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Today's Verse Analysis

Luke 15:12​ And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods

After the analogies of the lost sheep and lost coin, Jesus continues the analogy of the prodigal son

Spoken to
audience

ΛΟΥΚΑΝ ​15:12 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ, δός μοι τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας: ὁ δὲ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βίον.

KJV Verse

Luke 15:12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

NIV Verse:

Luke 15:12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

What His Listeners Heard:

And the younger of them said to that father, "Father, hand over that share of the property belonging to me." So, that one allocated to them that livelihood."

Lost In Translation:

Unlike many of Jesus's analogies, there are two unusual words here. This verse contains a clue to the most mysterious of Christ's words, (see this article) a word he invented in the Lord's Prayer, which isn't even translated in the version we pray in English. In this verse, we see the root of that word translated misleadingly translated as "goods" and more correctly as "estate." This root is only used in two verses. There is also a unique word translated as divided" that means to "take apart", "cleave in twain", "divide", "dispense",  and "allocate". 

The division is made between both brothers when we expect it to be just him, but any division leave a portion which is the other brothers. 

 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

And the younger of them said to his(WW) father, Father, give me the portion of (MWthe) goods(CW) that(IW) falleth [to me(IW)]. And(OS) he(WW) divided unto them his(WW) living.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.

About this Site

See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.

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Do Your Own Research

Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.