Translation commentary on Luke 15:23

Exegesis:

kai pherete ton moschon ton siteuton ‘and get the fatted calf,’ i.e. the calf fatted for a special occasion.

moschos ‘calf,’ ‘young bull.’

thusate ‘kill (it).’

thuō ‘to sacrifice,’ hence ‘to slaughter,’ ‘to kill.’

kai phagontes euphranthōmen ‘and let us eat and enjoy ourselves, or, celebrate,’ both acts occurring together. For euphrainomai cf. on 12.19.

Translation:

The fatted calf, or, ‘the fattest/best calf,’ “the prize calf” (Good News Translation); An American Translation has an active finite form, “the calf we are fattening” (and in vv. 27 and 30, “the calf he has, resp. you have, been fattening”). Calf, or, ‘young bull,’ cf. on “ox” in 13.15; the generic ‘beast’ is sometimes a sufficient designation, e.g. in East Nyanja, Lomwe, Yao. If the whole concept is foreign to the receptor culture one may say, ‘the very best food I, or, we (inclus.), keep in supply.’

Eat and make merry, or ‘let-us(inclus.)-eat having a feast’ (Tae’), or in a single verb, ‘let-us(inclus.)-be-feasting’ (Toraja-Sa’dan); and cf. 12.19.

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 15:23

15:23a

Bring: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Bring indicates here that the servants should go out to the pasture or barn and get the fattened calf.

the fattened calf: Jewish families who had enough money fed one of their young cows much grain so that it would become fat. Then when the family wanted to have a special feast, it would be ready to be killed and eaten. If it is not natural in your language to speak of a fattened calf, you may translate this phrase as:

the fat/best calf
-or-
the calf that we(incl) have been fattening

calf: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as calf refers to the male offspring of a cow. If the idea of killing a calf is unacceptable to your readers, you may be able to use a more general word for a domestic animal. For example:

our fattest/best animal

and kill it: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as kill means here to kill and butcher it. In some languages it may be necessary to supply the implied information that the calf was to be cooked or roasted. For example:

kill/butcher it ⌊and cook/roast it⌋

15:23b

Let us feast and celebrate: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Let us feast is literally “let us eat.” The father was saying that they would all eat a big meal together and rejoice that his son had returned. He probably implied that they would invite people and have a big celebration. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this implied information explicit. For example:

Let us have a feast to celebrate ⌊my son’s return⌋

celebrate: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as celebrate literally means “make merry.” It refers here to enjoying oneself by eating a good meal. Another way to translate celebrate here is:

we will enjoy ourselves
-or-
we will be happy together

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