Luke 16:5

16:5 So ¹  he contacted ²  his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

Luke 16:7

16:7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man ³  replied, ‘A hundred measures ⁴  of wheat.’ The manager ⁵  said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁶ 

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the manager’s decision.

² tn Grk “summoning.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the second debtor) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

⁴ sn The hundred measures here was a hundreds cors. A cor was a Hebrew dry measure for grain, flour, etc., of between 10-12 bushels (about 390 liters). This was a huge amount of wheat, representing the yield of about 100 acres, a debt of between 2500-3000 denarii.

⁵ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ sn The percentage of reduction may not be as great because of the change in material.