26. If then you are not able to do such a little thing as that, why are you anxious and troubled with cares about the rest?
27. Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither [wearily] toil nor spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
28. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you [people] of little faith?
29. And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind [unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense];
30. For all the pagan world is [greedily] seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
31. Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.
32. Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!
33. Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
34. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35. Keep your loins girded and your lamps burning,
36. And be like men who are waiting for their master to return home from the marriage feast, so that when he returns from the wedding and comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.
37. Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them!
38. If he comes in the second watch (before midnight) or the third watch (after midnight), and finds them so, blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants!
39. But of this be assured: if the householder had known at what time the burglar was coming, he would have been awake and alert and watching and would not have permitted his house to be dug through and broken into.
40. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when you do not anticipate it.
41. Peter said, Lord, are You telling this parable for us, or for all alike?
42. And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward, the wise man whom his master will set over those in his household service to supply them their allowance of food at the appointed time?
43. Blessed (happy and to be envied) is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he arrives.
44. Truly I tell you, he will set him in charge over all his possessions.