The Shrewd Manager

16 Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who was accused of wasting his possessions. ² The rich man called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking away the management position from me? I am not strong enough to dig. I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my position as manager, people will receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “He called each one of his master’s debtors to him. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘Six hundred gallons^[a] of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘Six hundred bushels^[b] of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.’

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children^[c] of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation^[d] than the children of the light are. ⁹ I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon,^[e] so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. ¹⁰ The person who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much. And the person who is unrighteous with very little is also unrighteous with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with what is really valuable? ¹² If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something to be your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters. Indeed, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”