Bible / Luke

Luke 12

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. CCC

2 But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. CCC

3 Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. CCC

4 “I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

5 But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

6 “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God. CCC

7 But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. CCC

8 “I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God; CCC

9 but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of God’s angels. CCC

10 Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. CCC

11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer or what you will say;

12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.” CCC

13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

16 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly.

17 He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’

18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared – whose will they be?’ Fathers

21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

25 Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?

26 If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

29 “Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.

30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

32 “Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. CCC

33 Sell what you have and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

35 “Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. CCC · Fathers

36 Be like men watching for their lord when he returns from the wedding feast, that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. CCC · Fathers

37 Blessed are those servants whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them. CCC · Fathers

38 They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch and finds them so. CCC · Fathers

39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. CCC

40 Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.” CCC

41 Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?”

42 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

43 Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.

44 Truly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken, Fathers

46 then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. Fathers

47 That servant who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, Fathers

48 but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked. Fathers

49 “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. CCC

50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! CCC

51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

52 For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

54 He said to the multitudes also, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens.

55 When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens.

56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time?

57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

58 For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

59 I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the very last penny.”

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 678 “Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching.…”
  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 678 “Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching.…”
  3. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 678 “Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching.…”
  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 342 “The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the "six days", from the less perfect to the more perfect. God…”
  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 342 “The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the "six days", from the less perfect to the more perfect. God…”
  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 333 “From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When…”
  7. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 333 “From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When…”
  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1864 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." There are no limits to the…”
  9. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1287 “This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people.…”
  10. Read the Fathers
    • “… debtors; also about the parable of that rich man who stored up the goods which had accrued to him, to whom it was also said, "In this night they shall demand thy soul from thee; whose then shall those things be which thou hast prepared?”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 543 “Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men…”
    • CCC 764 “This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ." To welcome Jesus' word…”
  12. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
    • “… unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth." "Let your loins, therefore, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  13. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
    • “… unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth." "Let your loins, therefore, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  14. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
    • “And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  15. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
    • “And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are they.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  16. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
  17. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2849 “Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter,…”
  18. Read the Fathers
    • “… eat and drink and be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day that he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “… The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  19. Read the Fathers
    • “… The Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  20. Read the Fathers
    • “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing." And again, "The servant who knows his Lord's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  21. Read the Fathers
    • “… man will suffer punishment in eternal fire according to the merit of his deed, and will render account according to the power he has received from God, as Christ intimated when He said, "To whom God has given more, of him shall more be required.”

      Quoted in First Apology, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 155), Chapter XVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  22. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 696 “Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the…”
  23. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 536 “The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself…”
    • CCC 607 “The desire to embrace his Father's plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole life, for his redemptive passion was the very reason…”
    • CCC 1225 “In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his Passion, which he was…”
    • CCC 2804 “The first series of petitions carries us toward him, for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic…”