Luke 16

16 ¹He also told his disciples, "A rich man had a manager who was accused of squandering his possessions. ²He called him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, for you can no longer manage.'

³"The manager said to himself, 'What should I do? My master is taking my position from me. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg.' ⁴I know what to do, so that when I lose this job, people will welcome me into their homes.' ⁵He called in his master's debtors, one after another, and asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' ⁶He said, 'one hundred measures of olive oil.' He told him, 'Take your bill, sit quickly, and write fifty.' ⁷Then he asked another, 'And you, how much do you owe?' 'one hundred measures of wheat,' he said. 'Take your bill,' he told him, 'and write eighty.'

⁸"The master praised the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly, for this age's children are shrewder with their own generation than the children of light. ⁹I tell you, make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it fails, they welcome you into eternal dwellings. ¹⁰Whoever is faithful in the least is also faithful in much; whoever is dishonest in the least is also dishonest in much. ¹¹If then you weren't faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches? ¹²And if you haven't been faithful with another's things, who will give you what's your own? ¹³No household servant can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other, or hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both our Father and wealth."

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

¹⁵He told them, "You justify yourselves before others, but our Father knows your hearts. What is prized among people is detestable to our Father."

¹⁶"The Law and Prophets lasted until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of our Father is proclaimed, and everyone forces their way into it. ¹⁷But it's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the Law to fail."

¹⁸"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; marrying a woman divorced from her husband is adultery too."

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹"There was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. ²⁰And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹wanting to eat the crumbs falling from the rich man's table; even dogs came and licked his sores. ²²The poor man died; angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, ^a a v22 Abraham's side: a Jewish image for the place of comfort where the righteous rested after death, awaiting resurrection. ²³and in the grave, in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ^b b v23 Hades is the realm of the dead, the waiting place between death and the final judgment — not the same as the final place of judgment. ²⁴He cried out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip his fingertip in water and cool my tongue, for I'm in agony in this flame.'

²⁵"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember: you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise bad things. Now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm separates us from you, so those who want to cross from here to you can't, nor can anyone cross from there to us.'

²⁷"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, ²⁸for I have five brothers—let him warn them, so they won't also come to this place of torment.'

²⁹"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'

³⁰He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they'll repent.'

³¹He told him, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they won't be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"