complete verse (Luke 16:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 16:2:

  • Noongar: “So the boss called him to come in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Write everything about my property so I can see what has been happening because now you can not work for me.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “That is why the rich man called his servant, he said to him: ‘What is this I am hearing that they are accusing you (sing.) of? right now, show me all the debt books. From this day it will no longer be you (sing.) who manages my riches!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore he sent message to him and when he arrived, his master said to him, ‘What is it that I hear about you? Give/hand over to me now a list of all the things in your power/that you are ruling over and the money that comes in and goes out, for I am no longer making you caretaker.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When that rich man heard that, he called to him that servant, and he said to him, ‘It’s really true, this accusation against you. Return to me everything that I’ve entrusted to you because it can no longer be that you are the one to be in charge of my wealth.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So the rich-man had-him-called and said to him, ‘What is this that I have heard-reported about you (sing.)? Bring the list of what you (sing.) have been taking-care-of, because I am removing you (sing.) from your (sing.) work.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That’s why that rich person called for the manager to question him. ‘What’s this,’ he said, ‘that I am hearing about you? Today, show me with nothing lacking your management of my assets/possessions, for from today it’s no longer you who are my manager.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Luke 16:2

Exegesis:

kai phōnēsas auton eipen autō ‘and he summoned him and said to him.’ For phōneō as synonymous with kaleō cf. on 14.12.

ti touto akouō peri sou lit. ‘what this I hear about you,’ with demonstrative touto loosely appositive to interrogative ti, implying that the question concerns something which both parties know about.

apodos ton logon tēs oikonomias sou ‘render the account of your managing.’ As the article ton shows the reference is here to some specific account, i.e. the final account, as the rest of the verse shows.

oikonomia (also vv. 3 and 4) ‘the function of a manager,’ ‘stewardship,’ ‘agency,’ cf. on v. 3.

ou gar dunē oikonomein ‘for you cannot be manager any longer.’

oikonomeō ‘to act as manager,’ ‘to be manager.’

Translation:

He called him, or, ‘had him called,’ ‘caused(-someone)-to-fetch that man’ (Tae’ 1933). Again the subject may have to be specified, cf. e.g. ‘the rich man sent to call him’ (Sranan Tongo).

Turn in the account of your stewardship may be described by, ‘write down what you received and spent,’ ‘count-for-me all that came-in, went-out’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘show the books of your stewardship’ (Kituba, similarly Trukese, Pohnpeian), ‘give me so that I can hear about your supervision’ (Shona 1966). Your stewardship, or as a verbal phrase, ‘the way you managed my property,’ ‘what you did as my steward/manager.’

You can no longer be steward, or, ‘you cannot remain (or, continue as) my steward.’

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 16:2

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

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