Exegesis:

kai met’ ou pollas hēmeras ‘and after not many days,’ i.e. ‘not many days later,’ hence, “a few days later” (New English Bible). The phrase goes with apedēmēsen ‘went abroad.’

sunagagōn hapanta ‘having gathered everything,’ probably by turning it into cash.

ho neōteros huios apedēmēsen eis chōran makran ‘the younger son went abroad to a distant country.’

apodēmeō (also 20.9) ‘to go abroad,’ ‘to go on a journey.’

makros ‘far away,’ ‘distant.’

dieskorpisen tēn ousian autou ‘he squandered his property.’

diaskorpizō here ‘to squander,’ ‘to waste.’

zōn asōtōs ‘by living extravagantly,’ going with dieskorpisen.

asōtōs ‘extravagantly,’ i.e. as a spendthrift, or ‘recklessly,’ probably the former.

Translation:

Gathered all he had, or, ‘sold the whole of his share’ (cf. e.g. Good News Translation, Tae’).

Took his journey into, or, ‘left home and went to’ (cf. Good News Translation and New English Bible).

Squandered, i.e. spent lavishly and/or foolishly, ‘flung about’; Batak Toba uses a compound verb built on ‘finished’ and ‘clean’; Zarma has, ‘caused-to-be-lost.’

His property has the same reference as “all he had”; hence, “it” (New English Bible), “his money” (Good News Translation).

In loose living, or, ‘by extravagant behaviour,’ ‘giving-rein-to (his) desires’ (Balinese, similarly Batak Toba).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.