141 It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread , they were watching Him closely . 2 And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy . 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees , saying , " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath , or not?" 4 But they kept silent . And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away . 5 And He said to them, " Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well , and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day ?" 6 And they could make no reply to this .
7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast , do not take the place of honor , for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both e will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man ,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place . 10 "But when you are invited , go and recline at the last place , so that when the one who has invited you comes , he may say to you, 'Friend , move up higher '; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 " For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled , and he who humbles himself will be exalted ." 12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner , do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors , otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment . 13 "But when you give a reception , invite the poor , the crippled , the lame , the blind , 14 and you will be blessed , since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous ."
15 When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this , he said to Him, " Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God !" 16 But He said to him, " A man was giving a big dinner , and he invited many ; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited , 'Come ; for everything is ready now .' 18 "But they all alike e began to make excuses . The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused .' 19 "Another one said , 'I have bought five yoke of oxen , and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused .' 20 "Another one said , ' I have married a wife , and for that reason I cannot e come .' 21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master . Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave , 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame .' 22 "And the slave said , 'Master , what you commanded has been done , and still there is room .' 23 "And the master said to the slave , 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges , and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled . 24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner .' "
25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 " If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters , yes , and even his own life , he cannot e be My disciple . 27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot e be My disciple . 28 "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower , does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 "Otherwise e , when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish , all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying , 'This man began to build and was not able to finish .' 31 "Or what king , when he sets out to meet another king in battle , will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand ? 32 "Or else , while the other is still far away , he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace . 33 "So then , none e of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions .
34 "Therefore , salt is good ; but if even salt has become tasteless , with what will it be seasoned ? 35 "It is useless e either for the soil or for the manure pile ; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear , let him hear ."
151 Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble , saying , "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So He told them this parable , saying , 4 " What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine e in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders , rejoicing . 6 "And when he comes home , he calls together his friends and his neighbors , saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost !' 7 "I tell you that in the same way , there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine e righteous persons who need no repentance .
8 "Or what woman , if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin , does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 "When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors , saying , 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost !' 10 "In the same way , I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents ."
11 And He said , "A man had two sons . 12 "The younger of them said to his father , 'Father , give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. 13 "And not many days later , the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country , and there he squandered his estate with loose living . 14 "Now when he had spent everything , a severe famine occurred in that country , and he began to be impoverished . 15 "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country , and he sent him into his fields to feed swine . 16 "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating , and no one was giving anything to him. 17 "But when he came to his senses , he said , 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread , but I am dying here with hunger ! 18 'I will get up and go to my father , and will say to him, "Father , I have sinned against heaven , and in your sight ; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son ; make me as one of your hired men ."' 20 "So he got up and came to his father . But while he was still a long way off , his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced e e him and kissed him. 21 "And the son said to him, 'Father , I have sinned against heaven and in your sight ; I am no longer worthy to be called your son .' 22 "But the father said to his slaves , 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet ; 23 and bring the fattened calf , kill it, and let us eat and celebrate ; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again ; he was lost and has been found .' And they began to celebrate . 25 "Now his older son was in the field , and when he came and approached the house , he heard music and dancing . 26 "And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what e these things could be. 27 "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come , and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound .' 28 "But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. 29 "But he answered and said to his father , 'Look ! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours ; and yet you have never given me a young goat , so that I might celebrate with my friends ; 30 but when this son of yours came , who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes , you killed the fattened calf for him.' 31 "And he said to him, 'Son , you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours . 32 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice , for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live , and was lost and has been found .' "
161 Now He was also saying to the disciples , "There was a rich man who had a manager , and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions . 2 "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management , for you can no longer be manager .' 3 "The manager said to himself , 'What shall I do , since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ; I am ashamed to beg . 4 'I know what I shall do , so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes .' 5 "And he summoned each one of his master's debtors , and he began saying to the first , 'How much do you owe my master ?' 6 "And he said , 'A hundred measures of oil .' And he said to him, 'Take your bill , and sit down quickly and write fifty .' 7 "Then he said to another , 'And how much do you owe ?' And he said , 'A hundred measures of wheat .' He said to him, 'Take your bill , and write eighty .' 8 "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly ; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light . 9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness , so that when it fails , they will receive you into the eternal dwellings . 10 " He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much ; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much . 11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth , who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's , who will give you that which is your own? 13 " No servant can serve two masters ; for either he will hate the one and love the other , or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other . You cannot e serve God and wealth ." 14 Now the Pharisees , who were lovers of money , were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men , but God knows your hearts ; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God .
16 " The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John ; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached , and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 " But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail .
18 " Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery , and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery .
19 "Now there was a rich man , and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen , joyously living in splendor every day . 20 "And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate , covered with sores , 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table ; besides , even the dogs were coming and licking his sores . 22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom ; and the rich man also died and was buried . 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes , being in torment , and saw Abraham far away e and Lazarus in his bosom . 24 "And he cried out and said , ' Father Abraham , have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue , for I am in agony in this flame .' 25 "But Abraham said , 'Child , remember that during your life you received your good things , and likewise Lazarus bad things ; but now he is being comforted here , and you are in agony . 26 'And besides all this , between us and you there is a great chasm fixed , so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able , and that none may cross over from there to us.' 27 "And he said , 'Then I beg you, father , that you send him to my father's house - 28 for I have five brothers -in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment .' 29 "But Abraham said , 'They have Moses and the Prophets ; let them hear them.' 30 "But he said , 'No , father Abraham , but if someone goes to them from the dead , they will repent !' 31 "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets , they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead .' "