---
title: "Luke 16 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/luke/16/
description: "The parable of the unjust steward and of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Luke 16

Luke 16 is chapter 16 of 24 in the Gospel of Luke. Here are all 31 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The parable of the unjust steward and of the rich man and Lazarus.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Luke 16 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And he also said to his disciples: “A certain man was wealthy, and he had a steward of his estate. And this man was accused to him of having dissipated his goods.
2. And he called him and said to him: ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship. For you can no longer be my steward.’
3. And the steward said within himself: ‘What shall I do? For my lord is taking the stewardship away from me. I am not strong enough to dig. I am too ashamed to beg.
4. I know what I will do so that, when I have been removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5. And so, calling together each one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my lord?’
6. So he said, ‘One hundred jars of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your invoice, and quickly, sit down and write fifty.’
7. Next, he said to another, ‘In truth, how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your record books, and write eighty.’
8. And the lord praised the iniquitous steward, in that he had acted prudently. For the sons of this age are more prudent with their generation than are the sons of light.
9. And so I say to you, make friends for yourself using iniquitous mammon, so that, when you will have passed away, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.
10. Whoever is faithful in what is least, is also faithful in what is greater. And whoever is unjust in what is small, is also unjust in what is greater.
11. So then, if you have not been faithful with iniquitous mammon, who will trust you with what is true?
12. And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?
13. No servant is able to serve two lords. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
14. But the Pharisees, who were greedy, were listening to all these things. And they ridiculed him.
15. And he said to them: “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of men. But God knows your hearts. For what is lifted up by men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16. The law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the kingdom of God is being evangelized, and everyone acts with violence toward it.
17. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to fall away.
18. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her who has been divorced by her husband commits adultery.
19. A certain man was wealthy, and he was clothed in purple and in fine linen. And he feasted splendidly every day.
20. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered with sores,
21. wanting to be filled with the crumbs which were falling from the wealthy man’s table. But no one gave it to him. And even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22. Then it happened that the beggar died, and he was carried by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham. Now the wealthy man also died, and he was entombed in Hell.
23. Then lifting up his eyes, while he was in torments, he saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24. And crying out, he said: ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to refresh my tongue. For I am tortured in this fire.’
25. And Abraham said to him: ‘Son, recall that you received good things in your life, and in comparison, Lazarus received bad things. But now he is consoled, and truly you are tormented.
26. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been established, so that those who might want to cross from here to you are not able, nor can someone cross from there to here.’
27. And he said: ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers,
28. so that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torments.’
29. And Abraham said to him: ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30. So he said: ‘No, father Abraham. But if someone were to go to them from the dead, they would repent.’
31. But he said to him: ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe even if someone has resurrected from the dead.’”

## Luke 16 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Dicebat autem et ad discipulos suos: Homo quidam erat dives, qui habebat villicum: et hic diffamatus est apud illum quasi dissipasset bona ipsius.
2. Et vocavit illum, et ait illi: Quid hoc audio de te? redde rationem villicationis tuæ: jam enim non poteris villicare.
3. Ait autem villicus intra se: Quid faciam, quia dominus meus aufert a me villicationem? Fodere non valeo, mendicare erubesco.
4. Scio quid faciam, ut, cum amotus fuero a villicatione, recipiant me in domos suas.
5. Convocatis itaque singulis debitoribus domini sui, dicebat primo: Quantum debes domino meo?
6. At ille dixit: Centum cados olei. Dixitque illi: Accipe cautionem tuam: et sede cito, scribe quinquaginta.
7. Deinde alii dixit: Tu vero quantum debes? Qui ait: Centum coros tritici. Ait illi: Accipe litteras tuas, et scribe octoginta.
8. Et laudavit dominus villicum iniquitatis, quia prudenter fecisset: quia filii hujus sæculi prudentiores filiis lucis in generatione sua sunt.
9. Et ego vobis dico: facite vobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis: ut, cum defeceritis, recipiant vos in æterna tabernacula.
10. Qui fidelis est in minimo, et in majori fidelis est: et qui in modico iniquus est, et in majori iniquus est.
11. Si ergo in iniquo mammona fideles non fuistis quod verum est, quis credet vobis?
12. Et si in alieno fideles non fuistis, quod vestrum est, quis dabit vobis?
13. Nemo servus potest duobus dominis servire: aut enim unum odiet, et alterum diliget: aut uni adhærebit, et alterum contemnet. Non potestis Deo servire et mammonæ.
14. Audiebant autem omnia hæc pharisæi, qui erant avari: et deridebant illum.
15. Et ait illis: Vos estis qui justificatis vos coram hominibus: Deus autem novit corda vestra: quia quod hominibus altum est, abominatio est ante Deum.
16. Lex et prophetæ usque ad Joannem: ex eo regnum Dei evangelizatur, et omnis in illud vim facit.
17. Facilius est autem cælum et terram præterire, quam de lege unum apicem cadere.
18. Omnis qui dimittit uxorem suam et alteram ducit, mœchatur: et qui dimissam a viro ducit, mœchatur.
19. Homo quidam erat dives, qui induebatur purpura et bysso, et epulabatur quotidie splendide.
20. Et erat quidam mendicus, nomine Lazarus, qui jacebat ad januam ejus, ulceribus plenus,
21. cupiens saturari de micis quæ cadebant de mensa divitis, et nemo illi dabat: sed et canes veniebant, et lingebant ulcera ejus.
22. Factum est autem ut moreretur mendicus, et portaretur ab angelis in sinum Abrahæ. Mortuus est autem et dives, et sepultus est in inferno.
23. Elevans autem oculos suos, cum esset in tormentis, vidit Abraham a longe, et Lazarum in sinu ejus:
24. et ipse clamans dixit: Pater Abraham, miserere mei, et mitte Lazarum ut intingat extremum digiti sui in aquam, ut refrigeret linguam meam, quia crucior in hac flamma.
25. Et dixit illi Abraham: Fili, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala: nunc autem hic consolatur, tu vero cruciaris:
26. et in his omnibus inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmatum est: ut hi qui volunt hinc transire ad vos, non possint, neque inde huc transmeare.
27. Et ait: Rogo ergo te, pater, ut mittas eum in domum patris mei:
28. habeo enim quinque fratres: ut testetur illis, ne et ipsi veniant in hunc locum tormentorum.
29. Et ait illi Abraham: Habent Moysen et prophetas: audiant illos.
30. At ille dixit: Non, pater Abraham: sed si quis ex mortuis ierit ad eos, pœnitentiam agent.
31. Ait autem illi: Si Moysen et prophetas non audiunt, neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, credent.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 952: The Communion of Saints ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2424: The Social Doctrine of the Church ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 523: The Mysteries of Christ's Life ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2382: Offenses Against the Dignity of Marriage ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1859: The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 2831: "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 336: Heaven and Earth ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 633: Christ Descended Into Hell ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1021: The Particular Judgment ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “Not to share our wealth with the poor is to rob them and take away their livelihood. The riches we possess are not our own but theirs.” — St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Lazarus, 2, c. 388 (On this verse: verse 19)
- “To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.” — St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, ch. 9, 1897 (On this theme: verse 10)

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 9: Mammon signifies riches. They are here called the mammon of iniquity, because oftentimes ill gotten, ill bestowed, or an occasion of evil; and at the best are but worldly, and false; and not the true riches of a Christian.
- Verse 9: “They may receive” … By this we see, that the poor servants of God, whom we have relieved by our alms, may hereafter, by their intercession, bring our souls to heaven.
- Verse 22: The place of rest, where the souls of the saints resided, till Christ had opened heaven by his death.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Fri, Nov 6, 2026: Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time — Gospel, Luke 16:1-8
- Sat, Nov 7, 2026: Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time — Gospel, Luke 16:9-15
- Thu, Feb 25, 2027: Thursday of the Second Week of Lent — Gospel, Luke 16:19-31
- Fri, Nov 5, 2027 (computed): Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time — Gospel, Luke 16:1-8

6 more dates through December 31, 2028, in the [liturgical calendar](https://blessbible.app/calendar/).

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).