Luke 16:1-18

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Unrighteous Steward

16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was ^[a]reported to him as ^(A)squandering his possessions. ² And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my ^[b]master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ And he summoned each one of his ^[c]master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred ^[d]measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred ^[e]measures of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ And his ^[f]master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of ^(B)this age are more shrewd in relation to their own ^[g]kind than the ^(C)sons of light. ⁹ And I say to you, ^(D)make friends for yourselves by means of the ^[h](E)wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, ^(F)they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “^(G)He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous ^[i](H)wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ^13 (I)No ^[j]servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^[k](J)wealth.”

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were ^(K)lovers of money, were listening to all these things and ^(L)were scoffing at Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are those who ^(M)justify yourselves ^[l]in the sight of men, but ^(N)God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable ^[m]in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “^(O)The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time ^(P)the gospel of the kingdom of God ^[n]has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ^17 (Q)But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one ^[o]stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

¹⁸ “^(R)Everyone who ^[p]divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is ^[q]divorced from a husband commits adultery.