Exegesis:

mē echontōn autōn apodounai ‘since they were unable to pay back.’

amphoterois echarisato ‘he cancelled (the debt) for both.’ For charizomai cf. on v. 21.

tis oun autōn pleion agapēsei auton ‘now which of them will love him more.’ oun marks the clause as asking for the inference from what precedes. The parable rests on the idea that gratitude is proportionate to benefits received (cf. Klostermann).

Translation:

He forgave them both, or, ‘he cancelled what they owed him/their debt’ (cf. An American Translation, Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘he cleared them both’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘he released them both (from) it (i.e. their debt)’ (Marathi), or in direct discourse, ‘he said, “Never mind; you don’t have to pay it” ’ (Cuyono). Sometimes it is possible to use here the same verb as in the rendering of ‘to forgive sins’ (cf. on 1.77), e.g. in Shona, Kituba, Sinhala; also in Kele, ‘to forgo/overlook a debt or a fault,’ and in Tzeltal, ‘to lose a person’s debt or sin out of one’s heart.’

Now, introducing the concluding question, or, ‘(now) tell me’ (cf. Translator’s New Testament, Toraja-Sa’dan).

Love, see on 6.27.

More. Some languages express the comparative by, ‘of these two, which one will love him much, which one (will love him) little,’ or, implying comparison without explicitly stating it, ‘which of them will really love that man’ (Trukese), ‘which of these two men big will be his love to him’ (Tae,’ similarly Pohnpeian).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.