Luke 14:28

14:28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down ¹  first and compute the cost ²  to see if he has enough money to complete it?

Luke 15:17

15:17 But when he came to his senses ³  he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food ⁴  enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger!

Luke 16:3

16:3 Then ⁵  the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking my position ⁶  away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, ⁷  and I’m too ashamed ⁸  to beg.

---

¹ tn The participle καθίσας (kaqisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

² tn The first illustration involves checking to see if enough funds exist to build a watchtower. Both ψηφίζω (yhfizw, “compute”) and δαπάνη (dapanh, “cost”) are economic terms.

³ tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).

⁴ tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the parable.

⁶ tn Grk “the stewardship,” “the management.”

⁷ tn Here “dig” could refer (1) to excavation (“dig ditches,” L&N 19.55) or (2) to agricultural labor (“work the soil,” L&N 43.3). In either case this was labor performed by the uneducated, so it would be an insult as a job for a manager.

⁸ tn Grk “I do not have strength to dig; I am ashamed to beg.”

sn To beg would represent a real lowering of status for the manager, because many of those whom he had formerly collected debts from, he would now be forced to beg from.