Translation commentary on Luke 15:19

Exegesis:

ouketi eimi axios klēthēnai huios sou ‘I am no longer worthy, or, I no longer deserve, to be called your son.’

poiēson me hōs hena tōn misthiōn sou lit. ‘make me as one of your paid servants,’ i.e. ‘put me in the same position’ or ‘take me on,’ rather than ‘treat me as one of your paid servants.’

Translation:

I am no longer worthy, cf. 3.16.

To be called your son, or, ‘that you call me your son’ (Bible en français courant); if a more analytical rendering is required, this may be, ‘that you say, “He is my son” .’

Treat me as, preferably, ‘please take me on as’ (cf. Exegesis), or, ‘make me’ (Ekari), ‘allow me to become,’ ‘please let me work for you as’; in Yaka one says, ‘write me up as.’

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 15:19

15:19a

I am no longer worthy to be called your son: The younger son was speaking very humbly. He was saying that he no longer deserved the honor of being called a son. He implied that what he had done was so wrong that he could not expect his father to treat him as a son.

This clause is passive. In some languages you may need to use an active verb and supply a subject. Here, the father is the implied subject. For example:

I am no longer worthy for you to call me your son.

15:19b

Make me like one of your hired servants: This clause indicates that the young man planned to ask his father to let him work for him, just as his father’s other workmen did. This request was a contrast to being treated like a son, and it was also the result of his unworthiness. Another way to translate this clause is:

Instead, treat me like one of your workers.

Express the connection with 15:19a in a natural way in your language.

hired servants: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hired servants is the same word as in 15:17b. It refers to free men who worked for pay.

General Comment on 15:18–19

These verses contain a quotation within a quotation within the story that Jesus was telling. In some languages, readers may find this difficult to understand. In those languages it may be necessary to use indirect speech for what the young man would say to his father. For example:

I will leave here and go back to my father. ⌊When I get back home,⌋ I will admit to him that I have sinned against God and against him. I will tell him that I am no longer worthy to be considered his son. I will ask him to let me work for him like a hired laborer.

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