Luke 12 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

(Mat 10:26, 27 )

Luk 12:1In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Luk 12:2

Luk 12:2Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Luk 12:3

Luk 12:3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Have No Fear

(Mat 10:8–31 )

Luk 12:4

Luk 12:4“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

Luk 12:5

Luk 12:5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.[fn] Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Luk 12:6

Luk 12:6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?[fn] And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Luk 12:7

Luk 12:7Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Acknowledge Christ Before Men

(Mat 10:32, 33 )

Luk 12:8

Luk 12:8“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,

Luk 12:9

Luk 12:9but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Luk 12:10

Luk 12:10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Luk 12:11

Luk 12:11And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,

Luk 12:12

Luk 12:12for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Luk 12:13

Luk 12:13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Luk 12:14

Luk 12:14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Luk 12:15

Luk 12:15And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Luk 12:16

Luk 12:16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,

Luk 12:17

Luk 12:17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’

Luk 12:18

Luk 12:18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Luk 12:19

Luk 12:19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

Luk 12:20

Luk 12:20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Luk 12:21

Luk 12:21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Be Anxious

(Mat 6:19–21, 25–34 )

Luk 12:22

Luk 12:22And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Luk 12:23

Luk 12:23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Luk 12:24

Luk 12:24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

Luk 12:25

Luk 12:25And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[fn]

Luk 12:26

Luk 12:26If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

Luk 12:27

Luk 12:27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,[fn] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Luk 12:28

Luk 12:28But 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, O you of little faith!

Luk 12:29

Luk 12:29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.

Luk 12:30

Luk 12:30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

Luk 12:31

Luk 12:31Instead, seek his[fn] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Luk 12:32

Luk 12:32“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luk 12:33

Luk 12:33Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Luk 12:34

Luk 12:34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

You Must Be Ready

(Mat 24:42–51 )

Luk 12:35

Luk 12:35“Stay dressed for action[fn] and keep your lamps burning,

Luk 12:36

Luk 12:36and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

Luk 12:37

Luk 12:37Blessed are those servants[fn] whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

Luk 12:38

Luk 12:38If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!

Luk 12:39

Luk 12:39But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he[fn] would not have left his house to be broken into.

Luk 12:40

Luk 12:40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Luk 12:41

Luk 12:41Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?”

Luk 12:42

Luk 12:42And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?

Luk 12:43

Luk 12:43Blessed is that servant[fn] whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Luk 12:44

Luk 12:44Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

Luk 12:45

Luk 12:45But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,

Luk 12:46

Luk 12:46the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

Luk 12:47

Luk 12:47And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.

Luk 12:48

Luk 12:48But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Not Peace, but Division

(Mat 10:34–39 )

Luk 12:49

Luk 12:49“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!

Luk 12:50

Luk 12:50I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

Luk 12:51

Luk 12:51Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

Luk 12:52

Luk 12:52For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.

Luk 12:53

Luk 12:53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Interpreting the Time

(Mat 16:1–4 )

Luk 12:54

Luk 12:54He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.

Luk 12:55

Luk 12:55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.

Luk 12:56

Luk 12:56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Settle with Your Accuser

Luk 12:57

Luk 12:57“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

Luk 12:58

Luk 12:58As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.

Luk 12:59

Luk 12:59I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”[fn]

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(12:5)

Greek Gehenna

(12:6)

Greek two assaria; an assarion was a Roman copper coin worth about 1/16 of a denarius (which was a day’s wage for a laborer)

(12:25)

Or a single cubit to his stature; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

(12:27)

Some manuscripts Consider the lilies; they neither spin nor weave

(12:31)

Some manuscripts God’s

(12:35)

Greek Let your loins stay girded; compare Exodus 12:11

(12:37)

Or bondservants

(12:39)

Some manuscripts add would have stayed awake and

(12:43)

Or bondservant; also verses 45, 46, 47

(12:59)

Greek lepton, a Jewish bronze or copper coin worth about 1/128 of a denarius (which was a day’s wage for a laborer)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

Luke Chapter 12 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Morphological Greek New Testament Textus Receptus Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras