Luke 16:1-13

Expanded Bible

True Wealth

16 Jesus also said to his ·followers [disciples], “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of ·cheating him [wasting/squandering his assests/possessions]. ² So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a ·report [accounting] of ·what you have done with my money [^Lyour management], because you ·can’t be my manager any longer [are going to be fired].’ ³ The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is ·taking my job away from [about to fire] me? I am not strong enough to ·dig ditches [or work the soil; ^Ldig], and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that when I ·lose my job [^Lam removed from management] people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵ “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe [^Lmy master]?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons [^CGreek: one hundred batoi; a batos was about eight gallons] of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write ·four hundred gallons [Greek: fifty (batoi)].’ ⁷ Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘·One thousand bushels [Greek: one hundred koroi; a koros was about ten bushels] of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels [^CGreek: eighty (koroi)].’ ⁸ So, the master praised the ·dishonest [unrighteous; unjust] manager for being ·clever [shrewd; prudent]. Yes, ·worldly people [^Lthe children of this age] are more ·clever [shrewd; prudent] with their own ·kind [contemporaries; generation] than ·spiritual people [^Lthe children of light] are.

⁹ “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using ·worldly riches [^Lthe mammon/wealth of unrighteousness] so that when those riches ·are gone [fail; run out], you will be welcomed in ·those homes that continue forever [eternal dwellings/tents; ^CGod’s presence]. ¹⁰ Whoever ·can be trusted [is faithful] with a little ·can also be trusted [is also faithful] with a lot, and whoever is ·dishonest [unjust] with a little is ·dishonest [unjust] with a lot. ¹¹ If [^Ltherefore] you ·cannot be trusted [have not been faithful] with ·worldly riches [^Lunrighteous mammon], then who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you ·cannot be trusted [have not been faithful] with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?

¹³ “No servant can serve two ·masters [lords]. [^LFor] The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will ·follow [be devoted/loyal to] one master and ·refuse to follow [despise] the other. You cannot serve both God and ·worldly riches [money; ^Lmammon].”