Lukas 12:42-44

12:42 The Lord replied, ¹  “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, ²  whom the master puts in charge of his household servants, ³  to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? 12:43 Blessed is that slave ⁴  whom his master finds at work ⁵  when he returns. 12:44 I tell you the truth, ⁶  the master ⁷  will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Lukas 16:8

16:8 The ⁸  master commended the dishonest ⁹  manager because he acted shrewdly. ¹⁰  For the people ¹¹  of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries ¹²  than the people ¹³  of light.

[12:42]  ¹ tn Grk “And the Lord said.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[12:42]  ² tn Or “administrator,” “steward” (L&N 37.39).

[12:42]  ³ tn This term, θεραπεία (qerapeia), describes the group of servants working in a particular household (L&N 46.6).

[12:43]  ⁴ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

[12:43]  ⁵ tn That is, doing his job, doing what he is supposed to be doing.

[12:44]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀληθῶς, alhqw"), I say to you.”

[12:44]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. See also Luke 19:11-27.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:8]  ⁹ sn Is the manager dishonest because of what he just did? Or is it a reference to what he had done earlier, described in v. 1? This is a difficult question, but it seems unlikely that the master, having fired the man for prior dishonesty, would now commend those same actions. It would also be unusual for Jesus to make that point of the story the example. Thus it is more likely the reference to dishonesty goes back to the earliest events, while the commendation is for the cleverness of the former manager reflected in vv. 5-7.

[16:8]  ¹⁰ sn Where this parable ends is debated: Does it conclude with v. 7, after v. 8a, after v. 8b, or after v. 9? Verse 8a looks as if it is still part of the story, with its clear reference to the manager, while 8b looks like Jesus’ application, since its remarks are more general. So it is most likely the parable stops after v. 8a.

[16:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “sons” (an idiom).

[16:8]  ¹² tn Grk “with their own generation.”

[16:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “sons.” Here the phrase “sons of light” is a reference to the righteous. The point is that those of the world often think ahead about consequences better than the righteous do.