Saying Against Greed. 13^* Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 14He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”^h 15Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”ⁱ

Parable of the Rich Fool. 16Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 17He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ 18And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods 19^j and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’^k 20But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ 21Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”^*

Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple and took its place upon the cherubim. The cherubim lifted their wings and rose up from the earth before my eyes as they departed with the wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance of the eastern gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was up above them. These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar. Now I knew they were cherubim. Each of them had four faces and four wings, and something like human hands under their wings. Their faces looked just like the faces I had seen by the river Chebar; and each one went straight ahead.

The Judgment of the Nations.^* 31^f “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32^g and all the nations^* will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35^h For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37Then the righteous^* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40ⁱ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41^{* j} Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42^k For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44^* Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46^l And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. “The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land. But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go. When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”

When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid. Their

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” And he replied: Go and say to this people:

Listen carefully, but do not understand!

Look intently, but do not perceive!

Make the heart of this people sluggish,

dull their ears and close their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

and their heart understand,

and they turn and be healed.

“How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:

Until the cities are desolate,

without inhabitants,

Houses, without people,

and the land is a desolate waste.

Until the LORD sends the people far away,

and great is the desolatio

14^* But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?^m 15And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written,ⁿ “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news!”^* 16But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?”^o 17Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.^p 18But I ask, did they not hear? Certainly they did; for

“Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.”^q

19But I ask, did not Israel understand?^r First Moses says:

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;

with a senseless nation I will make you angry.”

20^s Then Isaiah speaks boldly and says:

“I was found [by] those who were not seeking me;

I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me.”