And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many possessions stored up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, celebrate!" '

But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your life is demanded from you, and [the things] which you have prepared--whose will they be?'

Blessed [are] those slaves whom the master will find on the alert [when he] returns! Truly I say to you that he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table and will come by [and] serve them.

But understand this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish that it had been kindled already!

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am distressed until it is accomplished!

Do you think that I have come to grant peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid back even the last cent!"

So he said to the gardener, 'Behold, {for three years} I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find [any]. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?'

And he sent his slave at the hour of the banquet to say to those who have been invited, 'Come, because now it is ready!'

And they all {alike} began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field, and {I must} go out to look at it. I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have married a wife, and for this [reason] I am not able to come.'

And [when he] returns to [his] home, he calls together [his] friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!'

I tell you that in the [same] way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

And [when she] has found [it], she calls together [her] friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!'

"But [when he] came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired workers have an abundance {of food}, and I am dying here from hunger!

I will set out [and] go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and {in your sight}!

And [his] son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and {in your sight}! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!'

But he answered [and] said to his father, 'Behold, so many years I have served you, and have never disobeyed your command! And you never gave me a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends!

But he said to him, 'Child, you are always with me, and {everything I have belongs to you}.

If then you have not been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true [riches]?

And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you your own?

And he called out [and] said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he could dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering pain in this flame!'

for I have five brothers, so that he could warn them, in order that they also should not come to this place of torment!'

But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they must listen to them.'

So the Lord said, "If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Thus you also, when you have done all the {things you were ordered to do}, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done what we were obligated to do.'"

And they raised [their] voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth."

And [when he] heard [this], Jesus said to him, "{You still lack one thing}: Sell all that you have, and distribute [the proceeds] to the poor--and you will have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."

And Peter said, "Behold, we have left {all that is ours} [and] followed you."

And he called out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

And those who were in front rebuked him, that he should be silent, but he cried out {even more loudly}, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

And Zacchaeus stopped [and] said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I am giving to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I am paying [it] back four times [as much]!"

And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small thing, {have authority} over ten cities.'

And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, [when I] returned, would have collected it with interest?'

'I tell you that to everyone who has, [more] will be given. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

saying to them, "It is written, 'And my house will be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a cave of robbers!"

"Show me a denarius! Whose image and inscription does it have?" And they answered [and] said, "Caesar's."

And some of the scribes answered [and] said, "Teacher, you have spoken well."

But be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these [things] [that] are going to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man."

And he said to them, "Behold, [when] you have entered into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters.

And he said to them, "{I have earnestly desired} to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

So he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called benefactors.

"And you are the ones who have remained with me in my trials,

but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And you, [when] once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

And he said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times [that you] know me!"

And he said to them, "But now the one who has a money bag must take [it], and likewise a traveler's bag. And the one who does not have a sword must sell his cloak and buy [one].

And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs, as against a robber?

And they said, "Why do we have need [of] further testimony? For [we] ourselves have heard [it] from his mouth!"

And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man misleading our nation and forbidding [us] to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying [he] himself is Christ, a king!"

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving {what we deserve} [for] what we have done. But this man has done nothing wrong!"

And one [of them], {named} Cleopas, answered [and] said to him, "[Are] you the only one living near Jerusalem and not knowing the things that have happened in it in these days?"

And he said to them, "O foolish and slow in heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

Look at my hands and my feet, that I am I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as {you see that I have}."

And [while] they were still disbelieving because of joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Do you have anything {to eat} here?"

For from his fullness we have all received, and grace after grace.

And John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and remaining upon him.

And I have seen and testify that this one is the Chosen One of God.

This one first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is translated "Christ").

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found [the one] whom Moses wrote [about] in the law, and the prophets wrote [about]--Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth!"

And [when the] wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine!"

And Jesus said to her, "What {does your concern have to do with me}, woman? My hour has not yet come."

and said to him, "{Everyone} serves the good wine first, and whenever they are drunk, the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"

Truly, truly I say to you, we speak what we know, and we testify [about] what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony!

so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life."

For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.

So the Samaritan woman said to him, "How do you, being a Jew, ask from me [water] to drink, [since I] am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, 'Give me [water] to drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep! From where then do you get this living water?

The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus said to her, "You have said rightly, 'I do not have a husband,'

for you have had five husbands, and [the one] whom you have now is not your husband; this you have said truthfully!"

"Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Perhaps this one is the Christ?"

But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."

I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have worked, and you have entered into their work."

Now from that town many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything that I have done."

And they were saying to the woman, "No longer because of {what you said} do we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world!"

The one who was sick answered him, "Sir, I do not have anyone that, whenever the water is stirred up, could put me into the pool. But {while} I am coming, another goes down before me."

After these [things] Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "Look, you have become well! Sin no longer, lest something worse happen to you."

For just as the Father has life in himself, thus also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.

and they will come out--those who have done good [things] to a resurrection of life, but those who have practiced evil [things] to a resurrection of judgment.

You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.

"But I have a testimony greater than John's, for the works which the Father has given to me that I should complete them--the very works which I am doing--[these] testify about me, that the Father has sent me.

And the Father who sent me, that one has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form.

And you do not have his word residing in yourselves, because the one whom that one sent, in this one you do not believe.

You search the scriptures because you think that you have eternal life in them, and it is these that testify about me.

And you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me. If another should come in his own name, you would accept that one!

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father! The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope!

But I said to you that you have seen me and do not believe.

because I have come down from heaven not that I should do my will, but the will of the one who sent me.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him would have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

and they were saying, "Is this one not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves!

The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

And we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

The crowd replied, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"