁸“The master praised the unrighteous manager^e because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age^f are more shrewd than the children of light^g in dealing with their own people.^{h 9}And I tell you, make friendsⁱ for yourselves by means of worldly wealth^j,^k so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. ¹⁰Whoever is faithful^l in very little^m is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? ¹³Noⁿ servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate^o one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Kingdom Values

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, ^p were listening to all these things and scoffing ^q at him. ¹⁵And he told them, “You are the ones who justify^r yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.^s For what is highly admired by people is revolting^t in God’s sight.

¹⁶“The^u Law and the Prophets^v were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God^w has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.^{x 17}But it is easier^y for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

¹⁸“Everyone^z who divorces^aa his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,^ab and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen,^ac feasting lavishly every day. ²⁰But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.^{ad 21}He longed to be filled^ae with what fell from the rich man’s table,^af but instead the dogs^ag would come and lick his sores. ²²One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side.^ah,^ai The rich man also died and was buried. ²³And being in torment^aj in Hades,^ak he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. ²⁴‘Father Abraham! ’^al he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony^am in this flame! ’

²⁵“ ‘Son,’^an Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things,^ao just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here,^ap while you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

²⁷“ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house #— # ²⁸because I have five brothers #— #to warn^aq them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets;^ar they should listen to them.’

³⁰“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”^as