The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “wheat”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).
Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext) or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
The following is a stained glass window depicting The Parable of the Rich Fool by Arthur J. Dix, 1898. From St John’s church, Bowness-on-Windermere, England:
Hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:
From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:18:
Noongar: “‘This I will do’, he said to himself, ‘I will break down my grain houses and make bigger houses for keeping everything, my grain and all my other things.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Ah, I have an idea! I will just tear down my storehouse and build one that is bigger, so that there [locative] will be my putting-away-place for all my rice and my goods.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “A, I know as to what I should do,’ he said, ‘I will break down my storehouses and will build bigger ones than the first ones so that I can store there all that my plants yielded and all my wealth.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he said, ‘I will tear down these bodegas of mine and I will build again greater ones, so that all that I have harvested and all of my possessions might be placed in them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Ah, now this is what I will do. I will destroy all my granaries so that I will then build bigger-ones so that it will suffice as a place-for-me-to-store all my harvests and my possessions as well.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Probably it would be good if I break up these silos of mine, for I will then have much bigger ones built, so that places-to-put-into won’t lack for what I have harvested and for my belongings.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 12:15-21:
Jesus stood up and warned the crowd, “Don’t be greedy!
Wealth won’t get you where you want to go.”
Then he told them this story:
“At harvest time a rich man had an abundant crop,
but he didn’t have enough room to store it all.
After thinking things over for a while,
he finally decided to tear down his old barns
and build super sized storage bins.
“Once I do this,” he smiled and said to himself,
“I’ll have enough set aside for years to come.”
So he decided to live his life to the max.
But as he celebrated, the voice of God thundered,
“Stupid fool! Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?”
Jesus concluded by saying,
“This is what happens to people who pile up wealth
without weighing the thunderous judgment of God.”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
kai eipen ‘and (at last) he said.’ After dielogizeto (v. 17, imperfect tense) eipen (aorist) marks the end of his deliberations and the reaching of a decision.
touto poiēsō ‘this (is what) I will do,’ introductory clause. touto is emphatic.
kathelō mou tas apothēkas ‘I will tear down my barns.’ For kathaireō cf. on 1.52. For apothēkē cf. on 3.17.
kai meizonas oikodomēsō ‘and I will build bigger ones,’ with apothēkas understood.
ekei ‘there,’ i.e. in the new bigger barns.
panta ton siton kai ta agatha mou ‘all my grain/corn and goods.’ panta goes with siton only. agatha refers to movable possessions in general.
Translation:
Pull down, referring probably not to mere destruction, but to the deliberate taking down of the barns in such a way that the material can still be used, as indicated e.g. in Balinese, which uses a word lit. meaning ‘to untie/loosen.’
Barns, or, ‘storehouses,’ in Indonesia often a term that basically means ‘rice barn,’ then ‘granary,’ ‘storehouse (for any kind of food and goods).’ A generic descriptive phrase, ‘place/building where are stored,’ may coincide with the expression employed in v. 17.
All my grain and my goods, or, ‘all this grain (of mine) and my other goods/possessions.’ For grain cf. on “wheat” in 3.17.
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.
Then he said: The phrase Then he said introduces more things that the rich man thought as he was deciding what he should do. He continued to say these things to himself in his own mind. In some languages it may be more natural to continue the man’s thoughts without using an introductory clause such as Then he said. For example:
Aha! I know what I will do.
This is what I will do: This clause introduces the rich man’s answer to his own question. He had made a decision about what to do. Consider what phrase people use when they have decided to act in a certain way. For example:
I know! (New Living Translation (2004))
12:18b
I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones: In the cultural context, this statement implies that the rich man will order his servants to do this work. In some languages it may be necessary to make this information explicit. For example:
I will ⌊tell my workers/men to⌋ tear down my barns and build bigger ones
Consider whether it is natural in your language to use a causative idea here.
tear down: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tear down means to pull down or take apart. The rich man wanted to demolish his old barns in order to make room for new ones.
barns…bigger ones: In this context the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as barns literally refers to buildings that were used for storing grain or other crops. The next part of the verse shows that when the man built bigger ones, he would also use them to store other possessions besides grain. If your language does not have a word for barns, you may:
• Use a local equivalent. For example:
granaries
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
storage places/buildings
12:18c
there: In this context the word there means “in those new barns/storehouses.”
my grain: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as grain refers literally to wheat, but it can be used for any grain. In areas where there is no word for grain or “wheat,” you may use a more general term. For example:
my crops/harvest -or-
what I have harvested
Try not to use the word for a specific grain such as “rice” that was not grown in Israel at that time.
my goods: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my goods refers to things other than grain that the rich man owned and could put in his barns. In some languages you may need to translate this as:
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