Lukas 16:1

The Parable of the Clever Steward

16:1 Jesus ¹  also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations ²  that his manager ³  was wasting ⁴  his assets.

Lukas 16:3

16:3 Then ⁵  the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position ⁶  away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, ⁷  and I’m too ashamed ⁸  to beg.

Lukas 16:8

16:8 The ⁹  master commended the dishonest ¹⁰  manager because he acted shrewdly. ¹¹  For the people ¹²  of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries ¹³  than the people ¹⁴  of light.

[16:1]  ¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:1]  ² tn These are not formal legal charges, but reports from friends, acquaintances, etc.; Grk “A certain man was rich who had a manager, and this one was reported to him as wasting his property.”

[16:1]  ³ sn His manager was the steward in charge of managing the house. He could have been a slave trained for the role.

[16:1]  ⁴ tn Or “squandering.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).

[16:3]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.

[16:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”

[16:3]  ⁷ tn Here “dig” could refer (1) to excavation (“dig ditches,” L&N 19.55) or (2) to agricultural labor (“work the soil,” L&N 43.3). In either case this was labor performed by the uneducated, so it would be an insult as a job for a manager.

[16:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”

[16:3]  sn To beg would represent a real lowering of status for the manager, because many of those whom he had formerly collected debts from, he would now be forced to beg from.

[16:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:8]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Grk “sons” (an idiom).

[16:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “with their own generation.”

[16:8]  ¹⁴ 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.