Luke 16

KJV · Chapter 16/24

1And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

3Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7Then 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.

8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

13No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

14And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

16The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

17And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

18Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd manager who acts cleverly to secure his future, teaching about the wise use of money. He then tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, showing the eternal consequences of choices made in this present life.

Explanation

The parable of the shrewd manager is challenging: Jesus does not praise the dishonesty, but the man's strategic cleverness in thinking about the future — a call for disciples to use material resources wisely for eternal purposes. The statement that one cannot serve both God and money (v.13) sums up the central theme. The story of Lazarus and the rich man illustrates that spiritual condition, not material wealth, determines one's eternal destiny, and that neglecting the needy nearby has serious consequences. The practical application today is to examine how money is being used: as a servant of greater purposes or as the master of one's own life.

Fun facts

  • The name Lazarus, used only in this parable among Jesus' otherwise unnamed characters, comes from the Hebrew Eleazar, meaning 'God helps' — an ironic detail, since no one in the earthly story helped the beggar.
  • The mention of Moses and the prophets as sufficient for repentance (v.29-31) ironically foreshadows the reaction of many religious leaders who would later refuse to believe even in the face of Jesus' resurrection.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Luke 16:1The parable begins with a manager accused of wasting his master’s goods — the setup of a steward about to lose his position.
  2. Luke 16:2The dismissal warning is immediate: the master demands an account because the manager will no longer keep his position — this urgency is what drives his following actions.
  3. Luke 16:3The manager’s inner monologue reveals the social calculation behind the decision: digging is too much hard labor, and begging would bring public shame.
  4. Luke 16:4His plan is born purely out of self-interest: making sure other people will welcome him once he loses his position.
  5. Luke 16:5He calls in his master’s debtors one by one — the start of the negotiations that follow.
  6. Luke 16:6A ‘bath’ and a ‘kor’ were large units of volume — a bath of oil came to roughly 37 liters — so reducing a debt of a hundred baths or a hundred kors meant tampering with a substantial sum of money, not some minor discount. It is this magnitude that makes the manager’s shrewdness so striking.
  7. Luke 16:7The second debtor has his debt reduced from a hundred to eighty, a smaller proportion of discount than the first — possibly reflecting different profit margins between the two kinds of goods.
  8. Luke 16:8Surprisingly, the master praises the dishonest manager’s shrewdness, not the dishonesty itself — Jesus adds an ironic remark: people of the world tend to plan more shrewdly for their own future than people of faith plan for spiritual things.
  9. Luke 16:9‘Mammon’ is an Aramaic word for wealth, used almost like the name of a rival master competing with God for loyalty. Unrighteous wealth does not necessarily mean stolen money, but the wealth of this world’s system, always flawed and compromised, in contrast with something that truly lasts.
  10. Luke 16:10The general principle: whoever is faithful in little is also faithful in much, and whoever is dishonest in little is also dishonest in much — integrity in small things predicts behavior in larger things.
  11. Luke 16:11If someone is not faithful with this world’s wealth, called unrighteous here, why would anyone entrust that person with true, eternal riches?
  12. Luke 16:12If someone is not faithful with what belongs to another — in this case, wealth that in the end belongs to God and was only entrusted for a time — why would they receive something that would truly be their own?
  13. Luke 16:13A slave in that economy belonged entirely to a single master, with all his time and labor owed only to him — serving two masters at once was not just undesirable, it was structurally impossible within that system. The image works because everyone there understood this in practice, not just as an idea.
  14. Luke 16:14The Pharisees, described here as lovers of money, hear this teaching and mock Jesus — a reaction of rejection from people who had a direct interest in not accepting this criticism.
  15. Luke 16:15Jesus confronts them directly: they justify themselves before others, but God sees the heart, and what is highly valued among people can be detestable before God.
  16. Luke 16:16John the Baptist marks a turning point in the story: the law and the prophets lasted until him, and since then the kingdom of God is preached, with people urgently pressing to enter it.
  17. Luke 16:17Even with this new phase of the kingdom, the law still holds its value: it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single detail of the law to fail.
  18. Luke 16:18This specific application about divorce and remarriage, right after the statement on the law’s permanence, shows that the kingdom does not relax moral standards — if anything, it reinforces them.
  19. Luke 16:19The description of the rich man, dressed in purple and fine linen, feasting every day, is the picture of extreme luxury — purple was an extremely expensive dye, associated with royalty.
  20. Luke 16:20Lazarus, covered in sores, lies literally at the rich man’s gate — extreme poverty right beside extreme wealth, with no distance between the two realities.
  21. Luke 16:21Lying at the gate was the customary place for beggars, waiting for alms or scraps from whoever went in and out of a rich man’s house. Abraham’s bosom was a Jewish way of describing a place of honor and rest reserved for the righteous after death, like the position of someone reclining right next to the host at a banquet.
  22. Luke 16:22The difference in treatment after death already shows up in the description: Lazarus is carried away by angels, while of the rich man it is only said that he was buried — a subtle contrast even before the scene of torment.
  23. Luke 16:23The reversal of situations becomes complete and visible: now it is the rich man who suffers, looking from a distance at Abraham and Lazarus in a place of comfort.
  24. Luke 16:24The rich man’s request, that Lazarus dip his finger and cool his tongue, shows that he still treats Lazarus almost like a servant, even in this new reality.
  25. Luke 16:25Abraham explains the principle behind this reversal: the rich man already received good things in life, Lazarus received only bad things — now their positions are reversed.
  26. Luke 16:26A great chasm separates the two sides permanently, impossible to cross in either direction — the division described is final.
  27. Luke 16:27The rich man’s request changes target: send Lazarus to his father’s house — even here, he still treats Lazarus as a messenger to be sent, not as an equal.
  28. Luke 16:28He has five brothers and hopes Lazarus will warn them, so they will not end up in the same place of torment — the only moment in the scene where he shows any concern for someone else.
  29. Luke 16:29‘Moses and the prophets’ was the shorthand way of referring to the whole body of Jewish Scripture that already existed at the time. Abraham’s answer says, in effect, that these texts are already enough — a spectacular sign, like someone rising from the dead, would not convince those who already ignore what is written.
  30. Luke 16:30The rich man insists that someone returning from the dead would have more impact and would lead his brothers to repentance — a bet on a spectacular sign instead of the Scripture already available.
  31. Luke 16:31Abraham’s final answer is ironic: if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they would not be convinced even if someone rose from the dead — an anticipation of what would later happen with Jesus’ own resurrection.

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