Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Luke Part 6

He answered; "for mult.i.tudes, I tell you, will endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed.

013:025 As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say, "'Sir, open the door for us'--"'I do not know you,'

He answers; 'you are no friends of mine.'

013:026 "Then you will plead, "'We have eaten and drunk in your company and you have taught in our streets.'

013:027 "But He will reply, "'I tell you that you are no friends of mine.

Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'

013:028 "There will be the weeping and gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of G.o.d, and yourselves being driven far away.

013:029 They will come from east and west, from north and south, and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of G.o.d.

013:030 And I tell you that some now last will then be first, and some now first will then be last."

013:031 Just at that time there came some Pharisees who warned Him, saying, "Leave this place and continue your journey; Herod means to kill you."

013:032 "Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox: "'See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'

013:033 "Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow and the day following; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

013:034 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

013:035 See, your house is left to you. But I tell you that you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

014:001 One day--it was a Sabbath--He was taking a meal at the house of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party, while they were closely watching Him.

014:002 In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.

014:003 This led Jesus to ask the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it allowable to cure people on the Sabbath?"

014:004 They gave Him no answer; so He took hold of the man, cured him, and sent him away.

014:005 Then He turned to them and said, "Which of you shall have a child or an ox fall into a well on the Sabbath day, and will not immediately lift him out?"

014:006 To this they could make no reply.

014:007 Then, when He noticed that the invited guests chose the best seats, He used this as an ill.u.s.tration and said to them, 014:008 "When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you may have been asked, 014:009 and the man who invited you both will come and will say to you, 'Make room for this guest,' and then you, ashamed, will move to the lowest place.

014:010 On the contrary, when you are invited go and take the lowest place, that when your host comes round he may say to you, 'My friend, come up higher.' This will be doing you honour in the presence of all the other guests.

014:011 For whoever uplifts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be uplifted.

014:012 Also to His host, who had invited Him, He said, "When you give a breakfast or a dinner, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they should invite you in return and a requital be made you.

014:013 But when you entertain, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; 014:014 and you will be blessed, because they have no means of requiting you, but there will be requital for you at the Resurrection of the righteous."

014:015 After listening to this teaching, one of His fellow guests said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall feast in G.o.d's Kingdom."

014:016 "A man once gave a great dinner," replied Jesus, "to which he invited a large number of guests.

014:017 At dinner-time he sent his servant to announce to those who had been invited, "'Come, for things are now ready.'

014:018 "But they all without exception began to excuse themselves.

The first told him, "'I have purchased a piece of land, and must of necessity go and look at it. Pray hold me excused.'

014:019 "A second pleaded, "'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and am on my way to try them. Pray hold me excused.'

014:020 "Another said, "'I am just married. It is impossible for me to come.'

014:021 "So the servant came and brought these answers to his master, and they stirred his anger. "'Go out quickly,' he said, 'into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow.

You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them all in here.'

014:022 "Soon the servant reported the result, saying, "'Sir, what you ordered is done, and there is room still.'

014:023 "'Go out,' replied the master, 'to the high roads and hedge-rows, and compel the people to come in, so that my house may be filled.

014:024 For I tell you that not one of those who were invited shall taste my dinner.'"

014:025 On His journey vast crowds attended Him, towards whom He turned and said, 014:026 "If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

014:027 No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.

014:028 "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means to finish it?-- 014:029 lest perhaps, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to finish, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him, 014:030 saying, 'This man began to build, but could not finish.'

014:031 Or what king, marching to encounter another king in war, does not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand men to meet the one who is advancing against him with twenty thousand?

014:032 If not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers and sues for peace.

014:033 Just as no one of you who does not detach himself from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.

014:034 "Salt is good: but if even the salt has become tasteless, what will you use to season it?

014:035 Neither for land nor dunghill is it of any use; they throw it away. Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"

015:001 Now the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners were everywhere in the habit of coming close to Him to listen to Him; 015:002 and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to complain, saying, "He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and joins them at their meals!"

015:003 So in figurative language He asked them, 015:004 "Which of you men, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in their pasture and go in search of the lost one till he finds it?

015:005 And when he has found it, he lifts it on his shoulder, glad at heart.

015:006 Then coming home he calls his friends and neighbours together, and says, 'Congratulate me, for I have found my sheep-- the one I had lost.'

015:007 I tell you that in the same way there will be rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner--more rejoicing than over ninety-nine blameless persons who have no need of repentance.

015:008 "Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully till she finds it?

015:009 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, and says, "'Congratulate me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.'

015:010 "I tell you that in the same way there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of G.o.d over one repentant sinner."

015:011 He went on to say, "There was a man who had two sons.

015:012 The younger of them said to his father, "'Father, give me the share of the property that comes to me.' "So he divided his wealth between them.

015:013 No long time afterwards the younger son got all together and travelled to a distant country, where he wasted his money in debauchery and excess.

015:014 At last, when he had spent everything, there came a terrible famine throughout that country, and he began to feel the pinch of want.

015:015 So he went and hired himself to one of the inhabitants of that country, who sent him on to his farm to tend swine; 015:016 and he longed to make a hearty meal of the pods the swine were eating, but no one gave him any.

015:017 "But on coming to himself he said, "'How many of my father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here am dying of hunger!

015:018 I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you: 015:019 I no longer deserve to be called a son of yours: treat me as one of your hired men.'

015:020 "So he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.

015:021 "'Father,' cried the son, 'I have sinned against Heaven and before you: no longer do I deserve to be called a son of yours.'

015:022 "But the father said to his servants, "'Fetch a good coat quickly-- the best one--and put it on him; and bring a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet.

015:023 Fetch the fat calf and kill it, and let us feast and enjoy ourselves; 015:024 for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he was lost and has been found.' "And they began to be merry.

015:025 "Now his elder son was out on the farm; and when he returned and came near home, he heard music and dancing.

015:026 Then he called one of the lads to him and asked what all this meant.

015:027 "'Your brother has come,' he replied; 'and your father has had the fat calf killed, because he has got him home safe and sound.'

015:028 "Then he was angry and would not go in. But his father came out and entreated him.

015:029 "'All these years,' replied the son, 'I have been slaving for you, and I have never at any time disobeyed any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, for me to enjoy myself with my friends; 015:030 but now that this son of yours is come who has eaten up your property among his bad women, you have killed the fat calf for him.'

015:031 "'You my dear son,' said the father, 'are always with me, and all that is mine is also yours.

015:032 We are bound to make merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life, he was lost and has been found.'"

016:001 He said also to His disciples: "There was a rich man who had a steward, about whom a report was brought to him, that he was wasting his property.

016:002 He called him and said, "'What is this I hear about you?

Render an account of your stewards.h.i.+p, for I cannot let you hold it any longer.'

016:003 "Then the steward said within himself, "'What am I to do?

For my master is taking away the stewards.h.i.+p from me.

I am not strong enough for field labour: to beg, I should be ashamed.

016:004 I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from the stewards.h.i.+p they may give me a home in their own houses.'

016:005 "So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and asked the first, 'How much are you in debt to my master?'

016:006 "'A hundred firkins of oil,' he replied. "'Here is your account,'

said the steward: 'sit down quickly and change it into fifty firkins.'

016:007 "To a second he said, "'And how much do you owe?' "'A hundred quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "'Here is your account,'

said he: 'change it into eighty quarters.'

016:008 "And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.

016:009 "But I charge you, so to use the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.

016:010 The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small matter is dishonest in a great one also.

016:011 If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the wealth that is tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?

016:012 And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that which is not your own, who will give you that which is your own?

016:013 "No servant can be in bondage to two masters.

For either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will cling fast to one and scorn the other.

You cannot be bondservants both of G.o.d and of gold."

016:014 To all this the Pharisees listened, bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.

016:015 "You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own goodness before men, but G.o.d sees your hearts; for that which holds a proud position among men is detestable in G.o.d's sight.

016:016 The Law and the Prophets continued until John came: from that time the Good News of the Kingdom of G.o.d has been spreading, and all cla.s.ses have been forcing their way into it.

016:017 But it is easier for earth and sky to pa.s.s away than for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.

016:018 Every man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries her when so divorced from her husband commits adultery.

016:019 "There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself in purple and fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet every day, 016:020 while at his outer door there lay a beggar, Lazarus by name, 016:021 covered with sores and longing to make a full meal off the sc.r.a.ps flung on the floor from the rich man's table.

Nay, the dogs, too, used to come and lick his sores.

016:022 "But in course of time the beggar died; and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and had a funeral.

016:023 And in Hades, being in torment, he looked and saw Abraham in the far distance, and Lazarus resting in his arms.