1Jesus said to his followers, “This picture story is about what will happen in God’s family, at the time when I come back from heaven. There were some young ladies that had a special job at a wedding ceremony. When the man getting married came to the house they had to meet him, and they had to bring him into the house. Then they were all going to eat a big dinner with that man and his new wife. That wedding was at night time, so the young ladies had their oil lamps with them.
2There were 10 of these young ladies, and 5 of them used their brains. They took jars of extra oil with them for their lamps. But the other 5 were stupid. They didn’t take any extra oil with them.
5That man getting married didn’t come for a long time, so all the young ladies got tired and went to sleep.
6In the middle of the night, somebody shouted, ‘He is coming now. Come out to meet him.’
7The 10 young ladies woke up. Then they got up quick and they tried to make their lamps burn bright.
8The 5 stupid ladies that didn’t have any extra oil said to the other 5 ladies, ‘Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.’
9The other ladies said, ‘Sorry, we can’t do that. There is not enough oil for all of us. You have to go and buy some oil for yourselves.’
10So those 5 stupid ladies went to buy some oil. While they were away, that man came to the house to get married. The 5 other ladies were ready, and they went with him into the house, and somebody locked the door. Then they all started to eat the wedding dinner.
11Later, the 5 stupid ladies came back. They called to that man, they said, ‘Sir, please open the door for us.’
12But he said, ‘Who are you? I don’t know you.’”
13Then Jesus said, “It will be like that for you, too. You don’t know when I will come back. You don’t know the day or the time. So you have to keep waiting for me properly. You have to be ready for me when I come.”
31Jesus said, “I am God’s special man, and one day I will come back from heaven, and all God’s angel messengers will come with me. At that time I will be really great and powerful. I will be the biggest boss, and I will sit down on a special seat.
32All the people in the world, from every country, will all come together in front of me. Then I will split all those people into 2 mobs.
33I will put one mob on one side of me, and the other mob on the other side of me.
34Then I will say to those on my right-hand side, ‘Come on, you mob. My Father is happy with you, so you can be in his family. He made a good place for you long ago, when he made the world. It is ready for you now.
35You see, at one time I was hungry, and you gave me some food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me some water to drink. I was a stranger with nowhere to live, so you took me into your home.
36In the cold weather time I didn’t have enough clothes to keep me warm, so you gave me some more clothes. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you visited me there.’
37Then these good people will say, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry, and feed you? Or thirsty, and give you water to drink?
38When did we ever see you as a stranger, and take you into our homes? When did we ever see you short of clothes, and give you some more?
39When did we ever see you sick, or in prison, and look after you?’
40I will say to them, ‘Listen, this is true. You did all these things to help my followers. They were not important people, but they were mine, so every time you helped them, you helped me at the same time.’
41Then I will turn to those on my left-hand side, and I will say to them, ‘Get away from me, you mob that God will punish. Go into that big fire that burns for ever. God made that fire for the devil and his bad spirits, and you have to go there too.
42You see, I was hungry, but you didn’t give me anything to eat. I was thirsty, but you didn’t give me a drink.
43I was a stranger with nowhere to live, but you didn’t take me into your home. I didn’t have enough clothes to keep me warm, but you didn’t give me any more clothes. I was sick, and in prison, but you didn’t visit me.’
44Then they will say, ‘But Sir, when did we ever see you with those problems and not help you? We never saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or short of clothes, or sick, or in prison.’
45And I will say to them, ‘Listen, this is true. You wouldn’t do anything to help my friends. They were not important people, but they were my people. Every time you said “No” to helping them, at that same time you were saying “No” to helping me.’
46Then that bad mob will go to the bad place, and God will punish them for ever. But the good mob will go to live in the good place for ever.”