16:2a

called him in: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as called him in means here that the rich man sent a messenger to tell the manager to come and talk to him. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

summoned him (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
caused him to be called
-or-
sent a message for him to come

16:2b

What is this I hear about you?: This is a rhetorical question. The rich man used this question to express that he was unhappy because of what he had heard about the manager. People had reported that the manager was cheating him. The rich man was not asking for an explanation. He believed that the reports were true, and he had already decided to dismiss the manager from his job (16:2d). Some ways to translate the rich man’s question here are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

What are these bad reports that I have heard about you?
-or-
Why have I been hearing that you are cheating me?

• As a statement. For example:

I am very unhappy at what I have heard about you.

16:2c

Turn in an account of your management: Here the rich man indicated that the manager should write a report about how he had managed the rich man’s property. He should list everything that he had bought and sold. He should also list the debts that people still owed, and he should indicate the current value of the rich man’s property. Other ways to translate this command are:

Give me a report of what you have done with my money (New Century Version)
-or-
Write/Make a ⌊detailed⌋ report ⌊for me⌋ about how you have managed my property (Translator’s Reference Translation)
-or-
Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property (Good News Translation)

16:2d

for: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for introduces the reason why the rich man told the manager to turn in his final financial report.

you cannot be manager any longer: This statement means “you cannot continue working as my manager.” It is an indirect way for the rich man to say that he was removing the manager from his job. Other ways to translate this clause are:

you are going to be fired (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
from now on, it is not you who will be in charge of my property

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.