Sunday, September 21, 2025

¹Praise the LORD! Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the LORD’s name. ²Blessed be the LORD’s name, from this time forward and forever more. ⁴The LORD is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens. ⁵Who is like the LORD, our God, who has his seat on high, ⁶who stoops down to see in heaven and on the earth? ⁷He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, ⁸that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

¹I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, ²for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. ³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony at the proper time, ⁷to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. ⁸I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.

¹He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. ²He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ ⁵Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ ⁶He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. ⁹I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. ¹⁰He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹²If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”