Luke 16 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The parable of the unjust steward and its applications 16:1–13

vv. 1–2 — the crisis: the steward accused and summoned to account

And he was also saying to the disciples:independent — the imperfect frame that carries the whole parable and its applications (vv. 1–13); δὲ καί pivots from the Pharisees of ch. 15 to the disciples

'There was a certain rich mancontent — the stock parable opening — the second πλούσιος of the chapter follows at v. 19

who had a manager,relative — οἰκονόμος — the estate-steward entrusted with the master's whole affairs

and this one was accused to him as squandering his possessions.content — διαβάλλω — a charge laid, true or slanderous left open; διασκορπίζων, the prodigal's squandering-verb (15:13)

And calling him,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on εἶπεν

he said to him:content — the master's summons — narrative inside the speech keeps its own frames, Mark-4 fashion

What is this I hear about you?content — the ominous question — the charge is not argued, only reported

Render the account of your management,content — ἀπόδος τὸν λόγον — hand over the books; the dismissal is announced as already settled

for you can no longer be manager.cause — γάρ grounds the demand — ἔτι: the office is finished

vv. 3–4 — the soliloquy: Τί ποιήσω; — and the flash of the plan

And the manager said within himself:content — the Lukan interior monologue (12:17; 15:17) — the parable turns on what is said ἐν ἑαυτῷ

What shall I do,content — deliberative subjunctive — the crisis-question of the rich fool (12:17) and the prodigal in substance

since my master is taking away the management from me?cause — futuristic present ἀφαιρεῖται — the removal already in motion

To dig I am not strong enough;content — the fronted infinitives weigh the ruined options — day-labor beyond his strength

to beg I am ashamed.content — shame closes the second door — begging, Lazarus's lot (v. 20), refused

I knowcontent — ingressive aorist — the flash of decision: 'I have it!'

what I will do,content — indirect question — the deliberative Τί ποιήσω of v. 3 answered by a future

so that when I am removed from the management they may receive me into their houses.purpose — the ὅταν-clause folded into the purpose — δέξωνται, the welcome-verb v. 9 will make eternal

vv. 5–7 — the two debtors: the bills rewritten in haste

And summoning each one of his master's debtors,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on ἔλεγεν; ἕνα ἕκαστον, one by one, though only two are staged

he said to the first:content — iterative imperfect — the same interview repeated down the ledger

How much do you owe my master?content — still 'my master' — the office not yet surrendered is the scheme's whole leverage

And he said:content — the article as pronoun — dialogue at speed

A hundred measures of oil.content — verbless answer — a hundred baths, the yield of a large olive estate

And he said to him:content — the steward's counter-move

Take your bill,content — τὰ γράμματα — the debt-bond itself, put back in the debtor's hands

and sit down quickly and write fifty.content — ταχέως — before the books are called in; the debt halved in the debtor's own hand

Then to another he said:content — the second interview — the pattern established

And you, how much do you owe?content — emphatic Σύ — down the list of debtors

And he said:content — the exchange compressed to its bones

A hundred measures of wheat.content — verbless again — a hundred kors, a fortune in grain

He says to him:content — historic present — the scheme at its most vivid

Take your billcontent — the formula repeated verbatim

and write eighty.content — a fifth off — the varied discounts perhaps the steward's own concealed commission written into each bond

v. 8 — the verdict: shrewdness, not dishonesty, praised

And the master commended the dishonest managercontent — ὁ κύριος read as the parable's master, not the Lord, though the word builds the bridge; τῆς ἀδικίας, Semitic genitive of quality

because he had acted shrewdly;cause — φρονίμως — the praise lights on the prudence, not the fraud

for the sons of this age are more shrewd toward their own generation than the sons of light.cause — the second ὅτι — Jesus' own comment on the verdict (the crux of whose voice speaks, named here): comparative ὑπέρ, the two 'sons' contrasted

vv. 9–13 — the applications: friends from mammon, faithful in little, two masters

And I say to you,content — emphatic ἐγώ — the dominical application now explicit

make for yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness,content — instrumental ἐκ — spend the world's wealth on eternal friendships; μαμωνᾶς, the Aramaic loanword, with the ἀδικίας of v. 8

so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.purpose — δέξωνται echoes v. 4 — the steward's welcome made eternal; ἐκλίπῃ, 'when it gives out' (some witnesses ἐκλίπητε, 'when you fail')

The one faithful in very little is faithful also in much,content — gnomic maxim — fidelity is of a piece, from least to most

and the one dishonest in very little is dishonest also in much.content — the dark half of the antithesis — ἄδικος picks up the ἀδικία-words of vv. 8–9

If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,conditional — first-class protasis — forward-leaning on πιστεύσει

who will entrust to you the true riches?content — τὸ ἀληθινόν fronted — the genuine wealth against the counterfeit; πιστεύσει plays on πιστοί

And if you have not been faithful in what belongs to another,conditional — τὸ ἀλλότριον — present wealth as another's (God's), held in trust; forward-leaning on δώσει

who will give you what is your own?content — τὸ ὑμέτερον — the inheritance that is truly yours (some witnesses ἡμέτερον)

No servant can serve two masters;content — the sealing maxim (par. Matt 6:24, with Luke's οἰκέτης, the household slave) — slavery is indivisible

for either he will hate the one and love the other,cause — gnomic futures — μισέω comparative, 'love less'

or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.cause — the doubled ἤ — no neutral service exists

You cannot serve God and mammon.'content — the two masters named at last — mammon personified as God's rival; the hinge to the Pharisees' scoff (v. 14)

The money-lovers scoff: the heart-knower, the law, and the kingdom 16:14–18

vv. 14–15 — the scoff and the God who knows hearts

And the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things,independent — φιλάργυροι ὑπάρχοντες — the causal participle kept in-clause: money-lovers overhearing a sermon against mammon

and they were sneering at him.independent — ἐκμυκτηρίζω — 'turned up the nose'; the imperfect keeps the sneer running (LXX Ps 21:8 of the mockers, again at 23:35)

And he said to them:independent — the answer-frame that carries vv. 15–18

'You are the ones who justify yourselves before men,content — emphatic Ὑμεῖς — self-justification played to a human audience (cf. 18:9–14)

but God knows your hearts;content — the heart-knower (καρδιογνώστης, Acts 15:8) set against the courtroom of men

for what is exalted among men is an abomination before God.cause — verbless sentence — βδέλυγμα, the LXX's cultic loathing-word, set against ὑψηλόν

vv. 16–18 — the law and the kingdom: until John, not one serif, and the divorce-word

The Law and the Prophets were until John;content — verbless era-statement — John the hinge of salvation-history (par. Matt 11:12–13)

from then the kingdom of God is preached as good news,content — εὐαγγελίζεται — Luke's own verb for the mission marks the new era

and everyone forces his way into it.content — βιάζεται — the crux: middle ('everyone presses in,' read here) or passive ('all are urged in'); the crowds of chs. 14–15 press through the door

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass awaycontent — the counterweight to v. 16 — the new era does not void the law

than for one serif of the Law to fall.comparative — ἤ after the comparative — κεραία, the letter-distinguishing stroke: not the least penstroke lapses

Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery,content — the law's abidingness instanced — the divorce-word, without Matthew's exception clause

and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.'content — perfect ἀπολελυμένην — her settled divorced status; the standard is God's, not the scribes'

The rich man and Lazarus 16:19–31

vv. 19–21 — the tableau: purple at the table, sores at the gate

Now there was a certain rich man,independent — the parable told straight on, without a fresh speech-frame — the second Ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν πλούσιος (v. 1), now weighed

and he was clothed in purple and fine linen,independent — customary imperfect — royal purple over imported linen: luxury outside and in

feasting sumptuously every day.participial — εὐφραινόμενος — the prodigal-chapter's feasting verb (15:23–32), now daily and splendid

And a certain poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate,independent — the only named figure in Jesus' parables — Λάζαρος, 'God has helped'; pluperfect ἐβέβλητο, dumped and left

covered with sores,participial — perfect participle — his ulcerated state as settled as the rich man's routine

and longing to be fed from the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table;participial — χορτασθῆναι — the beatitude's filling-verb (6:21) denied; food within reach, never offered

but even the dogs would come and lick his sores.independent — ascensive καί — unclean scavengers his only ministrants; iterative imperfect ἐπέλειχον (NT hapax)

vv. 22–23 — the reversal: angels for the beggar, burial for the rich man

And it happened that the poor man diedindependent — the Septuagintal ἐγένετο frame — death levels the tableau

and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom;content — coordinate infinitive under ἐγένετο — angelic escort to the place of honor at the patriarch's side

and the rich man also diedindependent — the same death, without escort

and was buried.independent — ἐτάφη — a funeral, no doubt splendid, is all he gets: the two-word obituary

And in Hades, lifting up his eyes,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on ὁρᾷ; ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ fronted: the address has changed

being in torment,participial — the standing state — βάσανος, the touchstone-word for torment; also forward-leaning on ὁρᾷ

he sees Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.independent — vivid present ὁρᾷ — the reversal beheld: the beggar he overlooked now at the feast he lost

vv. 24–26 — the first dialogue: a drop of water, refused by the reversal and the chasm

And he called out and said:independent — emphatic αὐτός; the coincident participle kept in-clause — the rich man calls across the gulf

Father Abraham,phrase modifier — vocative of address — descent from Abraham pleaded as patronage (cf. 3:8)

have mercy on mecontent — the beggar's cry (18:38) now on the rich man's lips

and send Lazaruscontent — he still treats Lazarus as an errand-boy — named, known, and never helped

to dip the tip of his finger in waterpurpose — a fingertip of water — the plea shrunk to the smallest imaginable relief, answering the crumbs of v. 21

and cool my tongue,purpose — καταψύχω (NT hapax) — the feasting tongue now burning

for I am in anguish in this flame.cause — grounds the whole plea (both imperatives) — ὀδυνῶμαι, the anguish-verb Abraham will hand back (v. 25)

But Abraham said:independent — the first answer

Child,phrase modifier — the kinship granted — τέκνον: a son of Abraham indeed, and it cannot help him

remembercontent — memory as torment — the ledger of the two lives reopened

that you received your good things in full in your lifetime,content — ἀπολαμβάνω — payment received as one's due; τὰ ἀγαθά σου, 'your' good things, chosen and used up

and Lazarus likewise the bad things;content — elliptical — the verb carried over; his evils were never 'his own' by choice

but now here he is comforted,content — νῦν δέ — the great reversal stated; παρακαλεῖται answers the woe on the rich who 'have their παράκλησις' (6:24)

and you are in anguish.content — the rich man's own verb (v. 24) returned to him

And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed,content — resultative perfect ἐστήρικται — the divine passive: fixed, and fixed for good; χάσμα, NT hapax

so that those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot,purpose — ὅπως — the chasm's design: even willing pity cannot pass

nor may they cross from there to us.purpose — the gulf bars both directions — the destinies sealed

vv. 27–31 — the second and third dialogues: the five brothers, Moses and the prophets, one risen from the dead

And he said:independent — the plea redirected — from his own relief to his family's warning

Then I beg you,content — ἐρωτῶ — the suppliant's request-verb, οὖν drawing the consequence of the refusal

father,phrase modifier — the address maintained — the kinship still pleaded

that you would send him to my father's house,content — ἵνα-object clause after ἐρωτῶ — still 'send Lazarus' (v. 24), now as a witness to the living

for I have five brothers —cause — the motive of the request — five still feasting, presumably, behind the same gate

so that he may warn them,purpose — διαμαρτύρομαι — solemn testimony; the purpose reaches back to πέμψῃς: the mission's aim

lest they too come into this place of torment.purpose — ἵνα μή — the first altruism the rich man shows, and it comes too late for him

But Abraham says:independent — historic present — the decisive answer lands in the vivid tense

They have Moses and the Prophets;content — the sufficiency of Scripture — the same canon as v. 16, whose serifs do not fall (v. 17)

let them hear them.content — third-person imperative — hearing, not spectacle, is what repentance needs

And he said:independent — the rich man contradicts Abraham

No, father Abraham,content — emphatic οὐχί — Scripture, he judges, is not enough for men like his brothers (and himself)

but if someone from the dead goes to them,conditional — third-class protasis — forward-leaning on μετανοήσουσιν; the demand for a sign from the grave

they will repent.content — μετανοήσουσιν — the chapter's buried keyword surfaces: repentance is what the brothers lack

But he said to him:independent — the closing verdict

If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets,conditional — first-class protasis — the case as it stands; forward-leaning on πεισθήσονται

not even if someone should rise from the deadconditional — the doubled protasis — οὐδ᾽ ἐάν with ἀναστῇ, resurrection language: Luke's readers hear the risen Jesus (and the other Lazarus, John 11–12) refused in advance

will they be persuaded.content — πεισθήσονται — persuasion, not proof, is the issue: hearts that will not hear Scripture will explain away a resurrection

Analysis. Luke 16 hangs two great money-parables on a sayings-bridge, and the layout shows the difference in their telling. The unjust steward (vv. 1–13) is kept one section under the single imperfect Ἔλεγεν of v. 1, so the whole parable and its applications read as one blue column of speech, Mark-4 fashion: the story's own frames — the master's εἶπεν, the soliloquy's εἶπεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, the debtor exchanges down to the historic present λέγει of v. 7 — run coordinate at the speech's own depth, each opening its little dialogue one step deeper, and the steward's Τί ποιήσω with its answering ἔγνων chains to the ἵνα of the plan, whose δέξωνται the application of v. 9 makes eternal. The chapter's first crux is taken openly at v. 8: ὁ κύριος who praises is read as the parable's master, not the Lord, and the second ὅτι as Jesus' own comment on the verdict — both hung as parallel grounds under ἐπῄνεσεν, the tags naming the seam. Verses 10–13 run as coordinate maxims, their εἰ-protases leaning forward anchor-less above their apodoses. The Pharisee bridge (vv. 14–18) reverts to narrative at depth 0 and takes βιάζεται in v. 16 as middle — 'everyone presses in' — with the dispute named; v. 17 counterweighs (not one serif falls) and v. 18 instances the law that does not fall. The rich man and Lazarus (vv. 19–31) is one section opening at the mainline — the parable told straight, with no speech-frame inside its own section — so the reversal tableau stands flush left (ἦν, ἐνεδιδύσκετο, ἐβέβλητο, the ἐγένετο of the two deaths, the vivid ὁρᾷ of v. 23), and the three Abraham-dialogues each indent under their verbs of saying: the fingertip-of-water plea grounded in ὀδυνῶμαι and refused by μνήσθητι and the perfect ἐστήρικται of the fixed chasm; the five-brothers plea chaining Ἐρωτῶ → πέμψῃς → διαμαρτύρηται → ἵνα μή; and the verdict of v. 31, whose doubled forward-leaning protases (εἰ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἀκούουσιν … οὐδ᾽ ἐάν τις ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῇ) stack above the two-word apodosis πεισθήσονται — Scripture unheard, resurrection unpersuasive.