Read the Bible

¹ And he said also to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.² And he called him and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.³ And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed.⁴ I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.⁵ Therefore, calling together every one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord?⁶ But he said: An hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.⁷ Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill and write eighty.⁸ And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.⁹ And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity: that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.¹⁰ He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little is unjust also in that which is greater.¹¹ If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true?¹² And if you have not been faithful in 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 he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.¹⁵ And he said to them: you are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is high to men is an abomination before God.¹⁶ The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the kingdom of God is preached: and every one useth violence towards it.¹⁷ And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fall.¹⁸ Every one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

¹⁹ There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day.²⁰ And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,²¹ Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.²² And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.²³ And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom:²⁴ And he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.²⁵ And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither.²⁷ And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren,²⁸ That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.²⁹ And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.³⁰ But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.³¹ And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.