Luke 16

Modern

Literal

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

¹Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

¹Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager, and this one was accused to him as wasting his possessions.

²So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’

²And having called him, he said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, for you are not able to manage any longer.’

³The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg.

³And the manager said in himself, ‘What shall I do, because my master is taking away the management from me? I have no strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁴I have known what I shall do, so that when I shall have been removed from the management, they might receive me into their houses.’

⁵And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.

⁵And having summoned each one of the debtors of his master, he was saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my master?’

⁶‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’^a he answered.

‘Take your bill,’ said the manager, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁶And he said, ‘A hundred baths of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and having sat down quickly, write fifty.’

⁷Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’

‘A hundred measures of wheat,’^a he replied.

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

⁷Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He says to him, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.’

⁸The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

⁸And the master praised the unrighteous manager because he acted shrewdly, because the sons of this age are more shrewd than the sons of the light in their own generation.

⁹I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

⁹And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they might receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

¹⁰The one faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and the one unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.

¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?

¹¹If, therefore, you were not faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true?

¹²And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own?

¹²And if you were not faithful in that which is of another, who will give to you that which is your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and money.”

¹³No servant is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and he will love the other, or he will hold to the one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon.”

The Law and the Prophets

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.

¹⁴Now the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and they were ridiculing Him.

¹⁵So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

¹⁵And He said to them, “You are the ones justifying themselves before men, but God knows your hearts, because that which is high among men is an abomination before God.

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.^a

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were until John. From then, the kingdom of God is proclaimed as good news, and everyone presses into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹⁷But it is easier for the heaven and the earth to pass away than one stroke of a letter of the Law to fall.

¹⁸Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

¹⁸Everyone sending away his wife and marrying another commits adultery. And the one marrying her sent away from a husband, he commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.

¹⁹And there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, being merry in splendor every day.

²⁰And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

²⁰And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, being full of sores

²¹and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²¹and desiring to be fed from that falling from the table of the rich man; but even the dogs, coming, were licking his sores.

²²One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.^a And the rich man also died and was buried.

²²And it came to pass that the poor man died, and he was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried.

²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

²³And in Hades, having lifted up his eyes, being in torment, he sees Abraham from afar and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁴And having cried out, he said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering in this flame.’

²⁵But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you fully received your good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise the evil things. But now he is comforted here, and you are suffering.

²⁶And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

²⁶And besides all these things, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those desiring to go over from here to you are not able, nor may they cross over from there to us.’

²⁷‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,

²⁷And he said, ‘Then I ask you, father, that you might send him to the house of my father—

²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

²⁸for I have five brothers—that he might warn them so that they might not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’

²⁹But Abraham says, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

³⁰‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.’

³⁰But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one from the dead should go to them, they will repent.’

³¹Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

³¹But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, not even will they be persuaded if one should rise out from the dead.’”