Luke 16:1–13

The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward

¹Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and this steward was ¹reported to him as ^asquandering his possessions.

²“And he called for him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

³“And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my ¹master is taking the stewardship 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 stewardship people will ¹take 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, ‘One hundred ¹baths 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, ‘One hundred ¹kors of wheat.’ He ^*said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

⁸“And his ¹master praised the unrighteous steward 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 from the ^1bwealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, ^cthey will ²take 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 ²serve 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 ³serve God and ^4bwealth.”