The Unjust Steward (Manager)

16 Now Jesus was also saying to the disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager [of his estate], and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that this man was squandering his [master’s] possessions. ² So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management [of my affairs], for you can no longer be [my] manager.’ ³ The manager [of the estate] said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig [for a living], and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people [who are my master’s debtors] will welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘A hundred ^[a]measures of [olive] oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write ^[b]fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred ^[c]measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ And his master commended the unjust manager [not for his misdeeds, but] because he had acted shrewdly [by preparing for his future unemployment]; for the sons of this age [the non-believers] are shrewder in relation to their own kind [that is, to the ways of the secular world] than are the sons of light [the believers]. ⁹ And I tell you [learn from this], make friends for yourselves [for eternity] by means of the ^[d]wealth of unrighteousness [that is, use material resources as a way to further the work of God], so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of earthly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in the use of that [earthly wealth] which belongs to another [whether God or man, and of which you are a trustee], who will give you that which is your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand devotedly by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon [that is, your earthly possessions or anything else you trust in and rely on instead of God].”