Luke 12:16-20

Context
12:16 He then¹ told them a parable:² “The land of a certain rich man produced³ an abundant crop, 12:17 so⁴ he thought to himself,⁵ ‘What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’⁶ 12:18 Then⁷ he said, ‘I⁸ 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 life¹⁰ will be demanded back from¹¹ you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’¹²

Luke 12:45

Context
12:45 But if¹³ that¹⁴ slave should say to himself,¹⁵ ‘My master is delayed¹⁶ in returning,’ and he begins to beat¹⁷ the other¹⁸ slaves, both men and women,¹⁹ and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

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

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

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

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

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

[12:17] ⁶sn 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] ⁷tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

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

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

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

[12:20] ¹¹tn 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] ¹²tn 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] ¹³tn 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] ¹⁴tn 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] ¹⁵tn Grk “should say in his heart.”

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

[12:45] ¹⁷sn 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] ¹⁸tn The word “other” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[12:45] ¹⁹tn 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).