Luke 16:2-4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Luke 16:2 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.
2. Luke 16:2 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3. Luke 16:2 sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.
4. Luke 16:2 tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomos).
5. Luke 16:3 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.
6. Luke 16:3 tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”
7. Luke 16:3 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.
8. Luke 16:3 tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”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.
9. Luke 16:4 tn This is a dramatic use of the aorist and the verse is left unconnected to the previous verse by asyndeton, giving the impression of a sudden realization.
10. Luke 16:4 sn Thinking ahead, the manager develops a plan to make people think kindly of him (welcome me into their homes).