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.