Luke 12:16-24

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  12:21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ¹³  but is not rich toward God.”

Exhortation Not to Worry

12:22 Then ¹⁴  Jesus ¹⁵  said to his ¹⁶  disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry ¹⁷  about your ¹⁸  life, what you will eat, or about your ¹⁹  body, what you will wear. 12:23 For there is more to life than food, and more to the body than clothing. 12:24 Consider the ravens: ²⁰  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ²¹  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

[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.

[12:21]  ¹³ sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.

[12:22]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Jesus’ remarks to the disciples are an application of the point made in the previous parable.

[12:22]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:22]  ¹⁶ tc αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) is lacking in Ì^45vid,75 B 1241 c e. Although the addition of clarifying pronouns is a known scribal alteration, in this case it is probably better to view the dropping of the pronoun as the alteration in light of its minimal attestation.

[12:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “do not be anxious.”

[12:22]  ¹⁸ tc Most mss (Ì⁴⁵ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33 Ï) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although several important and early witnesses omit it (Ì⁷⁵ א A B D L Q W Θ Ë¹ 700 2542 al lat). Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the pronoun looks to be a scribal clarification. In context the article can be translated as a possessive pronoun anyway (ExSyn 215), as it has been done for this translation.

[12:22]  ¹⁹ tc Some mss (B 070 ˹³ 33 1424 al) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although the witnesses for the omission are early, important, and varied (Ì^45vid,75 א A D L Q W Θ Ψ Ë¹ Ï lat). See previous tc note for more discussion.

[12:24]  ²⁰ tn Or “crows.” Crows and ravens belong to the same family of birds. English uses “crow” as a general word for the family. Palestine has several indigenous members of the crow family.

[12:24]  ²¹ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”