THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST MANAGER

16 Now he said to the disciples, “There was a richm man who received an accusation that his managern was squanderingo his possessions. 2 So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, pbecause you can no longer be my manager.’

3 “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

5 “So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one.

6 “ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

7 “Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’

“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.

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

8 “The master praised the unrighteous managerq because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this ager are more shrewd than the children of lights in dealing with their own people.G 9 And I tell you, make friendst for yourselves by means of worldly wealth* u so that when it fails,I they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. 10 Whoever is faithfulv in very littlew is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. 11 So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? 13 Nox servant can serve two masters, since either he will hatey one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

KINGDOM VALUES

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money,z were listening to all these things and scoffingaa at him. 15 And he told them, “You are the ones who justifyab yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.ac For what is highly admired by people is revoltingad in God’s sight.

16 “Theae Law and the Prophetsaf were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of Godag has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.A 17 But it is easiera for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

18 “Everyoneb who divorcesc his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,d and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen,e feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.f 21 He longed to be filledg with what fell from the rich man’s table,h but instead the dogsi would come and lick his sores. 22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side.* j The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in tormentk in Hades,l he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. 24 ‘Father Abraham!’m he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agonyn in this flame!’

25 “ ‘Son,’C Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things,o just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here,p while you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—28 because I have five brothers—to warn qthem, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; rthey should listen to them.’

30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”s

WARNINGS FROM JESUS

17 Het said to his disciples, “Offenses will certainly come,D but woeu to the one through whom they come!v 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.w 3 Bex on your guard. If your brother sins,E rebukey him, and if he repents, forgivez him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

FAITH AND DUTY

5 Theaa apostlesab said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”ac

6 “If you have faith the size ofF a mustard seed,”ad the Lord said, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

7 “Which one of you having a servant tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? 8 Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’?ae 9 Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded?G 10 In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthyaf servants; we’ve only done our duty.’ ”

TEN MEN HEALED

11 While traveling to Jerusalem,ag he passed betweenH Samaria and Galilee.ah 12 As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy* ai met him. They stood at a distance 13 and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master,aj have mercy on us!”

14 When he saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”ak And while they were going, they were cleansed.

15 But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.al 16 He fell facedownam at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.an

17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”J,ao

THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM

20 When he wasap asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,aq he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; 21 no one will say, A‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”B

22 Then he told the disciples, “The days are cominga when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you won’t see it.b 23 They will say to you,c ‘See there!’ or ‘See here!’ Don’t follow or run after them.d 24 For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.e 25 But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.f

26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah,g so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: 27 People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriageh until the day Noah boarded the ark,i and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot:j People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. 29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyedk them all. 30 Itl will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.m 31 On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!n 33 Whoever tries to make his life secureC,D will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.o 34 I tell you, on that nightp two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”*

37 “Where, Lord?”q they asked him.

He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vulturesr will be gathered.”

THE PARABLE OF THE PERSISTENT WIDOW

18 Now he told them a parable on the need for them to prays always and not give up.t 2 “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear Godu or respect people. 3 And a widow vin that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 yet because this widow keepsw pestering me,F I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me outG by her persistent coming.’ ”

6 Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God grant justicex to his electy who cry out to him day and night?z Will he delayaa helping them?H 8 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,ab will he find faith on earth?”

THE PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR

9 Heac also told this parable to some who trusted in themselvesad that they were righteousae and looked downaf on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray,ag one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee was standingah and praying like this about himself:I ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy,ai unrighteous,aj adulterers,ak or even like this tax collector. 12 I fastal twice a week; I give a tenthJ,am of everything I get.’

13 “But the tax collector, standing far off,an would not even raise his eyes to heavenao but kept striking his chestap and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,K,aq a sinner!’ar 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justifiedas rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”at

BLESSING THE CHILDREN

15 Peopleau were bringing infants to him so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me,av and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you,aw whoever does not receiveax the kingdom of God like a little childay will never enter it.”

THE RICH YOUNG RULER

18 Aaz rulerba asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”bb

19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”A,a

21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.

22 When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor,b and you will have treasure in heaven.c Then come, follow me.”d

23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad,e because he was very rich.

POSSESSIONS AND THE KINGDOM

24 Seeing that he became sad,B Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?”f

27 He replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”g

28 Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followedh you.”

29 So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more at this time,i and eternal life in the age to come.”

THE THIRD PREDICTION OF HIS DEATH

31 Thenj he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem.k Everything that is writtenl through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.m 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles,n and he will be mocked,o insulted, spitp on; 33 and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”q

34 They understood none of these things.r The meaning of the sayingC,s was hiddent from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

A BLIND MAN RECEIVES HIS SIGHT

35 Asu he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. 36 Hearing a crowd passing by, he inquired what was happening. 37 “Jesus of Nazarethv is passing by,” they told him.

38 So he called out,w “Jesus, Son of David,x have mercyy on me!” 39 Then those in front told him to keep quiet,D but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

40 Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. When he came closer, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “I want to see.”

42 “Receive your sight,”z Jesus told him. “Your faith has saved you.”aa 43 Instantly he could see, and he began to follow him, glorifying God.ab All the people,ac when they saw it, gave praise to God.