የብልኁ መጋቢ ምሳሌነት
1ኢየሱስ ለደቀ መዛሙርቱ እንዲህ አለ፤ “አንድ ሀብታም ሰው አንድ መጋቢ ነበረው፤ ይኸው መጋቢ የሀብታሙን ሰው ንብረት እንደሚያባክን ለዚሁ ሰው ወሬ ደረሰው። 2ስለዚህ አስጠራውና፣ ‘ይህ የምሰማብህ ምንድን ነው? ከእንግዲህ አንተ መጋቢ ልትሆነኝ ስለማትችል፣ የምታስተዳድረውን ንብረት መቈጣጠሪያ ሒሳብ አስረክበኝ’ አለው።
3“መጋቢውም በልቡ እንዲህ አለ፤ ‘ጌታዬ ከመጋቢነት ሊሽረኝ ነው፤ ለማረስ ጕልበት የለኝም፤ መለመን ደግሞ ዐፍራለሁ፤ ስለዚህ ምን ላድርግ? 4ከመጋቢነት የተሻርሁ እንደ ሆነ፣ ሰዎች በቤታቸው እንዲቀበሉኝ የማደርገውን ዐውቃለሁ።’
5“ስለዚህ የጌታው ዕዳ ያለባቸውን ሰዎች እያንዳንዳቸውን ጠራ፤ የመጀመሪያውንም ሰው ‘የጌታዬ ዕዳ ምን ያህል አለብህ?’ አለው።
6“እርሱም፣ ‘አንድ መቶ ማድጋ16፥6 ምናልባት 3 ሺሕ ሊትር ይሆናል ዘይት አለብኝ’ አለ።
“መጋቢውም፣ ‘የውል ወረቀትህን ዕንካ፤ ቶሎ ተቀምጠህ “አምሳ ማድጋ” ብለህ ጻፍ’ አለው።
7“ከዚያም ሌላውን፣ ‘አንተስ ስንት አለብህ?’ አለው።
“እርሱም፣ ‘አምሳ ዳውላ16፥7 ምናልባት አንድ መቶ የቆሮስ መስፈሪያ ወይም 35 ሺሕ ሊትር ይሆናል። ስንዴ’ አለው።
“መጋቢውም፣ ‘የብድር ደብዳቤህን ዕንካ፤ “አርባ ዳውላ” ብለህ ጻፍ’ አለው።
8“ጌታውም አጭበርባሪውን መጋቢ በብልኅነቱ አደነቀው፤ የዚህ ዓለም ልጆች ከመሰሎቻቸው ጋር በሚኖራቸው ግንኙነት ከብርሃን ልጆች ይልቅ ብልኆች ናቸውና። 9ስለዚህ እላችኋለሁ፤ የዚህ ዓለም ገንዘብ ባለቀ ጊዜ በዘላለም ቤት ተቀባይነት እንዲኖራችሁ፣ በዚሁ ገንዘብ ወዳጆችን ለራሳችሁ አፍሩበት።
10“በትንሽ ነገር ታማኝ የሆነ በትልቁም ይታመናል፤ በትንሽ ነገር ያልታመነ በትልቁም አይታመንም። 11እንግዲህ፣ በዚህ ዓለም ሀብት ካልታመናችሁ፣ እውነተኛውንማ ሀብት ማን ዐደራ ብሎ ይሰጣችኋል? 12በሌላው ሰው ሀብት ካልታመናችሁ፣ የራሳችሁ የሆነውን ሀብት ማን ይሰጣችኋል?
13“በአንድ ጊዜ ሁለት ጌቶችን ማገልገል የሚችል ማንም ባሪያ የለም፤ አንዱን ጠልቶ ሌላውን ይወድዳል፤ ወይም አንዱን ይጠጋል፤ ሌላውን ይንቃል። የእግዚአብሔርም የገንዘብም ባሪያ መሆን አትችሉም።”
14ገንዘብ የሚወድዱ ፈሪሳውያን ይህን ሁሉ ሰምተው በኢየሱስ ላይ አፌዙበት። 15እርሱም እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “እናንተ በሰዎች ፊት ራሳችሁን የምታጸድቁ ናችሁ፤ እግዚአብሔር ግን ልባችሁን ያውቃል፤ በሰዎች ዘንድ የከበረ፣ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት የረከሰ ነውና።
16“ሕግና ነቢያት እስከ ዮሐንስ ድረስ ሲነገሩ ኖረዋል፤ ከዚያ በኋላ ግን የእግዚአብሔር መንግሥት የምሥራች ተሰብኳል፤ ሰውም ሁሉ ወደዚያ ለመግባት ይሻማል። 17ነገር ግን ከሕግ አንዲት ነጥብ ከምትወድቅ ሰማይና ምድር ቢያልፍ ይቀልላል።
18“ሚስቱን ፈትቶ ሌላዪቱን የሚያገባ ሁሉ ያመነዝራል፤ ከባሏ የተፋታችውንም ሴት የሚያገባ ያመነዝራል።”
ሀብታሙ ሰውና አልዓዛር
19ደግሞም ኢየሱስ እንዲህ አለ፤ “ሐምራዊና ቀጭን በፍታ የለበሰ፣ በየቀኑም በተድላ ደስታ የሚኖር አንድ ሀብታም ሰው ነበረ። 20በአንጻሩም፣ መላ ሰውነቱ በቍስል የተወረረ አንድ አልዓዛር የሚባል ድኻ በዚህ ሀብታም ሰው ደጃፍ ይተኛ ነበር፤ 21ከሀብታሙ ሰው ማእድ የወደቀውን ፍርፋሪ እንኳ ሊመገብ ይመኝ ነበር፤ ውሾችም ሳይቀሩ መጥተው ቍስሉን ይልሱ ነበር።
22“ይህም ድኻ ሞተ፤ መላእክትም ወደ አብርሃም ዕቅፍ ወሰዱት። ሀብታሙም ሰው ደግሞ ሞቶ ተቀበረ። 23በሲኦልም እየተሠቃየ ሳለ ቀና ብሎ ከሩቅ አብርሃምን አየ፤ አልዓዛርንም በዕቅፉ ይዞት አየ። 24እርሱም፣ ‘አብርሃም አባት ሆይ፤ ራራልኝ፤ በዚህ ነበልባል እየተሠቃየሁ ስለሆነ፣ አልዓዛር የጣቱን ጫፍ ውሃ ነክሮ ምላሴን እንዲያቀዘቅዝልኝ እባክህ ላክልኝ’ እያለ ጮኸ።
25“አብርሃም ግን እንዲህ አለው፤ ‘ልጄ ሆይ፤ አንተ በምድራዊ ሕይወትህ ዘመን መልካም ነገሮችን እንደ ተቀበልህ፣ አልዓዛርም ደግሞ ክፉ ነገሮችን እንደ ተቀበለ አስታውስ፤ አሁን ግን እርሱ እዚህ ሲጽናና፣ አንተ በሥቃይ ላይ ትገኛለህ። 26ከሁሉም በላይ ከዚህ ወደ እናንተ ለማለፍ የሚፈልጉ እንደማይችሉ፣ እዚያ ያሉትም ደግሞ ወደ እኛ እንዳይሻገሩ፣ በእኛና በእናንተ መካከል ትልቅ ገደል ተደርጓል።’
27“እርሱም እንዲህ አለ፤ ‘አባት ሆይ፤ እንግዲያውስ አልዓዛርን ወደ አባቴ ቤት እንድትሰድደው እለምንሃለሁ፤ 28አምስት ወንድሞች ስላሉኝ፣ እነርሱም ወደዚህ የሥቃይ ስፍራ እንዳይመጡ ያስጠንቅቃቸው።’
29“አብርሃም ግን፣ ‘ሙሴና ነቢያት አሏቸው፤ እነርሱን ይስሙ’ አለው።
30“እርሱም፣ ‘አብርሃም አባት ሆይ፤ እንደዚህ አይደለም፤ አንድ ሰው ከሙታን ተነሥቶ ቢሄድላቸው ንስሓ ይገባሉ’ አለ።
31“አብርሃምም፣ ‘ሙሴንና ነቢያትን የማይሰሙ ከሆነ፣ አንድ ሰው ከሙታን ቢነሣ እንኳ አያምኑም’ አለው።”
The Story of the Clever Manager
1Jesus told his disciples another story. He said, “There was a rich man who had a manager. Some said that the manager was wasting what the rich man owned. 2So the rich man told him to come in. He asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Tell me exactly how you have handled what I own. You can’t be my manager any longer.’
3“The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig. And I’m too ashamed to beg. 4I know what I’m going to do. I’ll do something so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5“So he called in each person who owed his master something. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6“ ‘I owe 900 gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill. Sit down quickly and change it to 450 gallons.’
7“Then he asked the second one, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“ ‘I owe 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill and change it to 800 bushels.’
8“The manager had not been honest. But the master praised him for being clever. The people of this world are clever in dealing with those who are like themselves. They are more clever than God’s people. 9I tell you, use the riches of this world to help others. In that way, you will make friends for yourselves. Then when your riches are gone, you will be welcomed into your eternal home in heaven.
10“Suppose you can be trusted with something very little. Then you can also be trusted with something very large. But suppose you are not honest with something very little. Then you will also not be honest with something very large. 11Suppose you have not been worthy of trust in handling worldly wealth. Then who will trust you with true riches? 12Suppose you have not been worthy of trust in handling someone else’s property. Then who will give you property of your own?
13“No one can serve two masters at the same time. Either you will hate one of them and love the other. Or you will be faithful to one and dislike the other. You can’t serve God and money at the same time.”
14The Pharisees loved money. They heard all that Jesus said and made fun of him. 15Jesus said to them, “You try to make yourselves look good in the eyes of other people. But God knows your hearts. What people think is worth a lot is hated by God.
More Teachings
16“The teachings of the Law and the Prophets were preached until John the Baptist came. Since then, the good news of God’s kingdom is being preached. And everyone is trying very hard to enter it. 17It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest part of a letter to drop out of the Law.
18“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery. Also, the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19“Once there was a rich man. He was dressed in purple cloth and fine linen. He lived an easy life every day. 20A man named Lazarus was placed at his gate. Lazarus was a beggar. His body was covered with sores. 21Even dogs came and licked his sores. All he wanted was to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.
22“The time came when the beggar died. The angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In the place of the dead, the rich man was suffering terribly. He looked up and saw Abraham far away. Lazarus was by his side. 24So the rich man called out, ‘Father Abraham! Have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water. Then he can cool my tongue with it. I am in terrible pain in this fire.’
25“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember what happened in your lifetime. You received your good things. Lazarus received bad things. Now he is comforted here, and you are in terrible pain. 26Besides, a wide space has been placed between us and you. So those who want to go from here to you can’t go. And no one can cross over from there to us.’
27“The rich man answered, ‘Then I beg you, father Abraham. Send Lazarus to my family. 28I have five brothers. Let Lazarus warn them. Then they will not come to this place of terrible suffering.’
29“Abraham replied, ‘They have the teachings of Moses and the Prophets. Let your brothers listen to them.’
30“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will turn away from their sins.’
31“Abraham said to him, ‘They do not listen to Moses and the Prophets. So they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
