Luke 12:1-40 ▼

1 Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. He began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven—that is, the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees.

2 “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.

3 Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.

4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more.

5 I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.

7 Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.

9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say.

12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”

14 He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”

15 Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

16 Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.

17 He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’

18 And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods

19 and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’

20 But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

21 Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”

22 He said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear.

23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

24 Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!

25 Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span?

26 If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest?

27 Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.

28 If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

29 As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore.

30 All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides.

32 Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

33 Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.

34 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

35 “Gird your loins and light your lamps

36 and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

38 And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

39 Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

40 You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”