Luke 12:9-47

⁹and he who hath denied me before men, shall be denied before the messengers of God,

¹⁰and every one whoever shall say a word to the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven to him, but to him who to the Holy Spirit did speak evil, it shall not be forgiven.

¹¹'And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what ye may reply, or what ye may say,

¹²for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that hour what it behoveth you to say.'

¹³And a certain one said to him, out of the multitude, 'Teacher, say to my brother to divide with me the inheritance.'

¹⁴And he said to him, 'Man, who set me a judge or a divider over you?'

¹⁵And he said unto them, 'Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.'

¹⁶And he spake a simile unto them, saying, 'Of a certain rich man the field brought forth well;

¹⁷and he was reasoning within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where I shall gather together my fruits?

¹⁸and he said, This I will do, I will take down my storehouses, and greater ones I will build, and I will gather together there all my products and my good things,

¹⁹and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years, be resting, eat, drink, be merry.

²⁰'And God said to him, Unthinking one! this night thy soul they shall require from thee, and what things thou didst prepare — to whom shall they be?

²¹so is he who is treasuring up to himself, and is not rich toward God.'

²²And he said unto his disciples, 'Because of this, to you I say, Be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat; nor for the body, what ye may put on;

²³the life is more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing.

²⁴'Consider the ravens, that they sow not, nor reap, to which there is no barn nor storehouse, and God doth nourish them; how much better are ye than the fowls?

²⁵and who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?

²⁶If, then, ye are not able for the least — why for the rest are ye anxious?

²⁷'Consider the lilies, how do they grow? they labour not, nor do they spin, and I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these;

²⁸and if the herbage in the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow into an oven is cast, God doth so clothe, how much more you — ye of little faith?

²⁹'And ye — seek not what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, and be not in suspense,

³⁰for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father hath known that ye have need of these things;

³¹but, seek ye the reign of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

³²'Fear not, little flock, because your Father did delight to give you the reign;

³³sell your goods, and give alms, make to yourselves bags that become not old, a treasure unfailing in the heavens, where thief doth not come near, nor moth destroy;

³⁴for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.

³⁵'Let your loins be girded, and the lamps burning,

³⁶and ye like to men waiting for their lord, when he shall return out of the wedding feasts, that he having come and knocked, immediately they may open to him.

³⁷'Happy those servants, whom the lord, having come, shall find watching; verily I say to you, that he will gird himself, and will cause them to recline (at meat), and having come near, will minister to them;

³⁸and if he may come in the second watch, and in the third watch he may come, and may find it so, happy are those servants.

³⁹'And this know, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief doth come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through;

⁴⁰and ye, then, become ye ready, because at the hour ye think not, the Son of Man doth come.'

⁴¹And Peter said to him, 'Sir, unto us this simile dost thou speak, or also unto all?'

⁴²And the Lord said, 'Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the lord shall set over his household, to give in season the wheat measure?

⁴³Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so;

⁴⁴truly I say to you, that over all his goods he will set him.

⁴⁵'And if that servant may say in his heart, My lord doth delay to come, and may begin to beat the men-servants and the maid-servants, to eat also, and to drink, and to be drunken;

⁴⁶the lord of that servant will come in a day in which he doth not look for him, and in an hour that he doth not know, and will cut him off, and his portion with the unfaithful he will appoint.

⁴⁷'And that servant, who having known his lord's will, and not having prepared, nor having gone according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes,