Luke 16:1-21 ▼

1 Now Jesus was saying to the disciples, |A rich man had a servant manager who was accused of wasting his assets.

2 So he called for him and asked him, 'What's this I hear about you? You can't be my manager any longer. Now give me a report about your management!'

3 |Then the servant manager told himself, 'What should I do? My master is taking my position away from me. I'm not strong enough to plow, and I'm ashamed to beg.

4 I know what I'll do so that people will welcome me into their homes when I'm dismissed from my job.'

5 |So he called for each of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

6 The man replied, 'A hundred jars of olive oil.' The manager told him, 'Get your bill. Sit down quickly and write |50.|'

7 Then he asked another debtor, 'How much do you owe?' The man replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' The manager told him, 'Get your bill and write |80.|'

8 The master praised the dishonest servant manager for being so clever, because worldly people are more clever than enlightened people in dealing with their own.

9 |I'm telling you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they will welcome you into eternal homes.

10 Whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with very little is also dishonest with a lot.

11 So if you haven't been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?

12 And if you haven't been faithful with what belongs to foreigners, who will give you what is your own?

13 |No servant can serve two masters, because either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth!|

14 Now the Pharisees, who love money, had been listening to all this and began to ridicule Jesus.

15 So he told them, |You try to justify yourselves in front of people, but God knows your hearts, because what is highly valued by people is detestable to God.

16 |The Law and the Prophets remained until John. Since then, the good news about the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone entering it is under attack.

17 However, it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for one stroke of a letter in the Law to be dropped.

18 Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.|

19 |Once there was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and live in great luxury every day.

20 A beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, was brought to his gate.

21 He was always trying to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.