Discovery BoxLuke 15:13-16 
Context15:13 After 1 a few days, 2 the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered 3 his wealth 4 with a wild lifestyle. 15:14 Then 5 after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15:15 So he went and worked for 6 one of the citizens of that country, who 7 sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 8 15:16 He 9 was longing to eat 10 the carob pods 11 the pigs were eating, but 12 no one gave him anything.
1 tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn Grk “after not many days.”
3 tn Or “wasted.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).
4 tn Or “estate” (the same word has been translated “estate” in v. 12).
5 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the sequence of events in the parable. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
6 tn Grk “joined himself to” (in this case an idiom for beginning to work for someone).
7 tn Grk “and he.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) and the personal pronoun have been translated by a relative pronoun to improve the English style.
8 sn To a Jew, being sent to the field to feed pigs would be an insult, since pigs were considered unclean animals (Lev 11:7).
9 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
10 tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”
11 tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).
12 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
