Luke 16
He throws down the story of the dishonest steward. No one can serve two masters; and after death the rich man and Lazarus change places.
Household manager renders οἰκονόμος (oikonomos), built from “house” and “law”. This parable stands only in this book, and it is among the hardest in the four Gospels.
Give the account — the word is from bookkeeping, and the whole parable turns on the books.
I am ashamed to beg — the man reckons his own strength aloud.
Their own houses — the plan is to make debtors into hosts.
Each one — the writer gives two, and lets the rest stand.
Baths (βάτοι, batoi) is a Semitic liquid measure kept as sound — this edition does not convert the measure.
Kors (κόροι, koroi) is a Semitic dry measure kept as sound.
The manager of unrighteousness keeps the Greek genitive rather than smoothing it to “dishonest manager”. Who the “master” is here — the rich man or the Lord — is not settled.
Why this rendering
Luke.16.8 Observation
Syntactic observation
The Greek does not settle who ὁ κύριος is. Within this parable κύριος has meant the rich master throughout (16:3 ὁ κύριός μου; 16:5 τοῦ κυρίου ἑαυτοῦ), so reading v.8's the master commended as that rich man is the nearest reading. Yet Luke elsewhere uses κύριος as a narrative title for Jesus (7:13, 10:1, 11:39, 13:15). The text does not say which, so it is left open. The counts show how much of this passage is Luke's own: οἰκονόμος stands four times in the four Gospels and all four are Luke's (12:42, 16:1, 16:3, 16:8), while οἰκονομία three times (16:2, 3, 4) and οἰκονομέω once (16:2) are all in this chapter — a whole word-family gathered into one book and nearly one passage. διαβάλλω, to accuse, and κόρος, a kor, are hapax in the four Gospels; ἐπαιτέω, to beg, stands twice, here and at 18:35 where the blind man begs by the road; and βάτος, a bath, shares its spelling with the word for a thornbush, so the counts mix and it is read here only as the measure. χρεοφειλέτης, debtor, stands twice, Luke 7:41 and 16:5. And σκάπτω, to dig, at v.3 is Luke's alone three times (6:48, 13:8, 16:3) — at 13:8 the vinedresser will dig around the tree, and here the manager has no strength to dig.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Within this parable κύριος has already been the rich man at vv.3 and 5. To decide that the same word suddenly means someone else in the same passage would need a mark in the text, and there is none. But rendering it with an honorific would nail it to Jesus, so that is not done — the openness is left open.
Basis It is strange for the master to commend a dishonest manager, and Luke does call Jesus ὁ κύριος in narration in several places.
Rejected Its strangeness means the parable is strange, not that the word points elsewhere. And the second half of v.8 (the sons of this age…) is already where the speaker's comment begins; handing the first half to the speaker as well would let the translation decide where the parable ends. That decision is left to the reader. And of thirteen versions examined not one reads this as Jesus — NLT even nails it down as the rich man had to admire, and MSG reads it as the master too.
Lost in translation
The Greek ὁ κύριος has neither capital nor honorific; it is simply the master. English splits the master from the Lord, so either choice makes one decision the Greek does not make. There is no way to carry the openness across — the least-deciding option is taken and this note is left.
Mamonas is Aramaic for wealth, kept as sound. Eternal tents — the tent-word of John 1:14.
In the least … in much — the pair runs through verses 10 to 12.
The true — the Greek says only “the true”, and does not say true what.
What belongs to another — the manuscripts differ over whether the last words read “yours” or “ours”.
Household slave (οἰκέτης, oiketēs) — only this book has the word here; Matthew 6:24 says “no one”. This edition keeps it apart from the plain slave-word.
Why this rendering
Luke.16.13 Observation
Syntactic observation
The same as Matthew 6:24 but for one word. Matthew has Οὐδεὶς δύναται, no one can; Luke οὐδεὶς οἰκέτης δύναται, no household slave can. That one word narrows the saying — Matthew's is people in general, Luke's a slave bound to a house. οἰκέτης is a hapax in the four Gospels. The rest matches down to the word order. μαμωνᾶς stands four times in the four Gospels, once in Matthew (6:24) and three times in Luke (16:9, 11, 13). So three of the four places this Aramaic word stands are in this chapter, and vv.9 and 11 bind it to ἀδικία, unrighteousness — v.9 τοῦ μαμωνᾶ τῆς ἀδικίας, v.11 τῷ ἀδίκῳ μαμωνᾷ. Matthew has no such binding. καταφρονέω, to despise, stands three times: Matt 6:24, Matt 18:10, Luke 16:13. v.14 calls those who hear this φιλάργυροι, lovers of money, a hapax in the four Gospels, and what they do, ἐκμυκτηρίζω, to sneer, stands twice and both are Luke's — here and 23:35, where the rulers sneer at the one on the cross. The βδέλυγμα of v.15 stands three times in the four Gospels: Matt 24:15 and Mark 13:14 are the abomination of desolation, and Luke's only βδέλυγμα is not that one but what is exalted among people.
Rendering options · 2
Basis μαμωνᾶς was already fixed as a transliteration at Matt 6:24, the same handling as raca and hosanna: an Aramaic word the text does not interpret is not interpreted here. οἰκέτης is the only difference at this place, so it must be kept apart from δοῦλος for that difference to show. Of thirteen versions examined only four transliterate μαμωνᾶς (KJV, ASV, YLT, WEB). 개역한글 keeps οἰκέτης as 집 하인 but renders μαμωνᾶς as 재물, wealth — no version examined keeps both.
Basis Mamonas conveys nothing to a Korean or English reader, and the difference between household slave and servant is slight.
Rejected To interpret what the text leaves uninterpreted erases both that the word is Aramaic and that Luke uses it three times, each time bound to unrighteousness. The same for οἰκέτης: erasing the one place where Matthew and Luke part leaves no reason to set the two verses side by side.
Sneered renders ἐκμυκτηρίζω (ekmyktērizō) — built on the word for nose, so “turned up the nose”. It stands in the four Gospels only here and at 23:35.
Abomination (βδέλυγμα, bdelygma) is the word of 21:20 in Mark's phrase.
Presses into it renders βιάζεται (biazetai), which may be middle or passive — “presses in” or “is forced”. No locale of this edition can hold both readings open, and Matthew 11:12 has the same difficulty.
Why this rendering
Luke.16.16 Observation
Syntactic observation
Built from the same material as Matthew 11:12-13, and the order and the subject differ. Matthew splits it in two: at 11:12 ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν βιάζεται, καὶ βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν — the kingdom βιάζεται and βιασταί seize it — and at 11:13, all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Luke puts it in one verse, reverses the order to put the law and the prophets first, never uses βιασταί at all, and adds εὐαγγελίζεται, is preached as good news. And the direction of βιάζεται differs: in Matthew the kingdom βιάζεται; in Luke πᾶς εἰς αὐτὴν βιάζεται, everyone βιάζεται into it. βιάζω stands twice in the four Gospels, at these two places. The form reads as either middle or passive — to force one's way, or to be forced — and the Greek does not settle which. v.17 also differs from Matthew by a word: Matt 5:18 has ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία, one iota or one stroke, and Luke has no iota. The build is inverted as well: Matthew says the law remains — until heaven and earth pass, not one shall pass — while Luke makes a comparison with Εὐκοπώτερον, it is easier: easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one stroke of the law to fall. κεραία stands twice in the four Gospels, at these two places.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The form straddles middle and passive, the same difficulty arises at Matt 11:12, and the subjects of the two verses differ. Resolving it makes it impossible to set the two verses side by side and weigh them, which is what this edition is for. But not one of the thirteen versions examined leaves the openness whole. The least-deciding is press into (개역한글, KJV, YLT, LSV), and NET alone reads it as passive (is urged to enter), while the rest nail down the active with forcing his way. This edition cannot leave it fully open either, so it takes the least-deciding option and records the rest here.
Basis Left open the sentence does not make sense, and the reader will read one of them anyway.
Rejected The verb stands at two places and both are hard. Choosing a side makes the difficulty vanish from the translation and makes it impossible to weigh that Matthew and Luke attach the verb to different subjects. Leaving a hard place hard is this edition's way — with the nature of the difficulty recorded here.
Lost in translation
βιάζεται is one form serving two voices in Greek. English has no such form, so active or passive, one must be chosen. A loose phrase can hold both readings, but never as naturally as the Greek — the overlap itself does not cross over. The versions show this: of the twenty-six comparison versions carried here, none leaves it open, and NET — which is in our data but not on the page — alone chooses the other side.
One stroke (κεραία, keraia) is a little horn on a letter.
This book gives no exception; Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 do. The three books are left as they stand.
Why this rendering
Luke.16.18 Observation
Syntactic observation
The saying on divorce stands at four places, and Luke's is the shortest. Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 carry an exception clause — παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας, apart from a matter of sexual immorality; μὴ ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ, not for sexual immorality. Mark 10:11-12 carries no exception but does carry a clause for the woman divorcing her husband (10:12). Luke 16:18 has neither. No exception and no woman's clause. And Luke alone adds ἀπὸ ἀνδρός to the second half — divorced from a husband — naming who the divorced woman was put away by, which the second halves of Matt 5:32 and 19:9 do not. So the four places part three different ways: over the exception, the woman's clause, and the source phrase. The words are the same in all four — ἀπολύω, γαμέω, μοιχεύω/μοιχάομαι. The verb forms do differ: Luke has μοιχεύει, active, both times, while Matt 5:32 puts the woman in the passive in its first half — ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχευθῆναι, makes her be adulterated. This verse does not join what stands around it: vv.16-17 speak of the law and the kingdom, and v.19 begins the rich man and Lazarus. The base text leaves the single verse standing between them.
Rendering options · 2
Basis What is not in the base text is not supplied (DECISIONS C1). And that the four places part differently is what this edition sets out to show — that Luke's is the shortest is itself the datum.
Basis One subject stands at four places and they appear to conflict; harmonising spares the reader confusion.
Rejected That they appear to conflict is the datum. Only Matthew has the exception, only Mark the woman's clause, and Luke has neither — a division already recorded in the Matthew 19 unit, to which Luke's arrival now adds a third shape. Harmonising collapses the three into one and makes that record pointless. Of thirteen versions examined not one supplies the exception here — this road comes from harmonising commentary rather than from the versions.
Purple and fine linen — the purple is the same word as at Mark 15:17, where soldiers put it on Jesus. This parable stands only in this book, and the poor man alone is named.
Lazarus — the only named person in any parable in the four Gospels.
Why this rendering
Luke.16.20 Observation
Syntactic observation
This is the only parable in the four Gospels that gives a character a name. Abraham and Moses are names brought in from outside the parable; of the invented figures only Lazarus has one. And the one who gets a name is the beggar, while the rich man has none to the end. The counts catch the clothing at v.19: ἐνδιδύσκω, to clothe, stands twice in the four Gospels, the other being Mark 15:17, where the soldiers clothe Jesus in purple; and πορφύρα, purple, three times — Mark 15:17, 15:20 and here. So the only two who wear purple in the four Gospels are the mocked Jesus and this rich man, and the verb is the same too. βύσσος, fine linen, and λαμπρῶς, splendidly, are hapax in the four Gospels. The beggar's words stand only here as well: ἕλκος, a sore, and ἐπιλείχω, to lick, are hapax, and κύων, dog, stands twice, the other being Matt 7:6, do not give what is holy to dogs. πυλών, gateway, stands at Matt 26:71 and here. And κόλπος, bosom, comes twice at vv.22-23; the word stands five times in the four Gospels, three in Luke (6:38, 16:22, 16:23) and two in John — 1:18, the Son in the bosom of the Father, and 13:23, the disciple reclining on Jesus's bosom. The ᾅδης of v.23 stands four times (Matt 11:23, 16:18, Luke 10:15, 16:23) and is not the same word as Gehenna. χάσμα, a chasm, and καταψύχω, to cool, are hapax; βάσανος, torment, stands at Matt 4:24 and here (23, 28).
Rendering options · 2
Basis At both places the overlap of words is the datum. Blurring purple into fine clothing loses the overlap with Mark 15:17, and rendering κόλπος differently at different places breaks the link to John's two.
Basis Abraham's bosom is strange in Korean and English, and a reader does not know what purple signifies.
Rejected The strangeness is the text. And what this edition does is show where else a word stands; rendering by context at each place makes that impossible. The purple especially: that one verb and one noun attach to both the mocked Jesus and this rich man is not something a translation should erase.
Lost in translation
Λάζαρος is the Greek form of a Hebrew name and is read as God has helped, but the text does not say so. This edition does not interpret what the text leaves uninterpreted, so the name is transliterated and its sense is not carried. The contrast that it is the beggar who is named does cross over; what the name means shows in no language.
Even the dogs — the word here is the street dog, not the house dog of Mark 7:27.
Abraham's bosom (κόλπος, kolpos) — this edition keeps one word for all five places in the four Gospels, including John 1:18 and 13:23; English versions usually split them.
Hades is a place-name kept as sound, not turned into “hell” — this edition keeps it apart from Gehenna.
Father Abraham — the rich man claims the descent, and verse 25 grants him the name Child.
Received in full renders ἀπολαμβάνω (apolambanō) — a word from receipts, as at 6:24.
Chasm (χάσμα, chasma) is used once in the four Gospels. Has been fixed stands in the perfect.
My father's house — the rich man asks for his brothers, having asked for himself.
Warn renders διαμαρτύρομαι (diamartyromai), to testify solemnly.
Moses and the prophets — the answer is a bookshelf, not a sign.
They will repent — the rich man argues for a sign, and verse 31 refuses it.
If someone rises from the dead — the parable ends on the very thing this book will tell in chapter 24.