Luke 16:2

2 And he summoned him [and] said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, because you can no longer manage.'

Luke 16:2 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 16:2

And he called him
By the prophets, sent one after another; by John the Baptist, by Christ himself, and by his apostles:

and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee?
of thy corrupting the word; of thy covetousness, rapine, and theft; of thy adultery and idolatry, and sad violation of the law; see ( Romans 2:21-23 )

give an account of thy stewardship:
what improvement is made of thy gifts; what care has been taken of my vineyard, the Jewish church; and where are the fruits that might be expected to have been received at your hands:

for thou mayest be no longer steward.
This was foretold by the prophets, that God would write a "Loammi" upon the people of the Jews; that he would cut off three shepherds in one month, and particularly lay aside the idol shepherd, by whom the Pharisees may be meant, ( Zechariah 11:8 Zechariah 11:17 ) and by John the Baptist, who declared the axe was laid to the root of the tree, and it was just ready to be cut down, ( Matthew 3:10 Matthew 3:12 ) and by Christ, that the kingdom of God should be taken from them, ( Matthew 21:43 ) and by the apostles, who turned from them to the Gentiles, ( Acts 13:46 ) .

Luke 16:2 In-Context

1 And he also said to the disciples, "A certain man was rich, who had a manager. And charges were brought to him that this person was squandering his possessions.

2 And he summoned him [and] said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, because you can no longer manage.'

3 And the manager said to himself, 'What should I do, because my master is taking away the management from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

4 I know what I should do, so that when I am removed from the management they will welcome me into their homes!'

5 And he summoned each one of his own master's debtors [and] said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("summoned") has been translated as a finite verb