Luke 16

1Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

2So he called him in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’

3The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do, now that 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.’

5So he called in 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.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

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

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

9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

10Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

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

12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?

13No household servant can serve two masters. Either they will hate the one and love the other, or they will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and ridiculed him.

15He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before people, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among people is detestable in the sight of God.

16The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since then the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is forcing their way into it.

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

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

19There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

20At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

21who longed to eat his fill of what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus at his side.

24He called out, ‘Father Abraham, 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 in this flame.’

25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in the same way received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.

26Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot, and no one can cross from there to us.’

27He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house,

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

29But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; they should listen to them.’

30He said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31Abraham 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.’”