Luke 16:1–16:13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Luke 16:1–16:13
A Dishonest Manager Forces a Decision about Wealth
A manager facing dismissal reduces debtors' bills, wins social obligations, and is commended for shrewd foresight; Jesus then calls for faithful use of unrighteous wealth and insists no one can serve both God and mammon.
Why this sits here
“A Dishonest Manager Forces a Decision about Wealth” opens a new chapter movement in Luke. Its own actors, question, response, and whole-book role control its interpretation unless an explicit cross-unit relationship supplies more context.
What helps us understand it
Later material that clarifies it
Luke 16:14–16:18Luke 16:14–16:18 carries this movement forward: Money-loving Pharisees scoff; Jesus contrasts human approval with God's knowledge, speaks of law and prophets, kingdom proclamation, enduring Torah, and a compressed divorce saying.
Why this reading fits
Material limit
The parable commends decisive foresight, not fraud. Details of debt, interest, landlord complicity, and the meaning of 'make friends' remain disputed; application must stay under 16:10-13.
Responsible boundary
This parable does not authorize embezzlement, bribery, prosperity schemes, manipulation of debtors, or buying salvation.
A phrase that matters
mammon / wealth treated as a master
μαμωνᾶς · mamōnas
mammon / wealth treated as a master is materially present in Luke 16:1–16:13. The SBLGNT and STEP records clarify its form and range, while the complete sentence and Luke's narrated movement select the responsible sense.
How this should shape us
What accountable response follows?
Use money with foresight, honesty, and accountability in service of people rather than self-preservation; shrewdness never excuses fraud, bribery, manipulated debt, or purchasing salvation.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
What the scene or teaching communicates
A manager facing dismissal reduces debtors' bills, wins social obligations, and is commended for shrewd foresight; Jesus then calls for faithful use of unrighteous wealth and insists no one can serve both God and mammon.
What remains disputed or limited
The parable commends decisive foresight, not fraud. Details of debt, interest, landlord complicity, and the meaning of 'make friends' remain disputed; application must stay under 16:10-13.
What responsible use must refuse
This parable does not authorize embezzlement, bribery, prosperity schemes, manipulation of debtors, or buying salvation.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
mammon / wealth treated as a master
mammon / wealth treated as a master is materially present in Luke 16:1–16:13. The SBLGNT and STEP records clarify its form and range, while the complete sentence and Luke's narrated movement select the responsible sense.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
Pinned KJV and language control for Luke 16:1–16:13
The pinned KJV remains the displayed text. SBLGNT, STEP morphology, and the verse-attached NET notes were checked at Luke 16:1–16:13; only a wording issue that affects understanding is surfaced here. The parable commends decisive foresight, not fraud. Details of debt, interest, landlord complicity, and the meaning of 'make friends' remain disputed; application must stay under 16:10-13.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Which judgment needs visible uncertainty?
Best judgment: The parable commends decisive foresight, not fraud. Details of debt, interest, landlord complicity, and the meaning of 'make friends' remain disputed; application must stay under 16:10-13.
How certain? probableCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
This parable does not authorize embezzlement, bribery, prosperity schemes, manipulation of debtors, or buying salvation.
A memorable line in Luke 16:1–16:13 can be detached from Luke's narrator, speaker, Jewish setting, Roman power, Synoptic relationship, affected people, and later Luke-Acts controls.
A manager facing dismissal reduces debtors' bills, wins social obligations, and is commended for shrewd foresight; Jesus then calls for faithful use of unrighteous wealth and insists no one can serve both God and mammon. The material uncertainty is: The parable commends decisive foresight, not fraud. Details of debt, interest, landlord complicity, and the meaning of 'make friends' remain disputed; application must stay under 16:10-13.
Read Luke 16:1–16:13 as the complete unit, distinguish description, dialogue, authorial judgment, theology, and analogy, and preserve the explicit negative before applying it.
A manager facing dismissal reduces debtors' bills, wins social obligations, and is commended for shrewd foresight; Jesus then calls for faithful use of unrighteous wealth and insists no one can serve both God and mammon.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Luke 16:1–16:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 16:1–16:13
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found study guide, Luke 15:1-19:27; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.
Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 16:1–16:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 16:1–16:13
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2020; current online edition
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found study guide, Luke 15:1-19:27; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗modern scholarly book introduction
Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World
Matthew L. Skinner
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2024 revision; current course inspected 2026
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Luke
Peter G. Bolt
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Exact location: Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗modern scholarly open monograph
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
Mark Goodacre
T&T Clark; open access supplied by the author and Duke University, 2001; open release 2011
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Exact location: Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗modern scholarly pastoral passage commentary
Commentary on Luke 16:19-31
Mitzi J. Smith
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2021
Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.
Exact location: Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 16:1–16:13
Open source ↗