complete verse (Luke 16:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 16:8:

  • Noongar: “‘Then the boss praised his worker because he had thought quickly and prepared for what would happen. Because this world’s people know this world’s things and they know the way to use these things. In this world, they are wiser than the people of the light.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘When the rich man heard what that servant of his with bent behavior was doing, he just praised him, because he was clever hunting for an idea/plan so that his life would be good. Because people who do not know the Lord God are smarter/more clever arranging their lives with their fellow companions, than the cleverness/smartness of people who are in the light of the Lord God arranging their lives in the future.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the master heard what this deceiving servant of his had done, he praised him yet because he was wise. He said, he knows to think for his future.’ Then Isa said, ‘The people who do not follow/obey God are wiser than the people who follow/obey God, for they know how to cause their companions to profit for their own good.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then,’ said Jesus, ‘when that master of his heard what that servant had done, he said, ‘Hey! He is really wise, because he’s preparing now ahead of time his livelihood in the future.’ And Jesus said, ‘Those people who will not obey the word of God, they really know how to make things better for themselves. But as for the people who are followers of God, apparently they don’t really know the way in order that they might be better off in the future there in Heaven.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘When his master found-out, he praised that employee for his trickiness in thinking of his livelihood. Because it’s true that the people who don’t believe, they are wiser in doing-business-with their companions than those whose minds are enlightened,’ said Jesus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that master of his observed, he spoke well of that deceiving manager of his, not because of that deception of his, but on the contrary, because he showed he could use his head. Because today, in this first life, the people who have no belief in God really know very well how to plan for their own benefit, much more so than the people of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “Then the master praised the steward, for although the instigation of forgery was an offense, he had not acted foolishly. The children of the world are often clever in their dealings with one another, the children of God or the children of light are stupid in comparison.”

age / (for)ever / eternity / eternal / permanent / of old / long ago

The Greek in the referenced verses that is typically translated as “age,” “(for)ever / eternity / eternal / permanent,” “of old / long ago” in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) consistenty as “world (or: “cosmic”) time” (Weltzeit).

Sarah Ruden (2021, p. lxii) explains the complexities of the translation of aiōn: “Trickiest of all [the words relating to time] is aion, most simply an ‘age’ or ‘era’ but sometimes denoting either the whole present world or the whole world to come. The same word can allude to all the limits of material existence (or to dangerous worldly distractions in particular), or to their absence in the eternal age to come. Looking forward, especially to ‘ages of ages’ (in the pattern of ‘King of Kings’), the meaning is ‘eternity.’”

Translation commentary on Luke 16:8

Exegesis:

kai epēnesen ho kurios ton oikonomon tēs adikias ‘and the master praised the dishonest manager.’ Whether ho kurios refers to the master of the manager, or to Jesus is hard to decide (see commentaries). On the whole the former appears slightly preferable. oikonomos tēs adikias (qualifying genitive) is equivalent to oikonomos adikos, and refers to dishonesty, rather than unrighteousness, cf. on v. 10.

epaineō ‘to praise,’ ‘to approve,’ ‘to commend.’

hoti phronimōs epoiēsen ‘because he had acted shrewdly.’ hoti may mean here ‘that,’ or, ‘because,’ preferably the latter. phronimōs does not refer to the moral aspects of the manager’s dealing but to the fact that he knew how to act in the face of imminent crisis. This is the point of the parable.

hoti hoi huioi tou aiōnos toutou ‘for the sons of this age,’ as contrasted with the people of the age to come (cf. 18.30), i.e. people whose main concern is the here and now, as contrasted with the people whose main concern is the kingdom of God. The clause is best understood as a parenthetical comment by Jesus on the reaction of the master, and the meaning appears to be that the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than the sons of light in dealing with their situation vis à vis the imminent coming of the kingdom. For aiōn cf. on 1.33.

phronimōteroi huper tous huious tou phōtos … eisin ‘are more shrewd than the sons of light.’ huper lit. ‘beyond’ means here ‘(more) than.’ The sons of light are the people who belong to the kingdom of God, of which the light is the symbol (cf. Jn. 12.36, Eph. 5.8, 1 Thess. 5.5).

eis tēn genean tēn heautōn ‘in dealing with their own generation,’ i.e. “in dealing with their own kind” (New English Bible), goes with hoi huioi tou aiōnos toutou.

Translation:

Commended (or, praised) the dishonest steward, i.e. said that the … steward had done well. Dishonest, or, ‘deceitful,’ ‘who didn’t do right’ (Sranan Tongo). Words for ‘crooked,’ ‘not straight’ can often be used in the figurative sense required here.

For his prudence, or, ‘because he had acted prudently/shrewdly/carefully, or, with (so) much forethought.’

The sons of this world, or, ‘those who belong to this world/age.’ The expression has pejorative force, since the contrast with “the sons of light” characterizes the sphere of this world or age as darkness. Some renderings used are, ‘heirs of visible-pleasures’ (Balinese, cf. 8.14), ‘people who seek this world, or, value-highly the life in the world’ (Tae’ 1933, Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘lovers of the earth’ (proposed for Shona).

Wiser, i.e. more prudent (see above).

In their own generation, or, ‘regarding those of their own kind’ (Marathi), ‘the way they live with each other’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘towards their-fellows (of-the-same-mind)’ (East and Toraja-Sa’dan, Batak Toba).

The sons of light, or, ‘people belonging to the light,’ ‘people characterized by light,’ ‘those who are in the realm of daylight’ (existing figurative expression in Tzeltal).

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 16:8

Paragraph 16:8

Jesus concluded the parable in 16:8a–b. In 16:8c he gave an explanatory comment about the parable, and in 16:9 he applied the parable to his disciples. The Berean Standard Bible puts these two verses into one paragraph. In some languages it may be more natural to start a new paragraph in 16:9, as in the Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible. These Notes will treat 16:8 as one paragraph and 16:9 as a separate paragraph.

16:8a–b

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly: Somehow the rich man found out what the manager had done. In some languages it may be necessary to supply this information:

⌊When the master heard about this,⌋ he commended the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly.

It is important to make clear in your translation that the rich man praised his manager because he had acted shrewdly (16:8b). He did not praise him because he was dishonest. For example:

the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing (Good News Translation)
-or-
even though the manager was dishonest, his employer complimented him because of his clever action

The master: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The master refers to the master or employer of the manager. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit:

⌊His⌋ employer/boss

commended: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as commended means here to praise or compliment someone.

dishonest: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dishonest often refers to someone who is “unrighteous” or “wicked.” In this context it refers primarily to the manager’s earlier actions of cheating his master by wasting his master’s money and spending it on himself. But it may also include his final actions of having the debtors change the amounts of their debt. In languages that do not have a word such as dishonest, other ways to translate this word are:

deceiving/deceitful
-or-
not trustworthy

because he had acted shrewdly: This clause explains why the rich man praised his manager. The rich man admired the cleverness and foresight with which the manager had acted in 16:5–7. Here is another way to translate this:

for doing such a shrewd thing (Good News Translation)

16:8c–d

For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces a comment that Jesus made about the parable. This comment is part of the point that the parable illustrates. Be sure it is clear in your translation that Jesus was now commenting about the parable. He was no longer telling the parable. For example:

⌊This parable shows⌋ that
-or-

⌊This is understandable⌋ because

the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light: This is a comparison. Jesus was comparing one group of people to another group of people. (See the notes below for an explanation of what these groups are.) Like the dishonest manager, people in the first group are often very clever in how they treat other people. People in the second group are often not so clever. In some languages it may be necessary to translate this as two sentences:

…the sons of this age are very clever/wise in dealing with their own kind. The sons of the light are not so clever!

the sons of this age: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as the sons of this age is an idiom. It refers to people who value things that are important on earth (such as money and status) instead of valuing what is important in heaven. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

worldly people (New Century Version)
-or-
people who do not obey God
-or-
people who have worldly lifestyles (Translator’s Reference Translation)

more shrewd: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as more shrewd is a form of the same word that it translates as “shrewdly” in 16:8b.

in dealing with: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in dealing with is literally “in (regard to).” In this context, it implies “in interacting with” or “in handling business affairs with.”

their own kind: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as their own kind is literally “their own generation.” The Revised Standard Version and several other English versions translate it that way. There are at least three ways to interpret this phrase:

(1) It refers to other people who were like them. For example:

⌊other⌋ people ⌊who are worldly⌋ like themselves (Translator’s Reference Translation)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Century Version)

(2) It refers to other people who were living at the same time. For example:

in dealing with their contemporaries (NET Bible)

(NET Bible, Revised Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(3) It refers to money and business matters. Other people are only implied. For example:

in handling their affairs (Good News Translation)

(Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004))

All three of these interpretations overlap. In the context, interpretation (3) could apply to either (1) and (2) or both. It is recommended that you use a general expression that refers to dealing with people. For example:

when it comes to dealing with others (God’s Word)

the sons of light: The Greek idiom that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as the sons of light refers to:

(a) people who are associated with God, the source of light;

(b) people who have been spiritually enlightened by God’s truth.

In some languages it may be possible to retain a reference to light. For example:

the people who belong to the light (Good News Translation)
-or-
people whose minds God has illuminated

In other languages it may be necessary to drop the figure of light. For example:

people who are followers of God
-or-
God’s people (Translator’s Reference Translation)

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