this son of thine is come, who hath devoured thy substance 31 with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. In reply to which his father said to him, Son, thou art always with me; 32 and all that I have is thine. But we ought to feast and rejoice because this thy brother was dead and is come to life. He was indeed lost and is now found. XVI. Then he said to his disciples, There was a certain rich 2 man who had a steward. And this steward was accused of having wasted his substance. So having called him, he said to him, What is this that I hear of thee? Give an account of 3 thy stewardship; for thou canst no longer be steward. Thereupon the steward said within himself, What am I to do, since 4 my lord taketh from me the stewardship; I am not able to dig: to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am removed from the stewardship, I may be received 5 into their houses. So having sent severally for every of his lord's tenants, he said to the first, How much art thou to pay 6 to my lord? And he said, A hundred baths of oil. There upon he said to him, Take thy lease, and sit down quickly, and 7 write Fifty. Then he said to another, And how much art thou to pay? And he said, a hundred corest of wheat. Where8 upon he saith to him, Take thy lease and write Eighty. And the master commended the unjust steward, because he had acted prudently. Because the children of this world are more prudent for 9 their generation, than the children of the light, are for theirs; therefore I say to you, From the worldly prudence of this unrighteousness, make ye friends for yourselves, that when 10 you fail, ye may be received into the everlasting abodes. He who is faithful in very little, is faithful also in much; and he 11 who is unjust in very little, is unjust also in much. If you then were not faithful with this unjust worldly prudence‡ who 12 will entrust to you the true? And if you were not faithful with that which is another's, will any one give you that to be * Bath, a liquid measure, supposed to contain seven and a half gallons. † Core, a dry measure supposed to contain eight and a half bushels. 13 your own? No servant can serve two masters; for he will either hate one, and love the other; or he will attach himself to one, and despise the other: you cannot serve God and worldly prudence. 14 When the Pharisees who loved money heard all these 15 things they treated him with scorn. Whereupon he said to them, You are they who justify yourselves before men ; but 16 God knoweth your hearts. Because that which is high among men, is an abomination in the sight of God, the law and the 17 prophets were until John. From that time the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and into it every one is pressing. But sooner shall the heaven and the earth perish, than one tittle of 18 the law fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery. And whoever marrieth her who hath been divorced committeth adultery. 19 There was a certain rich man who was clad with purple and cotton robes, and who feasted daily in a splendid man20 ner. And there was a certain poor man, named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, desirous indeed to be fed 21 with the crumbs which fell from his table: and moreover the 22 dogs came and licked his sores. At length this poor man died, and was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. And 23 the rich man died also, and was buried. And in the mansion of the dead having lifted up his eyes, being in torment, he 24 seeth Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. Whereupon he cried and said, Father, Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and 25 cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. And Abra ham said, Son, remember that thou receivedst thy good things in thy life time; and Lazarus in like manner, his evil things. 26 But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. But be sides all this, there is betwixt us and you, a huge gulf fixed; so that they, who would go hence to you, cannot. Neither 27 can they who are there, cross over to us. Then he said, I in28 treat thee therefore, Father, to send him to my father's house; for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, that they 29 also may not come to this place of torment. To this Abraham replied, They have Moses and the prophets; let them heark30 en to them. Whereupon he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if 31 one go to them from the dead, they will reform. And Abraham said to him, If they will not hearken to Moses, and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one should rise from the dead. XVII. Then he said to his disciples, It is not to be supposed 2 that offences will not come; but alas for him, by whom they come. It would be better for him to have a millstone hanged about his neck and to be thrown into the sea, than to cause 3 one of these little ones to stumble. Take heed to yourselves. And if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him and if 4 he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day, and seven times a day return to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5 Upon this the disciples said to the Lord, Increase our 6 faith. Whereupon the Lord said to them, If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you might say to that sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up and planted in the sea. And it would obey you. 7 Now would any of you, having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, say to him immediately on his coming from the 8 field, Come in and sit down to table: would he not rather say to him, Get ready my supper, and gird thyself and wait upon me, until I have done eating and drinking; and afterwards 9 thou mayst eat and drink? Doth he think himself obliged to 10 that servant for obeying his orders? I think not. So when you 11 have done all that you are commanded to do, say, We are servants who have conferred no favour; for we have only done what we were bound to do. Now as he was going to Jerusalem, he passed along the 12 confines of Samaria and Galilee. And as he was entering a cer13 tain village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 14 and cried with a loud voice, saying, Jesus, master, have pity on us. And upon seeing them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass that as they were 15 going they were cleansed. Whereupon one of them perceiv ing that he was healed, returned glorifying God with a loud 16 voice; and prostrating himself at the feet of Jesus, gave him 17 thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Upon this, Jesus address18 ing him, said, Were not the ten cleansed? Where then are the nine? Have none returned to give glory to God, but 19 only this alien? Then he said to him, Rise and go thy way. Thy faith hath cured thee. 20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the reign of God would 21 commence, he answered and said to them, The reign of God doth not commence with parade; nor shall they say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! For behold the reign of God is within you. 22 Then he said to his disciples, The days will come, when you 23 will earnestly desire to see one of the days of the son of man, 24 and will not see it. When they say to you, Lo, here! or Lo, yonder! Go not out, nor follow them. For as the lightning flasheth from one part of the sky to another, so will the son 25 of man be in his day. But he must first suffer many things 26 and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days 27 of Noe, so will it be in the days of the son of man. They ate; they drank; they married, and were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered the ark; and the flood came and de28 stroyed them all. Just so it was also in the days of Lot. They ate; they drank; they bought; they sold; they planted; they 29 built: but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even 30 so will it be on the day when the son of man will be revealed. 31 On that day, whoever shall be on the house top, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to carry them away. And in like manner let not him who shall be in the field turn back 32 to what is behind him. Remember Lot's wife. One, though 33 he may seek to save his life, shall lose it. And another, though 34 he may expose his life, shall save it. On that night, I assure 35 you, there will be two on one couch, the one will be taken and 36 the other left. Two women will be grinding together; the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field, 37 the one will be taken and the other left. Then some addressing him, said, Where, Master! And he said to them, Wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles assemble. XVIII. Then he addressed them with a parable, to shew them 2 that they ought to persevere in prayer, and not be discouraged; saying, There was in a certain city a judge, who neither fear3 ed God, nor regarded man. And there was in that city a widow, who went to him, saying, Do me justice on mine adversa4 ry. And for a while he would not. But afterwards he said within 5 himself, Though I neither fear God, nor regard man, yet because this widow giveth me trouble, I will do her justice, that 6 she may not, by coming perpetually, torment me. And the 7 Lord said, Hear what this unjust judge saith! And will not God vindicate the cause of his chosen, who are crying to him 8 day and night? Will he linger in their cause? He will, I assure you, vindicate their cause speedily. But will the son of man, when he cometh, find this belief in this land? 9 Then with a view to some who had a confidence in them10 selves that they were righteous, and who despised others, he spake this parable, Two men went up to the temple to pray; the one, a Pharisee; and the other, a publican. The Pharisee, 11 standing by himself, prayed thus, O God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers; nor 12 even as that publican. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all 13 that I possess. But the publican, who stood at a distance, did not presume so much as to lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying; God, be merciful to me a sin14 ner. I tell you, this man went down to his house acquitted, and not the other. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be humbled, but he who humbleth himself shall be exalted. 15 When they brought even little children to him that he might touch them, and his disciples observing it, rebuked them; 16 Jesus thereupon having called the children to him, said, Suf fer the children to come to me, and do not hinder them, for of 17 such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say to you, Whosoever will not as a child receive the kingdom of God, he shall in no wise enter it. 18 When a certain chief asked him, saying, Good teacher, 19 What shall I do that I may obtain everlasting life? Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? None is good but God 20 alone. Thou knowest the commandments-thou shalt not commit adultery-thou shalt not commit murder-thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness-honour thy fa21 ther and thy mother. And he said, all these I have kept from 22 my youth. Upon hearing this, Jesus said to him, There is still one thing wanting to thee. Sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. 23 Then come and follow me. At hearing this he was very sor |