Luke 7:8

7:8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Luke 15:29

15:29 but he answered his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends!

Luke 16:3

16:3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, 10  and I’m too ashamed 11  to beg.

Luke 19:22

19:22 The king 12  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, 13  you wicked slave! 14  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe 15  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?

tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

sn I say to this one,Go,and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

tn Grk “but answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “but he answered.”

tn Or simply, “have served,” but in the emotional context of the older son’s outburst the translation given is closer to the point.

tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to bring out the contrast indicated by the context.

sn You never gave me even a goat. The older son’s complaint was that the generous treatment of the younger son was not fair: “I can’t get even a little celebration with a basic food staple like a goat!”

tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.

tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”

tn Here “dig” could refer (1) to excavation (“dig ditches,” L&N 19.55) or (2) to agricultural labor (“work the soil,” L&N 43.3). In either case this was labor performed by the uneducated, so it would be an insult as a job for a manager.

10 tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”

10 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

11 tn Grk “out of your own mouth” (an idiom).

12 tn Note the contrast between this slave, described as “wicked,” and the slave in v. 17, described as “good.”

13 tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”