He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
Parallel translations
- KJV And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
- BSB ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Take your bill,’ said the manager. ‘Sit down quickly, and write fifty.’
- NKJV And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
- NASB And he said, ‘A hundred jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
- NLT 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.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He tells the first debtor, who owes a hundred batos of oil, to quickly rewrite the bill for fifty.
Overview
By slashing the debt, the manager earns the debtor's gratitude and future favor. Whether he forgives his own commission or his master's portion is debated, but the point is his shrewd foresight. He turns fleeting opportunity into lasting goodwill.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Titus 2:10not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things.
- Luke 16:12If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
- Luke 16:9I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 16:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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