The New Testament

The New Testament › Luke

Luke 16

1He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a household manager, and this man was accused before him of scattering his possessions. 2He called him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5Calling each of his master's debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He said, ‘A hundred baths of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ 7Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.’

8“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd toward their own generation than the sons of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into the eternal tents. 10The one faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and the one unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. 11So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with what is true? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No household slave can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. 15He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before people, but God knows your hearts. What is exalted among people is an abomination before God.

16“The law and the prophets were until John. Since then the kingdom of God is proclaimed as good news, and everyone forces his way into it. 17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the law to fall. 18Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

19“There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen, celebrating splendidly every day. 20A poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gateway, covered with sores. 21He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, he lifted his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you received your good things during your life, and Lazarus likewise bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’ 27He said, ‘Then I ask you, father, send him to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’ 29Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ 30He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Translation notes 5

16:1–8 — Manager and master. “Scattering” means wasting the possessions and repeats the verb used at 15:13. Baths measure oil and kors measure grain; these are large debts, not modern bathroom units. The master praises the manager's shrewdness, not explicitly his dishonesty. The story does not say that he removed only his own commission or illegal interest. “Sons of this age” and “sons of light” identify contrasting groups, including women.

16:9–13 — Wealth and tents. The Greek uses mammon, wealth or possessions. The repeated unrighteousness language is retained; it need not mean that each possession was obtained by theft. “Eternal tents” keeps the dwelling image. “They” may refer to the friends or be an indefinite way of speaking of welcome; the reading does not name angels or God as its subject. “When it fails” follows the base, whereas another reading has “when you fail.”

16:16–18 — Law and kingdom. No verb is expressed in the first clause; “were” is supplied without deciding between “were proclaimed” and “were in force.” “Everyone forces his way into it” takes the difficult verb as middle; “everyone is urged to enter it” takes it as passive. These are interpretations of the same Greek. The law's smallest stroke and the uncompromising divorce saying remain; an exception from another Gospel is not inserted.

16:19–23 — Lazarus and Hades. The poor man is named; the rich man is not. “Abraham's bosom” pictures close, honored fellowship with Abraham. Hades names the realm of the dead, here explicitly a setting of torment; it is not silently equated with Gehenna. The NIV 2011 and NASB retain “Hades.” Some older English versions use “hell.”

16:24–31 — Reversal and hearing. The flame, tongue, water, and fixed chasm are retained without constructing a complete geography of the afterlife. The rich man's request still treats Lazarus as someone to send. Moses and the prophets means their testimony; the last answer does not name a particular later resurrection.