As 10 parábolas mais importantes de Jesus

3 Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. 4 While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. 5 Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have deep roots. 7 Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. 8 But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced 100 or 60 or 30 times as much as was scattered. 9 If you have ears, pay attention!

The Good Samaritan

25 *An expert in the Law of Moses stood up and asked Jesus a question to see what he would say. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to have eternal life?"

26 Jesus answered, "What is written in the Scriptures? How do you understand them?"

27 *The man replied, "The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’ "

28 *Jesus said, "You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life."

29 But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, "Who are my neighbors?"

30 Jesus replied:

As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. 32 Later a temple helper* came to the same place. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side.

33 *A man from Samaria then came traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him 34 and went over to him. He treated his wounds with olive oil and wine* and bandaged them. Then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next morning he gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, "Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return."

36 Then Jesus asked, "Which one of these three people was a real neighbor to the man who was beaten up by robbers?"

37 The expert in the Law of Moses answered, "The one who showed pity."

Jesus said, "Go and do the same!"

4 If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won’t you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? 5 And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder 6 and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, "Let’s celebrate! I’ve found my lost sheep."

7 Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don’t need to."

Two Sons

11 Jesus told them yet another story:

Once a man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, "Give me my share of the property." So the father divided his property between his two sons.

13 Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.

15 He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.*16 He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating,* but no one gave him a thing.

17 Finally, he came to his senses and said, "My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! 18 I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’ "

20 The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.

21 The son said, "Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son."

22 But his father said to the servants, "Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals* for his feet. 23 Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. 24 This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found." And they began to celebrate.

25 The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants over and asked, "What’s going on here?"

27 The servant answered, "Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf." 28 The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.

His father came out and begged him to go in. 29 But he said to his father, "For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. 30 This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast."

31 His father replied, "My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found."

A Valuable Pearl

45 The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. 46 After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.

A Pharisee and a Tax Collector

9 Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

10 Two men went into the temple to pray.* One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.*11 The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed,* "God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. 12 I go without eating* for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn."

13 *The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, "God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner."

14 *Then Jesus said, "When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored."

A Story about Three Servants

14 *The kingdom is also like what happened when a man went away and put his three servants in charge of all he owned. 15 The man knew what each servant could do. So he handed 5,000 coins to the first servant, 2,000 to the second, and 1,000 to the third. Then he left the country.

16 As soon as the man had gone, the servant with the 5,000 coins used them to earn 5,000 more. 17 The servant who had 2,000 coins did the same with his money and earned 2,000 more. 18 But the servant with 1,000 coins dug a hole and hid his master’s money in the ground.

19 Some time later the master of those servants returned. He called them in and asked what they had done with his money. 20 The servant who had been given 5,000 coins brought them in with the 5,000 that he had earned. He said, "Sir, you gave me 5,000 coins, and I have earned 5,000 more."

21 "Wonderful!" his master replied. "You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!"

22 Next, the servant who had been given 2,000 coins came in and said, "Sir, you gave me 2,000 coins, and I have earned 2,000 more."

23 "Wonderful!" his master replied. "You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!"

24 The servant who had been given 1,000 coins then came in and said, "Sir, I know that you are hard to work for. You harvest what you don’t plant and gather crops where you haven’t scattered seed. 25 I was frightened and went out and hid your money in the ground. Here is every single coin!"

26 The master of the servant told him, "You are lazy and good-for-nothing! You know I harvest what I don’t plant and gather crops where I haven’t scattered seed. 27 You could have at least put my money in the bank, so I could have earned interest on it."

28 Then the master said, "Now your money will be taken away and given to the servant with 10,000 coins! 29 *Everyone who has something will be given more, and they will have more than enough. But everything will be taken from those who don’t have anything. 30 *You are a worthless servant, and you will be thrown out into the dark where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain."

Lazarus and the Rich Man

19 There was once a rich man who wore expensive clothes and every day ate the best food. 20 But a poor beggar named Lazarus was brought to the gate of the rich man’s house. 21 He was happy just to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. His body was covered with sores, and dogs kept coming up to lick them. 22 *The poor man died, and angels took him to the place of honor next to Abraham.*

The rich man also died and was buried. 23 *He went to hell* and was suffering terribly. When he looked up and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side, 24 he said to Abraham, "Have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and touch my tongue. I’m suffering terribly in this fire."

25 Abraham answered, "My friend, remember that while you lived, you had everything good, and Lazarus had everything bad. Now he is happy, and you are in pain. 26 And besides, there is a deep ditch between us, and no one from either side can cross over."

27 But the rich man said, "Abraham, then please send Lazarus to my father’s home. 28 Let him warn my five brothers, so they won’t come to this horrible place."

29 Abraham answered, "Your brothers can read what Moses and the prophets* wrote. They should pay attention to that."

30 Then the rich man said, "No, that’s not enough! If only someone from the dead would go to them, they would listen and turn to God."

31 So Abraham said, "If they won’t pay attention to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even to someone who comes back from the dead."

Weeds among the Wheat

24 Jesus then told them this story:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left.

26 When the plants came up and began to mature, the farmer’s servants could see the weeds. 27 The servants came and asked, "Sir, didn’t you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?"

28 "An enemy did this," he replied.

His servants then asked, "Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?"

29 "No!" he answered. "You might also pull up the wheat. 30 Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I’ll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I’ll order them to store the wheat in my barn."

A Story about Ten Young Women

1 *The kingdom of heaven is like what happened one night when ten young women took their oil lamps and went to a wedding to meet the groom.*2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps, but no extra oil. 4 The ones who were wise took along extra oil for their lamps.

5 The groom was late arriving, and the young women became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 Then in the middle of the night someone shouted, "Here’s the groom! Come to meet him!"

7 When the women got up and started getting their lamps ready, 8 the foolish ones said to the others, "Let us have some of your oil! Our lamps are going out."

9 Those who were wise answered, "There’s not enough oil for all of us! Go and buy some for yourselves."

10 While the foolish ones were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The five who were ready went into the wedding, and the doors were closed. 11 *Later the others returned and shouted, "Sir, sir! Open the door for us!"

12 But the groom replied, "I don’t even know you!"

13 So, my disciples, always be ready! You don’t know the day or the time when all this will happen.