3 ‘The manager said to himself, “What am I going to do? My master is taking my job away from me. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I'll do, so that when I'm dismissed as manager, people will welcome me into their homes.”

5 ‘He called in each one of his master's debtors.^a He asked the first one, “How much do you owe my master?”

6 ‘“Three thousand litres of olive oil,” he answered.

‘“Take your bill," the manager said to him, "sit down quickly, and write on it fifteen hundred litres.”

7 ‘Then he asked another, “How much do you owe?”

‘“Thirty tons of wheat,” he replied.

‘The manager said to him, “Take your bill, and write on it twenty-four.”

8 ‘The master praised the corrupt manager because he'd acted shrewdly.^b

‘You see, the children of this age are more shrewd toward their own kind than are the children of the light. 9 So I tell you, make friends for yourselves using deceitful wealth,^c so that when it is spent, they will welcome you into eternal homes.

10 ‘Anyone who is trustworthy with very little will also be trustworthy with much; and anyone who is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy with deceitful wealth, who's going to trust you with true wealth? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who's going to give you what will belong to you?

13 No one can serve two masters. For a servant will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both Allah and money.’

14 The Pharisees were listening to all this and sneering at 'Īsā, because they loved money. 15 He said to them, ‘You are the ones who make yourselves appear righteous in the sight of others; but Allah knows your hearts. What is highly valued among human beings is detestable to Allah.

16 ‘The Taurāt and the Books of the Prophets^d were taught until the time of Yahyā. From that time on, the kingdom of Allah^e is being proclaimed^f and all are urged strongly to come into it.^g 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for a single pen-stroke to drop out of the Taurāt.^h

18 ‘Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.’ⁱ

19 ‘There was a rich man who wore expensive purple^j cloth and fine linen and enjoyed great luxury every day. 20 There was also a poor man named Lazarus,^k who was laid at the rich man's gate and who was covered with sores. 21 He longed to eat his fill from what fell from the rich man's table. Instead, the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 ‘The time came for the poor man to die, and he was carried by the angels to Ibrāhīm's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In barzakh, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Ibrāhīm from a great distance, and Lazarus at his side. 24 He cried out, “Father Ibrāhīm, show me some mercy and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I'm in agony in this fire.”^l

25 ‘But Ibrāhīm said, “Son, remember that you received your good things in your life, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here while you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, there is a great chasm fixed between us and you, so that those who want to go across from here to you cannot do so, nor can anybody cross over from there to us.”

27 ‘The rich man said, “Then please father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 where I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they won't also come to this place of torment.”

29 ‘Ibrāhīm answered, “They have (the Taurāt of) Mūsā and the Books of the Prophets.^m Let them listen to them.”

30 ‘“No, father Ibrāhīm,” he replied, “but if someone from the dead would go to them, they will repent.”

31 ‘Ibrāhīm said to him, “If they don't listen to (the Taurāt of) Mūsā and the Books of the Prophets, then even if someone were to rise from the dead they will still not be convinced.”’