Luke 16 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Jesus also told this to his students: "There was a rich man who had a manager, and someone reported to him that this manager was wasting his assets.

So he called him in and said, 'What's this I'm hearing about you? Turn in your accounts — you can't be my manager anymore.'

The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do? My master is firing me. I'm not strong enough to dig ditches, and I'm too proud to beg.

I know what I'll do — so that when I lose this job, people will welcome me into their homes.'

So he called in each person who owed his master money. He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?'

He said, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' The manager told him, 'Sit down, take your bill, and quickly write fifty.'

Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' The manager told him, 'Take your bill and write eighty.'

And the master actually praised the dishonest manager for being so shrewd. Because people who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their own kind than people who belong to the light.

And I'm telling you: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it runs out, they'll welcome you into homes that last forever.

"Whoever is trustworthy with very little will also be trustworthy with a lot. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with a lot.

So if you haven't been trustworthy with worldly wealth, who's going to trust you with what's genuinely valuable?

And if you haven't been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who's going to give you what's meant for you?

"No household worker can serve two masters. Either you'll hate one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to one and look down on the other. You can't serve both God and Money."

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at him.

Jesus said to them, "You're the ones who make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what's really in your hearts. What people admire most is disgusting to God.

"The Law and the Prophets were in effect until John. Since then, the good news of God's kingdom is being announced, and everyone is fighting to get in.

But it's easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to lose its force.

"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman is being unfaithful. And anyone who marries a divorced woman is being unfaithful.

"There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen, living it up in luxury every single day.

And right at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores,

wishing he could eat just the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

Eventually the poor man died, and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

In the world of the dead, where he was in agony, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus at his side.

So he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.'

But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that during your lifetime you got all your good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he's being comforted here, and you're in agony.

And on top of all that, there's a massive chasm fixed between us and you, so that anyone who wants to cross from here to you can't, and no one can cross from there to us.'

He said, 'Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father's house —

because I have five brothers — let him warn them so they don't end up in this place of agony too.'

Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.'

'No, Father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they'll completely change direction.'

Abraham told him, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they won't be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"