Discovery BoxLuke 16:1-3 
Context16:1 Jesus 1 also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations 2 that his manager 3 was wasting 4 his assets. 16:2 So 5 he called the manager 6 in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? 7 Turn in the account of your administration, 8 because you can no longer be my manager.’ 16:3 Then 9 the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position 10 away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, 11 and I’m too ashamed 12 to beg.
1 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn These are not formal legal charges, but reports from friends, acquaintances, etc.; Grk “A certain man was rich who had a manager, and this one was reported to him as wasting his property.”
3 sn His manager was the steward in charge of managing the house. He could have been a slave trained for the role.
4 tn Or “squandering.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).
5 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.
6 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.
8 tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").
9 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.
10 tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”
11 tn Here “dig” could refer (1) to excavation (“dig ditches,” L&N 19.55) or (2) to agricultural labor (“work the soil,” L&N 43.3). In either case this was labor performed by the uneducated, so it would be an insult as a job for a manager.
12 tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”
sn To beg would represent a real lowering of status for the manager, because many of those whom he had formerly collected debts from, he would now be forced to beg from.
