^16:5So¹⁵ he contacted¹⁶ his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ^16:6The man¹⁷ replied, ‘A hundred measures¹⁸ of olive oil.’ The manager¹⁹ said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’²⁰^16:7Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man²¹ replied, ‘A hundred measures²² of wheat.’ The manager²³ said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’²⁴

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Footnotes

15 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the manager’s decision.
16 Grk “summoning.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesamenos) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
17 Grk “He”; the referent (the first debtor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 A measure (sometimes translated “bath”) was just over 8 gallons (about 30 liters). This is a large debt—about 875 gallons (3000 liters) of olive oil, worth 1000 denarii, over three year’s pay for a daily worker.
19 Grk “He”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
20 The bill was halved (sit down quickly, and write fifty). What was the steward doing? This is debated. 1) Did he simply lower the price? 2) Did he remove interest from the debt? 3) Did he remove his own commission? It is hard to be sure. Either of the latter two options is more likely. The goal was clear: The manager would be seen in a favorable light for bringing a deflationary trend to prices.
21 Grk “He”; the referent (the second debtor) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
22 The hundred measures here was a hundreds cors. A cor was a Hebrew dry measure for grain, flour, etc., of between 10–12 bushels (about 390 liters). This was a huge amount of wheat, representing the yield of about 100 acres, a debt of between 2500–3000 denarii.
23 Grk “He”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 The percentage of reduction may not be as great because of the change in material.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

“ ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

CSBChristian Standard Bible

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

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

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

“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.’

NLTNew Living Translation

“So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’

“ ‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And he summoned each one of his own master’s debtors and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of olive oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your promissory note and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your promissory note and write eighty.’

KJV 1900King James Version

So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

Public Domain