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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 16 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31
OET (OET-LV) And he_was_saying also to the apprentices/followers:
A_ certain _man was rich, who was_having a_manager, and this one was_accused to_him as scattering the things possessing of_him.
OET (OET-RV) Yeshua also told this to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager who worked for him. A whistle-blower reported that the manager had been abusing the owner’s possessions
In the main part of this section, 16:1–8b, Jesus told a parable that appears only in Luke. In this parable a rich man had hired a man to manage his money and possessions for him. The manager was dishonest in his work, so the rich man said that he could not continue to be his manager. But before the manager left this work, he used his position and money to cause other people to like him. He did this so that they would help him when he no longer had an income.
The main point of this parable is that the manager knew how to use money to make things better for his own future. In this way he was a good example for Jesus’ disciples. The parable does not mean that Jesus approved of the manager’s dishonesty.
In 16:8c–16:9 Jesus commented on the parable and applied it to his disciples. In 16:10–13 he gave other teachings about the proper use of wealth.
Other possible headings for this section are:
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (NIV)
The dishonest man who was in charge of a rich man’s wealth
Jesus also said to His disciples,
¶ Then Jesus told this story/parable to his disciples:
¶ Jesus turned to his disciples and told them another story/parable. He said,
Jesus also said: In Greek, this verse begins with a phrase that is literally “and he said also.” The word also indicates that Jesus was continuing to tell parables. In some languages it may be helpful to indicate explicitly that Jesus’ next words were a parable. For example:
Jesus told a story
Jesus also told a parable
His disciples: In the previous chapter Jesus told three parables to the Pharisees and scribes. In this chapter he addressed a parable particularly to his disciples.Most scholars think that the setting for Luke 16 is the same as for Luke 15. According to 16:14, the Pharisees were listening to Jesus as he told this parable to his disciples. In some languages it may be more natural to indicate in some way that Jesus was now speaking to a different group. For example:
Then Jesus also told a parable to his disciples. He said
disciples: For help in translating the word disciples, see the note at 9:14b.
“There was a rich man
“There was once a rich man
“A certain rich man
There was a rich man: This clause introduces one of the characters in the story. Use a natural way in your language to introduce such a character.
whose manager
who had an employee who managed his property.
hired/paid a man to be in charge of his wealth/possessions.
manager: The manager was a skilled servant who managed the rich man’s money and property. The story makes it clear that he was an employee, not a slave. Other ways to translate this word are:
employee who was in charge of his wealth
servant who managed his property (GNT)
manager to take care of his business (NCV)
was accused of wasting his possessions.
The rich man heard that this manager was spending/misusing that rich man’s money.
One day someone went to the rich man and told him that this man/employee was managing his property badly.
was accused of wasting his possessions: The verb that the BSB translates as was accused is a passive verb. It implies here that another person spoke to the rich man and told him that his manager was not taking good care of his possessions. In some languages it may be necessary to use an active verb and provide a subject. If that is true in your language, you should provide a general subject. For example:
Someone went to him and accused the manager of wasting the rich man’s possessions.
wasting his possessions: The phrase that the BSB translates as wasting his possessions means here that the manager was misusing the rich man’s money and property. Apparently he was spending it for his own enjoyment. In 16:8 Jesus said explicitly that the manager was being dishonest. Some other ways to translate this expression are:
cheating him (NCV)
wasting his employer’s money (NLT)
his possessions: In your translation, make sure that it is clear that the pronoun his refers to the rich man.
There is a lot of information in 16:1b–d. In some languages it may be helpful to divide it into two or more sentences. For example:
A rich man once had a manager to take care of his business. But he was told that his manager was wasting money. (CEV)
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-background
δὲ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Δέ καί πρός τούς μαθητάς ἄνθρωπος Τὶς ἦν πλούσιος ὅς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον καί οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ)
Luke uses the word And to introduce background information that will help readers understand what Jesus teaches next. Alternate translation: [Now]
Note 2 topic: writing-participants
ἔλεγεν & καὶ πρὸς τοὺς μαθητάς
˱he˲_˓was˒_saying & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Δέ καί πρός τούς μαθητάς ἄνθρωπος Τὶς ἦν πλούσιος ὅς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον καί οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ)
Luke uses this phrase to reintroduce these characters into the story. Jesus directed the previous three parables to the Pharisees and scribes, although the disciplesmay have been part of the crowd that was listening. He directs this next parable to the disciples. Alternate translation: [Jesus then said to his disciples, who were there]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / parables
ἔλεγεν δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς μαθητάς
˱he˲_˓was˒_saying (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Δέ καί πρός τούς μαθητάς ἄνθρωπος Τὶς ἦν πλούσιος ὅς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον καί οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ)
One theme of the story of the two sons was the use of possessions. To help his disciples understand something further about that, Jesus tells them a brief story that provides an illustration. It may be helpful to make this a separate sentence. Alternate translation: [Jesus then told his disciples an illustrative story]
Note 4 topic: writing-participants
ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν πλούσιος, ὃς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Δέ καί πρός τούς μαθητάς ἄνθρωπος Τὶς ἦν πλούσιος ὅς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον καί οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ)
This introduces the main characters in the parable. Alternate translation: [There once was a rich man who employed a manager]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς
this_‹one› ˓was˒_accused ˱to˲_him as
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, and you could state who did the action. Alternate translation: [people reported to the rich man that his manager was]
διασκορπίζων τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ
scattering (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἔλεγεν Δέ καί πρός τούς μαθητάς ἄνθρωπος Τὶς ἦν πλούσιος ὅς εἶχεν οἰκονόμον καί οὗτος διεβλήθη αὐτῷ ὡς διασκορπίζων τά ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ)
Alternate translation: [managing his wealth badly]
OET (OET-LV) And he_was_saying also to the apprentices/followers:
A_ certain _man was rich, who was_having a_manager, and this one was_accused to_him as scattering the things possessing of_him.
OET (OET-RV) Yeshua also told this to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager who worked for him. A whistle-blower reported that the manager had been abusing the owner’s possessions
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.