Study Desk

"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

for this son of mine was [as good as] dead and is alive again; he was lost and has been found.' So they began to celebrate.

"So he summoned one of the servants and began asking what this [celebration] meant.

"But he said to his father, 'Look! These many years I have served you, and I have never neglected or disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me [so much as] a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;

"So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management [of my affairs], for you can no longer be [my] manager.'

'I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people [who are my master's debtors] will welcome me into their homes.'

"So he summoned his master's debtors one by one, and he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

"And I tell you [learn from this], make friends for yourselves [for eternity] by means of the wealth of unrighteousness [that is, use material resources as a way to further the work of God], so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

So He said to them, "You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts [your thoughts, your desires, your secrets]; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.

"And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.'

'And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.'

"So the rich man said, 'Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father's house—

for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.'

"So you too, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants [undeserving of praise or a reward, for we have not gone beyond our obligation]; we have merely done what we ought to do.'"

"For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, gives light to the other part of the sky, so [visible] will the Son of Man be in His day.

"And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man:

Now they were also bringing their babies to Him, so that He would touch and bless them, and when the disciples noticed it, they began reprimanding them.

So he shouted out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!"

So he ran on ahead [of the crowd] and climbed up in a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

So Zaccheus hurried and came down, and welcomed Jesus with joy.