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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 15 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32
OET (OET-LV) And the younger of_them said to_the father:
father, give to_me the breaking_down portion of_the estate.
he and he_divided the living to_them.
OET (OET-RV) The younger son asked his father to give him his inheritance in advance, so the father divided everything up.
In this parable Jesus told about a young man who left his father’s home and wasted the money that his father had given him. Then Jesus told how the young man returned to his father, and how his father welcomed him home. The young man had an older brother who was not happy at all when his father welcomed his younger brother. This story illustrates what God is like. He is ready to forgive anyone who truly turns from his sins and begins to obey him. It also warns people not to be like the older son, who did not want to forgive his brother.
Some other headings for this section are:
The Lost Son (GNT)
The Son Who Left Home (NCV)
A son who wasted his share of the inheritance
A father was happy when his son returned home
Before you decide on a heading for this section, think about a natural way in your language to describe a child who deliberately left home and foolishly wasted his money. In some languages a word such as “lost” can only be used to describe someone who doesn’t know where he is. If that is true in your language, you will want to use a more appropriate expression for this context.
The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’
The younger son said to his father, ‘My father, please divide your property and give to me now the part that will belong to me.’
One day, the younger child asked his father to give him the share of the family inheritance that was his by right/custom.
The action of the story begins in this part of the verse. In some languages it may be good style to supply a general time phrase. For example:
One day
The younger son: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as The younger son means “The younger of the two sons.” In some languages it is necessary to indicate approximately how old the son was. If this is true in your language, you should use a word that applies to a man of about sixteen to twenty years old.
give me my share of the estate: In Greek, this was a request. It should not sound like a rude or abrupt command. In some languages it may be appropriate to supply a word such as “please.” Other ways to translate this request are given in the next note.
my share of the estate: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as my share of the estate means “that part of the family property that belongs to me.” Usually, sons received their portion of the family property when their father became very old or died. However, this son did not want to wait until his father died to inherit the property. He wanted to have his inheritance immediately.
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit that the phrase my share of the estate refers to the portion that he would inherit from his father. It may also be necessary to indicate that the father would need to divide the property right then, before he died, in order to give this son his share. For example:
Please divide your wealth now and give me my share.
I want my share of your estate now before you die. (NLT)
Please give me now my share of the inheritance.
In some languages it may be more natural to leave more information implied here, since the next verse will supply some of that information. For example:
I would like to get my inheritance now.
In some languages it may be more natural to translate this request as indirect speech. See the second meaning line for 15:12a in the Display.
So he divided his property between them.
So his father gave his two sons the share that each one should receive.
His father agreed and split his property/estate between his two children.
So: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as So here introduces what his father did in response to his son’s request. In some languages it may be necessary to make it explicit that the father agreed to give his son his inheritance right away:
His father agreed to do this and
he divided his property between them: According to Jewish custom, the older son received a share of the family property that was twice as large as that of any other son. So probably the younger son received a third of his father’s property. You may want to put this information in a footnote. Be careful not to translate divided in a way that implies dividing into two equal halves.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes
εἶπεν & τῷ πατρί, Πάτερ, δός μοι τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας
said & ˱to˲_the father Father give (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ δός μοί τό ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας ὁ δέ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τόν βίον)
If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: [told his father that he wanted the share of the estate that he would inherit]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / imperative
δός μοι
give (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ δός μοί τό ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας ὁ δέ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τόν βίον)
The son wanted his father to give him his inheritance immediately. If your language has a command form that indicates that the speaker wants something done immediately, it would be appropriate to use that form here.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ δός μοί τό ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας ὁ δέ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τόν βίον)
This is an idiom. Alternate translation: [the part of your wealth that you intend to leave to me when you die] or [the share of the estate that I would inherit]
Note 4 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
(Occurrence 2) καὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ δός μοί τό ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας ὁ δέ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τόν βίον)
Jesus uses the word And to introduce the results of what the previous sentence described. Alternate translation (as in UST): [So]
(Occurrence 2) διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βίον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ δός μοί τό ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας ὁ δέ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τόν βίον)
Alternate translation: [he divided his wealth between his two sons]
OET (OET-LV) And the younger of_them said to_the father:
father, give to_me the breaking_down portion of_the estate.
he and he_divided the living to_them.
OET (OET-RV) The younger son asked his father to give him his inheritance in advance, so the father divided everything up.
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.