St. Luke was a native of Antioch, the capital of Syria. He was by profession a physician; and some ancient writers say, that he was very skillful in painting. He was converted by St. Paul and became his disciple and companion in his travels, and fellow-labourer in the ministry of the Gospel. He wrote in Greek, about twenty-four years after our Lord's Ascension.
Chapters:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Christ warns us against hypocrisy, the fear of the world and covetousness. He admonishes all to watch.
1 And when great multitudes stood about him, so that they trod one upon another, he began to say to his disciples: Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed: nor hidden, that shall not be known.
3 For whatsoever things you have spoken in darkness, shall be published in the light: and that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, shall be preached on the housetops.
4 And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will shew you whom you shall fear: fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
7 Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.
8 And I say to you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.
9 But he that shall deny me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God.
10 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.
11 And when they shall bring you into the synagogues, and to magistrates and powers, be not solicitous how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say;
12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.
13 And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.
14 But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?
15 And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.
16 And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.
17 And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer.
20 But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.
22 And he said to his disciples: Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on.
23 The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the raiment.
24 Consider the ravens, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they?
25 And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?
26 If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.
28 Now if God clothe in this manner the grass that is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more you, O ye of little faith?
29 And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high.
30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.
31 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
32 Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.
33 Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35 Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands.
36 And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them.
38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
39 But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open.
40 Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come.
41 And Peter said to him: Lord, dost thou speak this parable to us, or likewise to all?
42 And the Lord said: Who (thinkest thou) is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing.
44 Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesseth.
45 But if that servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming; and shall begin to strike the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and to drink and be drunk:
46 The lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers.
47 And that servant who knew the will of his lord, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more.
49 I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?
50 And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?
51 Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.
52 For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
54 And he said also to the multitudes: When you see a cloud rising from the west, presently you say: A shower is coming: and so it happeneth:
55 And when ye see the south wind blow, you say: There will be heat: and it cometh to pass.
56 You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the heaven and of the earth: but how is it that you do not discern this time?
57 And why even of yourselves, do you not judge that which is just?
58 And when thou goest with thy adversary to the prince, whilst thou art in the way, endeavour to be delivered from him: lest perhaps he draw thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter cast thee into prison.
59 I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite.
The necessity of penance. The barren fig tree. The cure of the infirm woman. The journey to Jerusalem.
1 And there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things?
3 No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them: think you, that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
6 He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.
7 And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it done therefore: why cumbereth it the ground?
8 But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it.
9 And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
10 And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath.
11 And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all.
12 Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity.
13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath) answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come, and be healed; and not on the sabbath day.
15 And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water?
16 And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
17 And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him.
18 He said therefore: To what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it?
19 It is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the air lodged in the branches thereof.
20 And again he said: Whereunto shall I esteem the kingdom of God to be like?
21 It is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
22 And he went through the cities and towns teaching, and making his journey to Jerusalem.
23 And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them:
24 Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.
25 But when the master of the house shall be gone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying: Lord, open to us. And he answering, shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are.
26 Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
27 And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
29 And there shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
30 And behold, they are last that shall be first; and they are first that shall be last.
31 The same day, there came some of the Pharisees, saying to him: Depart, and get thee hence, for Herod hath a mind to kill thee.
32 And he said to them: Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I am consummated.
33 Nevertheless I must walk to day and to morrow, and the day following, because it cannot be that a prophet perish, out of Jerusalem.
34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldest not?
35 Behold your house shall be left to you desolate. And I say to you, that you
shall not see me till the time come, when you shall say: Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord.
Christ heals the dropsical man. The parable of the supper. The necessity of renouncing all to follow Christ.
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees, on the sabbath day, to eat bread, that they watched him.
2 And behold, there was a certain man before him that had the dropsy.
3 And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4 But they held their peace. But he taking him, healed him, and sent him away.
5 And answering them, he said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out, on the sabbath day?
6 And they could not answer him to these things.
7 And he spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them:
8 When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honourable than thou be invited by him:
9 And he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee, Give this man place: and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place.
10 But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee, cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee.
11 Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.
12 And he said to him also that had invited him: When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy neighbours who are rich; lest perhaps they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made to thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind;
14 And thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense: for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just.
15 When one of them that sat at table with him, had heard these things, he said to him: Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16 But he said to him: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many.
17 And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready.
18 And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused.
19 And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, hold me excused.
20 And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame.
22 And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper.
25 And there went great multitudes with him. And turning, he said to them:
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it:
29 Lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able ti finish it, all that see it begin to mock him,
30 Saying: This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down, and think whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him that, with twenty thousand, cometh against him?
32 Or else, whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good. But if the salt shall lose its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither profitable for the land nor for the dunghill, but shall be cast
out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The parables of the lost sheep and of the prodigal son.
1 Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:
4 What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing:
6 And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost?
7 I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.
8 Or what woman having ten groats; if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it?
9 And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost.
10 So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.
11 And he said: A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.
13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.
14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him.
17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?
18 I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:
19 I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son.
22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry:
24 Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing:
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him.
29 And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine.
32 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was
dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.
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