Luke 16

¹He was also speaking to his disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had an estate manager, and this manager was accused before him of squandering his possessions. ²So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Hand over the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.' ³The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people will welcome me into their homes.'

⁵"And summoning each one of his master's debtors, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' ⁶He said, 'A hundred baths of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write fifty.' ⁷Then he said to another, 'And you—how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred cors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your contract and write eighty.'

⁸"And the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are shrewder than the children of light in dealing with their own generation. ⁹And I tell you: Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth, so that when it runs out, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰"The one who is faithful in a very small matter is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very small matter is also dishonest in much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you what is truly valuable? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

¹³"No household servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Wealth."

¹⁴Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were sneering at him. ¹⁵And he said to them, "You are the ones who declare yourselves righteous before people, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among humans is an abomination before God.

¹⁶"The Law and the Prophets were until John. From then on, the kingdom of God is being proclaimed as good news, and everyone is pressing forcefully into it. ¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the Law to fall.

¹⁸"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹"Now there was a certain rich man who dressed himself in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. ²⁰And a poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹longing to be filled with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

²²"Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³And in Hades, lifting up his eyes while being in torment, he sees Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴And he called out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me! 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 received your good things during your life, and Lazarus likewise the bad things. But now here he is being comforted, while you are in anguish. ²⁶And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those wanting to cross over from here to you are not able, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

²⁷"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them thoroughly, lest they also come to this place of torment.'

²⁹"But Abraham says, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.'

³⁰"But he said, 'No, Father Abraham! But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"