Luke 12 - LSB Bible Online

Luke 12

Fear Only God

At this time, after ¹so many thousands of the crowd had gathered together that they were trampling on one another, He began saying to His disciples first, “^aBe on your guard for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 ^aBut there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3 Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have ¹whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon ^athe housetops.
4 “But I say to you, ^aMy friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom to fear: ^afear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into ¹^bhell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! 6 Are not ^afive sparrows sold for two ¹assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 ^aIndeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

8 “And I say to you, everyone who ^aconfesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God, 9 but ^ahe who denies Me before men will be denied ^bbefore the angels of God. 10 ^aAnd everyone who ¹speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. 11 Now when they bring you before ^athe synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not ^bworry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, 12 for ^athe Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Parable of the Rich Fool

13 And someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “^aMan, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 Then He said to them, “^aWatch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, ^ayou have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘^aYou fool! This very night ¹^byour soul is required of you; and ^cnow who will own what you prepared?’ 21 So is the one who ^astores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Worry

22 And He said to His disciples, “^aFor this reason I say to you, ¹do not worry about your ²life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ^aravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor ^bbarn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! 25 And which of you by worrying can add a single ¹^acubit to his ²life span? 26 Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even ^aSolomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? ^aYou of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not ^akeep worrying. 30 For ¹all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek His kingdom, and ^athese things will be added to you. 32 ^aDo not fear, ^blittle flock, for ^cyour Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.
33 “^aSell your possessions and give it as charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, ^ban unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 For ^awhere your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Be Ready for His Coming

35 “^aGird up ^byour loins, and keep your lamps lit. 36 And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find ^aawake when he comes; truly I say to you, that ^bhe will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 ^aWhether he comes in the ¹second watch, or even in the ²third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 “^aBut ¹be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be ²^bbroken into. 40 ^aYou too, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not ¹expect.”
41 Now Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or ^ato everyone else as well?” 42 And ^athe Lord said, “^bWho then is the faithful and prudent ^csteward, whom his master will put in charge of his ¹servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that ^aslave whom his ¹master finds so doing when he comes. 44 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master ¹will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will ^areceive many beatings, 48 but the one who did not ^aknow it, and committed deeds worthy of a beating, will receive but a few. ^bFrom everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Not Peace, but Division

49 “I ¹have come to cast fire upon the earth, and ²how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a ^abaptism to ¹undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! 51 ^aDo you think that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, ^afather against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
54 And He was also saying to the crowds, “^aWhen you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. 55 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a ^ahot day,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! ^aYou know how to examine the appearance of the earth and the sky, but ¹why do you not examine this present time?
57 “And ^awhy do you not even judge for yourselves what is right? 58 For ^awhile you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to ¹settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last ¹^alepton.”

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