The Unrighteous Steward

1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was 1reported to him as asquandering 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 1master 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 1master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “And he said, ‘A hundred 1measures 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 1measures of wheat.’ He * said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 “And his 1master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of athis age are more shrewd in relation to their own 2kind than the bsons of light.

9 “And I say to you, amake friends for yourselves by means of the 1bwealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, cthey will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

10 “aHe 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 1awealth, 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 “aNo 1servant 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 2bwealth.”

14 Now the Pharisees, who were alovers of money, were listening to all these things and bwere scoffing at Him.