The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³sSomeone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But he said to him, t“Man, uwho made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, v“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying, w“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷and he thought to himself, x‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my ybarns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up zfor many years; relax, aeat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰But God said to him, b‘Fool! zThis night cyour soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, dwhose will they be?’ ²¹So is the one ewho lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Be Anxious

²²And he said to his disciples, f“Therefore I tell you, gdo not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴hConsider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. iOf how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his jspan of life?3 ²⁶If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,4 yet I tell you, keven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, lO you of little faith! ²⁹And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor mbe worried. ³⁰For nall the nations of the world seek after these things, and nyour Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, oseek phis5 kingdom, qand these things will be added to you.

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