Section 83 of 13515:11–15:32Luke

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King James VersionLuke 15:11–15:32

And he said, A certain man had two sons:

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.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Luke 15:11–15:32

A Father Welcomes One Son and Pleads with the Other

The younger son comes home to a feast; the older son will not go in

This third story still answers the table-fellowship complaint of Luke 15:1–3. The lost sheep and lost coin in Luke 15:4–10 already pictured heaven's joy over one recovered sinner. Now a father and two sons make the same claim personal: Jesus welcomes sinners, and the question is whether those who stayed will share that joy.

A younger son demands his share, leaves, and wastes it. Hunger sends him to pigs and then to a rehearsed speech: he has sinned and will be a hired servant. The father sees him far off, runs, kisses him, and cuts the speech short with robe, ring, shoes, and the fatted calf. Recovery is treated as life from the dead. The unit is not a pamphlet about wasteful spending. Both sons are shown through a broken household.

The older son hears music, learns a calf has been killed for 'thy son,' and refuses the house. The father comes out to him too. The complaint is years of service without a kid, set against mercy given to the brother who returned. That is resentment at mercy, not a side note about courtesy. The father answers that the older son is always with him, that everything he has is already his, and that this brother was dead and lives. The story stops before we hear whether the older son enters.

Joy over recovery is the father's claim on both boys

The open ending matters. Readers who stayed, kept the rules, and now begrudge a welcome are being pleaded with, not replaced. The feast does not erase the older son's place. It asks him not to call mercy unfair. The following manager story is a new address to the disciples; it does not explain this household's answer to the complaint.

How this should shape us

If you are the one rehearsing how to come back, come; the speech may be shorter than you think. If you are standing in the yard angry that someone else received a costly welcome, name that anger as resentment at mercy and go in to the table.

Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.

Luke 15:11–15:32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.

Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 15:11–15:32

STEP Bible Data

Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.

STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 15:11–15:32

NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke

Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.

NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 15:11–15:32

The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides

Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.

Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found study guide, Luke 15:1-19:27; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World

Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.

Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Luke

Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.

Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 15:11–15:32

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.

Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish

Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.

Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 15:11–15:32

The Work of Wealthy Women: Female Discipleship in Luke 8:1-3

Supports: Women's narrative, material, and discipleship agency, with social reconstructions kept provisional.

Penner, The Work of Wealthy Women, PDF pp. 15-18, 30-61, and 76-100; applied to the named women, households, bodies, work, resources, or witness in Luke 15:11–15:32

Commentary on Luke 16:19-31

Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.

Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.

Exact location: Luke 15:11–15:32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.

Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 15:11–15:32

Open the Luke Greek text file ↗

Lexical and grammatical evidence

STEP Bible Data

Tyndale House Cambridge

Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026

Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.

Exact location: STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

open translation and translator notes

NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.

Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

open university bible study course

The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides

Yale Divinity School faculty

Yale Bible Study, 2020; current online edition

Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.

Exact location: Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Lost and Found study guide, Luke 15:1-19:27; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

modern scholarly book introduction

Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World

Matthew L. Skinner

Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2024 revision; current course inspected 2026

Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.

Exact location: Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

open confessional commentary

Luke

Peter G. Bolt

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023

Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.

Exact location: Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

modern scholarly open monograph

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

Mark Goodacre

T&T Clark; open access supplied by the author and Duke University, 2001; open release 2011

Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.

Exact location: Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

peer reviewed article abstract and metadata

The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish

Joshua Paul Smith

The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021

Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.

Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

open access masters thesis

The Work of Wealthy Women: Female Discipleship in Luke 8:1-3

Kimberly Penner

University of Waterloo, 2011

Supports: Women's narrative, material, and discipleship agency, with social reconstructions kept provisional.

Exact location: Penner, The Work of Wealthy Women, PDF pp. 15-18, 30-61, and 76-100; applied to the named women, households, bodies, work, resources, or witness in Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

modern scholarly pastoral passage commentary

Commentary on Luke 16:19-31

Mitzi J. Smith

Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2021

Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.

Exact location: Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 15:11–15:32

Open source ↗

Luke 15:11–15:32, King James Version

The younger son comes home to a feast; the older son will not go in

Joy over recovery is the father's claim on both boys

How this should shape us

Go deeper

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

STEP Bible Data

NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke

The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides

Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World

Luke

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish

The Work of Wealthy Women: Female Discipleship in Luke 8:1-3

Commentary on Luke 16:19-31