Luke 16 (NMV)
1 Now He said to the disciples: "There was a rich man who received a report that his manager was wasting his possessions.
2 So he called him in and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.'
3 Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do? My master is taking away my position. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg.
4 I know what I'll do so that when I'm removed from my position, people will welcome me into their homes.'
5 So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6 'A hundred measures of olive oil,' he said. The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.'
7 Next he asked another, 'How much do you owe?' 'A hundred measures of wheat,' he said. He told him, 'Take your bill and write eighty.'
8 The master praised the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.
9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.
10 Whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little is also dishonest with much.
11 So if you have not been trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?
13 No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and ridiculed Him.
15 And He told them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. For what people highly value is detestable in God's sight.
16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is urged to enter it.
17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for even the smallest mark that distinguishes letters in Hebrew, in the Law to drop out.
18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband also commits adultery.
19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was laid at his gate.
21 He longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torment in Hades [the temporary place where the dead await judgment], he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus at his side.
24 'Father Abraham!' 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 agony in this flame!'
25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received good things, just as Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, a great chasm has been set between us and you, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.'
27 'Then I beg you, father,' he said, 'send him to my father's house,
28 because I have five brothers, to warn them, so they won't also come to this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; they 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 even if someone rises from the dead.'"