Atlas Biblica

    Luke · 31 verses

    Luke 16

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The manager is dismissed for wasting his master’s possessions, then earns the master’s admiration by reducing the debts still owed to him. The chapter is not shy of a crooked success: the dishonest manager is commended because he acted shrewdly.

    The manager makes friends on the way outvv. 1–13

    A rich man’s manager hears that his accounts are in disorder and is told to prepare for dismissal. Too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg, the manager visits the debtors one by one and edits their bills: fifty measures of olive oil instead of a hundred, eighty measures of wheat instead of a hundred. The master, rather remarkably, commends the dishonest manager—not for honesty, but for seeing what the hour required. The lesson then turns from account-books to allegiance: worldly wealth, faithfulness in small things, and the impossibility of serving both God and money.

    The Pharisees scoff, and the story sharpensvv. 14–18

    The Pharisees hear the teaching and scoff, being lovers of money. Jesus answers that human admiration and God’s judgment do not keep the same ledger. John marks a change in the preaching of the kingdom, yet the Law remains more durable than heaven and earth; then, with no ornamental bridge at all, the subject arrives at divorce and adultery.

    The rich man, Lazarus, and the five brothersvv. 19–31

    A rich man lives in purple and fine linen, while Lazarus lies at his gate with sores, longing for crumbs. The dogs take an interest in Lazarus, which is the chapter’s oddly ordinary detail amid the coming upheaval. Death rearranges the scene: Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s side, while the rich man finds himself in torment, separated by a fixed chasm. He asks first for a drop of water, then for a warning to his five brothers. Abraham points instead to Moses and the Prophets, and the final exchange refuses the rich man’s proposed spectacle: those who will not listen to Moses and the Prophets will not be persuaded even by someone rising from the dead.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Luke 16:1Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

    2. Luke 16:2So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’

    3. Luke 16:3The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg.

    4. Luke 16:4I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

    5. Luke 16:5And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.

    6. Luke 16:6‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Take your bill,’ said the manager, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

    7. Luke 16:7Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your bill and write eighty,’ he told him.

    8. Luke 16:8The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

    9. Luke 16:9I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

    10. Luke 16:10Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

    11. Luke 16:11So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?

    12. Luke 16:12And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own?

    13. Luke 16:13No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

    14. Luke 16:14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.

    15. Luke 16:15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

    16. Luke 16:16The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

    17. Luke 16:17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

    18. Luke 16:18Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

    19. Luke 16:19Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.

    20. Luke 16:20And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

    21. Luke 16:21and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

    22. Luke 16:22One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.

    23. Luke 16:23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

    24. Luke 16:24So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

    25. Luke 16:25But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

    26. Luke 16:26And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

    27. Luke 16:27‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,

    28. Luke 16:28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

    29. Luke 16:29But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’

    30. Luke 16:30‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.’

    31. Luke 16:31Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 401 passages were voted onto 30 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 10Luke 16:11–12So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?
    • 10Matthew 25:21His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’
    • 10Luke 19:17His master replied, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
    • 10Matthew 25:23His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’
    • 15Proverbs 21:2All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
    • 151 Samuel 16:7But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”
    • 151 Corinthians 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
    • 232 Peter 2:4For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
    • 15Jeremiah 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
    • 15Proverbs 16:5Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished.
    • 10Hebrews 3:2He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.
    • 9Matthew 19:21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
    • 131 John 2:15–16Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
    • 15Acts 15:8And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
    • 16Matthew 11:9–14What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
    • 221 Peter 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

    Onward

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