Luke 16:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Luke 16:1 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2. Luke 16:1 tn These are not formal legal charges, but reports from friends, acquaintances, etc.; Grk “A certain man was rich who had a manager, and this one was reported to him as wasting his property.”
3. Luke 16:1 sn His manager was the steward in charge of managing the house. He could have been a slave trained for the role.
4. Luke 16:1 tn Or “squandering.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).
5. 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.
6. Luke 16:2 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7. Luke 16:2 sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.
8. Luke 16:2 tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomos).
9. Luke 16:3 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.
10. Luke 16:3 tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”
11. 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.
12. 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.