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OET (OET-LV) And he_said to them:
Be_watching and be_keeping from all greediness, because the life of_him is not in the thing to_be_being_plentiful to_anyone, of the things possessing to_him.
OET (OET-RV) Then he told them, “Keep alert to avoid all greediness, because a person’s life is not about gaining lots of possessions.”
In the previous section Jesus was speaking to his disciples. In this section a man in the crowd interrupted and asked Jesus to settle a quarrel between him and his brother about an inheritance. Jesus used this situation as an opportunity to warn the crowd about being greedy and selfish. He told them a parable about a rich man who kept all his riches for himself. God called him a fool and judged him for it.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
The Parable About The Rich Fool
A Rich Fool (CEV)
Jesus Warns Against Selfishness (NCV)
This parable is only in the Gospel of Luke.
And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed,
Then he said to them all, “Be careful! Make sure that you avoid being greedy for anything,
Then Jesus said to the people who were listening, “Be very careful that you do not desire to accumulate/gain all kinds of things for yourselves.
And He said to them: In this verse Jesus began to speak to other people who had been listening to him. Most scholars think that he spoke to the whole crowd, though he may have been speaking mainly to his disciples. In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit who them refers to. For example:
Then he said to the other people who were listening
Watch out! Guard yourselves against: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as Watch out is a warning to be careful. The phrase Guard yourselves against has almost the same meaning as “Watch out.” Jesus used these two similar expressions to emphasize his warning. In some languages it may be natural to use two similar phrases. For example:
Be careful and guard against (NCV)
Be careful to guard yourselves from (GW)
Watch out! Make sure that you avoid
In other languages it may be more natural to combine these expressions and translate the emphasis in a different way. For example:
Be very careful to stay away from
Guard yourselves against every form of greed: Here Jesus warned the people that they must not be greedy in any way. The phrase Guard yourselves against…greed indicates that people must not allow themselves to want more possessions than they ought to have. In some languages there is an idiom to express this. Other ways to translate the clause are:
Be sure that you do not become greedy in any way
Do not allow yourselves to want/seek more possessions than you need
every form of greed: The Greek expression that the BSB translates as every form of greed is literally “all greed.” The word greed refers to a strong desire for more and more things. The phrase every form of greed indicates that there are different ways to be greedy and many different things that a person can desire too much.
In 12:15b Jesus mentioned possessions. A person can also be greedy for other things, such as land, status, and position. Translate this meaning in a natural way in your language. See the examples in the preceding note.
for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
because the value of a person’s life is not based on owning many things.”
For the meaning of your life is not found in the number/quantity of your possessions.”
Owning a lot of things is not what gives anyone a good/real life.”
for: In Greek, this part of the verse begins with a conjunction that the BSB translates as for. It introduces a reason for the warning Jesus had just given. Introduce this reason in a natural way in your language.
one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions: The expression that the BSB translates as one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions indicates that owning many things does not make a person’s life more important or valuable. This implies that the things that a person owns do not determine the meaning or value of that person’s life. English versions translate this in quite different ways. For example:
Life is not measured by how much one owns. (NCV)
your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be (GNT)
Life is not about having a lot of material possessions. (GW)
one’s life: The phrase one’s life means “a person’s life.” The word life in this context is referring to having a meaningful life here on earth.
the abundance of his possessions: The phrase the abundance of his possessions refers to how many things a person owns or how much wealth he has. Other ways to translate this are:
how many things he possesses
owning a lot of things
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
εἶπεν & πρὸς αὐτούς
˱he˲_said & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτούς Ὁρᾶτε καί φυλάσσεσθε ἀπό πάσης πλεονεξίας ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινί ἡ ζωή αὐτοῦ ἐστίν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ)
The implication is that Jesus said what follows to the whole crowd, which included the man who asked about the inheritance. Alternate translation: [Jesus said to the crowd]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ὁρᾶτε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτούς Ὁρᾶτε καί φυλάσσεσθε ἀπό πάσης πλεονεξίας ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινί ἡ ζωή αὐτοῦ ἐστίν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ)
Jesus uses a word for seeing to indicate a need for caution. Alternate translation: [Watch out] or [Be careful]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
πάσης πλεονεξίας
all greediness
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind the abstract noun covetousness with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [the urge to have more things]
τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ & ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ
the_‹thing› ˓to_be˒_abounding (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ πρός αὐτούς Ὁρᾶτε καί φυλάσσεσθε ἀπό πάσης πλεονεξίας ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινί ἡ ζωή αὐτοῦ ἐστίν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ)
Alternate translation: [the number of things he has]
12:15 Guard against every kind of greed: See Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21; Job 31:24-25; Ps 49; Eccl 2:1-11.
OET (OET-LV) And he_said to them:
Be_watching and be_keeping from all greediness, because the life of_him is not in the thing to_be_being_plentiful to_anyone, of the things possessing to_him.
OET (OET-RV) Then he told them, “Keep alert to avoid all greediness, because a person’s life is not about gaining lots of possessions.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.