15:30a

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But here introduces a contrast with the previous verse. The older son implied that his father had not treated him in the generous way that he had treated the younger son.

this son of yours: The older son was referring to his brother, but because he was very angry with him he did not want to call him “my brother.” Consider in what way in your culture a man might refer to a brother with whom he was angry. Notice that the older brother was also a son to the same father, and so it may be necessary to say:

this ⌊other⌋ son of yours

returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes: The older son accused the younger son of wasting his father’s money by paying prostitutes to have sex with him. See the note on “squandered his wealth” in 15:13c. Although all the Greek words are different, the two phrases have the same meaning.

prostitutes: The word prostitutes refers to women who earned money by having sex with men who were not their husbands. Many languages have expressions to refer to these women. For example:

bad women
-or-
women with bad reputations
-or-
women who sell their womanhood

This is a long sentence. In some languages it may need to be reordered and broken into two sentences. For example:

This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home… (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
But now this other son of yours has come home. He threw away your wealth on bad women, but now…

15:30b

you kill the fattened calf for him!: This is an exclamation that is also a protest or an accusation. Some other ways to express this are:

you have a special feast for him and kill our fattest calf!
-or-
Why should you celebrate by killing our best animal for him?

Express this accusation in a natural way in your language.

General Comment on 15:30a–b

It is fairly common in English to use present tense when talking about completed actions. This helps to create vividness. Notice that in 15:30 the actions “comes home” and “you kill” are expressed in present tense. In some languages it may be more natural to use past tense for all the actions. For example:

But this son of yours spent your money on prostitutes, and when he came home, you killed the fattened calf for him. (God’s Word)

Consider what is natural in your language.

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