Luke 15-16

Luke 15

¹And all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming nigh to him, to hear him,

²and the Pharisees and the scribes were murmuring, saying -- This one doth receive sinners, and doth eat with them.'

³And he spake unto them this simile, saying,

⁴‘What man of you having a hundred sheep, and having lost one out of them, doth not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go on after the lost one, till he may find it?

⁵and having found, he doth lay it on his shoulders rejoicing,

⁶and having come to the house, he doth call together the friends and the neighbours, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep -- the lost one.

⁷‘I say to you, that so joy shall be in the heaven over one sinner reforming, rather than over ninety-nine righteous men, who have no need of reformation.

⁸‘Or what woman having ten drachms, if she may lose one drachm, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek carefully till that she may find?

⁹and having found, she doth call together the female friends and the neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found the drachm that I lost.

¹⁰‘So I say to you, joy doth come before the messengers of God over one sinner reforming.'

¹¹And he said, ‘A certain man had two sons,

¹²and the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the portion of the substance falling to me, and he divided to them the living.

¹³‘And not many days after, having gathered all together, the younger son went abroad to a far country, and there he scattered his substance, living riotously;

¹⁴and he having spent all, there came a mighty famine on that country, and himself began to be in want;

¹⁵and having gone on, he joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him to the fields to feed swine,

¹⁶and he was desirous to fill his belly from the husks that the swine were eating, and no one was giving to him.

¹⁷‘And having come to himself, he said, How many hirelings of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I here with hunger am perishing!

¹⁸having risen, I will go on unto my father, and will say to him, Father, I did sin -- to the heaven, and before thee,

¹⁹and no more am I worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hirelings.

²⁰‘And having risen, he went unto his own father, and he being yet far distant, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and having ran he fell upon his neck and kissed him;

²¹and the son said to him, Father, I did sin -- to the heaven, and before thee, and no more am I worthy to be called thy son.

²²‘And the father said unto his servants, Bring forth the first robe, and clothe him, and give a ring for his hand, and sandals for the feet;

²³and having brought the fatted calf, kill it, and having eaten, we may be merry,

²⁴because this my son was dead, and did live again, and he was lost, and was found; and they began to be merry.

²⁵‘And his elder son was in a field, and as, coming, he drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing,

²⁶and having called near one of the young men, he was inquiring what these things might be,

²⁷and he said to him -- Thy brother is arrived, and thy father did kill the fatted calf, because in health he did receive him back.

²⁸‘And he was angry, and would not go in, therefore his father, having come forth, was entreating him;

²⁹and he answering said to the father, Lo, so many years I do serve thee, and never thy command did I transgress, and to me thou didst never give a kid, that with my friends I might make merry;

³⁰but when thy son -- this one who did devour thy living with harlots -- came, thou didst kill to him the fatted calf.

³¹‘And he said to him, Child, thou art always with me, and all my things are thine;

³²but to be merry, and to be glad, it was needful, because this thy brother was dead, and did live again, he was lost, and was found.'

Luke 16

¹And he said also unto his disciples, ‘A certain man was rich, who had a steward, and he was accused to him as scattering his goods;

²and having called him, he said to him, What is this I hear about thee? render the account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest not any longer be steward.

³‘And the steward said in himself, What shall I do, because my lord doth take away the stewardship from me? to dig I am not able, to beg I am ashamed: --

⁴I have known what I shall do, that, when I may be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me to their houses.

⁵‘And having called near each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first, How much dost thou owe to my lord?

⁶and he said, A hundred baths of oil; and he said to him, Take thy bill, and having sat down write fifty.

⁷‘Afterward to another he said, And thou, how much dost thou owe? and he said, A hundred cors of wheat; and he saith to him, Take thy bill, and write eighty.

⁸‘And the lord commended the unrighteous steward that he did prudently, because the sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of the light, in respect to their generation.

⁹and I say to you, Make to yourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye may fail, they may receive you to the age-during tabernacles.

¹⁰‘He who is faithful in the least, is also faithful in much; and he who in the least is unrighteous, is also unrighteous in much;

¹¹if, then, in the unrighteous mammon ye became not faithful -- the true who will entrust to you?

¹²and if in the other's ye became not faithful -- your own, who shall give to you?

¹³‘No domestic is able to serve two lords, for either the one he will hate, and the other he will love; or one he will hold to, and of the other he will be heedless; ye are not able to serve God and mammon.'

¹⁴And also the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and were deriding him,

¹⁵and he said to them, ‘Ye are those declaring yourselves righteous before men, but God doth know your hearts; because that which among men is high, is abomination before God;

¹⁶the law and the prophets are till John; since then the reign of God is proclaimed good news, and every one doth press into it;

¹⁷and it is easier to the heaven and the earth to pass away, than of the law one tittle to fall.

¹⁸‘Every one who is sending away his wife, and marrying another, doth commit adultery; and every one who is marrying her sent away from a husband doth commit adultery.

¹⁹‘And -- a certain man was rich, and was clothed in purple and fine linen, making merry sumptuously every day,

²⁰and there was a certain poor man, by name Lazarus, who was laid at his porch, full of sores,

²¹and desiring to be filled from the crumbs that are falling from the table of the rich man; yea, also the dogs, coming, were licking his sores.

²²‘And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers to the bosom of Abraham -- and the rich man also died, and was buried;

²³and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,

²⁴and having cried, he said, Father Abraham, deal kindly with me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and may cool my tongue, because I am distressed in this flame.

²⁵‘And Abraham said, Child, remember that thou did receive -- thou -- thy good things in thy life, and Lazarus in like manner the evil things, and now he is comforted, and thou art distressed;

²⁶and besides all these things, between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that they who are willing to go over from hence unto you are not able, nor do they from thence to us pass through.

²⁷‘And he said, I pray thee, then, father, that thou mayest send him to the house of my father,

²⁸for I have five brothers, so that he may thoroughly testify to them, that they also may not come to this place of torment.

²⁹‘Abraham saith to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them;

³⁰and he said, No, father Abraham, but if any one from the dead may go unto them, they will reform.

³¹And he said to him, If Moses and the prophets they do not hear, neither if one may rise out of the dead will they be persuaded.'