Luke 16:1–13

THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST MANAGER

16Now he said to the disciples, “There was a rich^m man who received an accusation that his managerⁿ was squandering^o his possessions. ²So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, ^pbecause you can no longer be my manager.’

³“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵“So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one.

⁶“ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁷“Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’

“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.

“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’

⁸“The master praised the unrighteous manager^q because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age^r are more shrewd than the children of light^s in dealing with their own people.^{A 9}And I tell you, make friends^t for yourselves by means of worldly wealth^u so that when it fails,^I they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. ¹⁰Whoever is faithful^v in very little^w is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No^x servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate^y one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”