15:24a
For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For gives the reason why the father wanted to celebrate.
this son of mine was dead and is alive again!: The father used the words dead and alive here in a figurative way. He meant that his son was like someone who had died and had become alive again. His son had not actually died, but the father had not expected to ever see him again.
If this expression will be understood literally in your language, you may need to make explicit that it is a figurative comparison. For example:
I thought this son of mine had died and here he is alive!
-or-
It is as if my son had been dead, and now he has come back to life.
this son of mine: This phrase probably indicates that the son was standing right there. The father was probably gesturing toward him as he spoke.
15:24b
He was lost and is found!: This clause expresses the same idea as 15:24a but in different words. The son was not literally lost. He knew how to get back home. But his father compared him to something that gets lost and later someone finds it. As in 15:24a, it may be necessary in some languages to make explicit that this is figurative language. For example:
⌊It is as if⌋ he was lost and now ⌊I⌋ have found him!
-or-
He was ⌊as if⌋ lost, but now he has returned home!
15:24c
So they began to celebrate: Some time passed after 15:24b before the celebration started. The servants obeyed the father and everyone got ready for the party. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear. For example:
so ⌊they all got ready and then⌋ began to celebrate
celebrate: See the note at 15:23b.
© 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.