SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 12:45

12:45a

But suppose: Here Jesus began to talk about what would happen if the servant was not faithful. This contrasts with the situation that Jesus described in 12:43. In some languages it may be natural to indicate this contrast explicitly. For example:

If, on the other hand…
-or-
But if, for example…

says in his heart: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as says in his heart means “thinks.” It has the same meaning as the similar expressions in 12:17a and 12:19a that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “thought to himself” and “say to myself.” See the notes there for translation suggestions.

12:45b

My master will be a long time in coming: My master will be a long time in coming means “My master will not return for a long time” or “It will be a long time before my master comes back.”

In some languages it may be natural to use indirect speech here. For example:

thinks that his master is taking a long time in coming

12:45c

and he begins to beat: This part of the verse introduces two things that the servant will do after he thinks that his master will not return for a long time. The Berean Standard Bible introduces these two things with the word and. Another way to translate this is:

and he then begins to beat (New International Version)

It may be helpful to begin a new sentence. For example:

Suppose that servant starts beating (Contemporary English Version)

Introduce this part of the verse in a way that is natural in your language.

he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants: The clause he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants means that the manager will then begin to act harshly toward the other servants. He will beat them from time to time over the days that follow. Another way to translate this clause is:

he may repeatedly beat/whip…

beat: The word beat means to strike or whip someone.

menservants and maidservants: The words menservants and maidservants refer to male and female servants/slaves. Some other ways to translate this are:

the other servants, both the men and the women (Good News Translation)
-or-
all the other servants (Contemporary English Version)

12:45d

to eat and drink and get drunk: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as eat and drink implies in this context that he was eating and drinking too much. The phrase and get drunk refers to becoming intoxicated from drinking wine or another alcoholic beverage. Other ways to translate this whole phrase are:

partying, and getting drunk (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
to eat and drink too much and even to get drunk

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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