Jesus said to his
disciples: “Things that cause
people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.2 It would be
better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their
neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
Solomon
gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself. 2 He
conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and
3,600 as foremen over them.
3 Solomon
sent this message to Hiram[b] king of
Tyre:
“Send
me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a
palace to live in. 4 Now I am about to build a temple for the
Name of the Lord my God and to
dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him, for setting out the
consecrated bread regularly, and for making burnt offerings every morning and
evening and on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of
the Lord our God. This is a
lasting ordinance for Israel.
5 “The
temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all
other gods. 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since
the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to
build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
7 “Send
me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and
in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to
work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers, whom my father David
provided.
8 “Send
me also cedar, juniper and algum[c] logs from
Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My
servants will work with yours 9 to provide me with plenty of
lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. 10 I
will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors[d] of ground
wheat, twenty thousand cors[e] of barley,
twenty thousand baths[f] of wine and
twenty thousand baths of olive oil.”
11 Hiram
king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:
“Because
the Lord loves his people, he has
made you their king.”
12 And
Hiram added:
“Praise
be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with
intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
13 “I
am sending you Huram-Abi, a man of great skill, 14 whose mother
was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained to work in gold and
silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue and crimson
yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can
execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and
with those of my lord, David your father.
15 “Now
let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine
he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that
you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take
them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon
took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel, after the census his
father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He
assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the
hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.
Jesus
told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting
his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is
this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot
be manager any longer.’
3 “The
manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job.
I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know
what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into
their houses.’
5 “So
he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do
you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine
hundred gallons[a] of olive
oil,’ he replied.
“The
manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred
and fifty.’
7 “Then
he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“He
told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “The
master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the
people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are
the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to
gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into
eternal dwellings.
10 “Whoever
can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is
dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So
if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you
with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with
someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No
one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or
you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God
and money.”
14 The
Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He
said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others,
but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s
sight.
16 “The
Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news
of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into
it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for
the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
18 “Anyone
who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man
who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
