Lukas 12:16-20

12:16 He then ¹  told them a parable: ²  “The land of a certain rich man produced ³  an abundant crop, 12:17 so ⁴  he thought to himself, ⁵  ‘What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ⁶  12:18 Then ⁷  he said, ‘I ⁸  will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 12:19 And I will say to myself, ⁹  “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’ 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹⁰  will be demanded back from ¹¹  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ¹² 

Lukas 12:45

12:45 But if ¹³  that ¹⁴  slave should say to himself, ¹⁵  ‘My master is delayed ¹⁶  in returning,’ and he begins to beat ¹⁷  the other ¹⁸  slaves, both men and women, ¹⁹  and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

[12:16]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the connection to the preceding statement.

[12:16]  ² tn Grk “a parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:16]  ³ tn Or “yielded a plentiful harvest.”

[12:17]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this is a result of the preceding statement.

[12:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “to himself, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:17]  ⁶ sn I have nowhere to store my crops. The thinking here is prudent in terms of recognizing the problem. The issue in the parable will be the rich man’s solution, particularly the arrogance reflected in v. 19.

[12:18]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:18]  ⁸ sn Note how often the first person pronoun is present in these verses. The farmer is totally self absorbed.

[12:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.

[12:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ¹² tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:45]  ¹³ tn In the Greek text this is a third class condition that for all practical purposes is a hypothetical condition (note the translation of the following verb “should say”).

[12:45]  ¹⁴ tn The term “that” (ἐκεῖνος, ekeino") is used as a catchword to list out, in the form of a number of hypothetical circumstances, what the possible responses of “that” servant could be. He could be faithful (vv. 43-44) or totally unfaithful (vv. 45-46). He does not complete his master’s will with knowledge (v. 47) or from ignorance (v 48). These differences are indicated by the different levels of punishment in vv. 46-48.

[12:45]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “should say in his heart.”

[12:45]  ¹⁶ tn Or “is taking a long time.”

[12:45]  ¹⁷ sn The slave’s action in beginning to beat the other slaves was not only a failure to carry out what was commanded but involved doing the exact reverse.

[12:45]  ¹⁸ tn The word “other” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[12:45]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the menservants and the maidservants.” The term here, used in both masculine and feminine grammatical forms, is παῖς (pais), which can refer to a slave, but also to a slave who is a personal servant, and thus regarded kindly (L&N 87.77).