Open English Translation LUKE Chapter 16

16 Yeshua also told this to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager who worked for him. A whistle-blower reported that the manager had been abusing the owner’s possessions 2 so the owner called him and asked, ‘What’s this I’m hearing about you? Give back the ledgers because I don’t want you as a manager any more.’ 3 Then the manager thought to himself, ‘Oh dear, what will I do now that I’m losing this management job? I’m not strong enough to be out digging and I’d be too ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job, I’ll still be popular with everyone else.’ 5 So he called in each person who owed money to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil,’ he replied. ‘Well, bring the contract here and change it quickly to fifty,’ the manager said. 7 Then he asked the next one, ‘How much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred containers of wheat,’ the man replied. ‘Get the contract form and change it to eighty,’ said the manager. 8 When he heard, the landowner praised the dishonest manager for his shrewdness because the modern generation are better at working the system than the children of light in their generation.

9 “So I’m telling you all to use worldly money to make friends for yourselves, so that whenever it runs out, they’ll accept you all into the eternal homes.[fn] 10 Anyone who’s faithful with a little is also faithful with much, and the person who’s dishonest with a little is also dishonest with a lot. 11 Because of that, if you aren’t faithful with worldly money, who would entrust true wealth to you all? 12 If you’re not faithful in your treatment of strangers, who would give you anything for yourselves?

13 [ref]“No household servant can serve two masters, because either they’ll hate the one and love the other, or they’ll support the one and despise the other.”

14 All those from the Pharisee party were listening carefully because they love money, and they were sneering at Yeshua 15 so he said to them, “You all justify yourselves to the people but God knows your hearts, because what people value most is abhorrent to God.

16 [ref]“The Hebrew scriptures were preached until Yohan-the-Immerser started preaching the good message about God’s kingdom, now everyone is striving to get into it, 17 [ref]but it’s easier for the sky and the earth to disappear than it is for one small part of the law to fall.

18 [ref]“Every man who dismisses his wife and marries another is committing adultery, and the one marrying the woman he dismissed is committing adultery.

19 “Once there was a rich man who dressed like a king and had everything in life to make him happy and content. 20 At the same time there was a poor beggar named Lazarus who was covered in ulcers. He had been carried to the rich man’s gate 21 where he lay, hoping to get any food that might fall off the rich man’s table. The dogs even came and licked his ulcers, 22 and eventually he died and was carried away by God’s messengers to recline at the table next to Abraham. Then the rich man also died and was buried 23 and was tormented in hell. However, when he looked up, he saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus reclining next to him 24 so he called out, ‘Father Abraham, be merciful to me and send Lazarus here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool down my tongue because I’m very distressed here in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham replied, ‘Son, don’t forget that you enjoyed the good life while you were alive, whereas Lazarus had it bad, but now he’s here being comforted and you’re suffering. 26 Anyway, there’s a deep chasm that’s been established between us, so that anyone here who wanted to go to you can’t, nor can anyone from there cross over here to us.’ 27 ‘I have one request then,’ said the man who’d been rich. ‘Send Lazarus to my father’s house 28 because I have five brothers. Then he can warn them about this place of torment so that they won’t also come here.’ 29 ‘They have the scriptures,’ answered Abraham, ‘so they can find out what they say.’ 30 But the man insisted, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead went to them, then they’d turn from their sins.’ 31 ‘Well, if they ignore the scriptures,’ he answered, ‘even if someone from the dead went to them, they still wouldn’t be persuaded.’ ”