Luke 16:2-4

16:2 So ¹  he called the manager ²  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ³  Turn in the account of your administration, ⁴  because you can no longer be my manager.’ 16:3 Then ⁵  the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position ⁶  away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, ⁷  and I’m too ashamed ⁸  to beg. 16:4 I know ⁹  what to do so that when I am put out of management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ ¹⁰ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ² tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ³ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ⁴ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[16:3]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.

[16:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”

[16:3]  ⁷ 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.

[16:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”

[16:4]  ⁹ 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.

[16:4]  ¹⁰ sn Thinking ahead, the manager develops a plan to make people think kindly of him (welcome me into their homes).