Discovery BoxLuke 15:29-30 
Context15:29 but he answered 1 his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave 2 for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet 3 you never gave me even a goat 4 so that I could celebrate with my friends! 15:30 But when this son of yours 5 came back, who has devoured 6 your assets with prostitutes, 7 you killed the fattened calf 8 for him!’
1 tn Grk “but answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “but he answered.”
2 tn Or simply, “have served,” but in the emotional context of the older son’s outburst the translation given is closer to the point.
3 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to bring out the contrast indicated by the context.
4 sn You never gave me even a goat. The older son’s complaint was that the generous treatment of the younger son was not fair: “I can’t get even a little celebration with a basic food staple like a goat!”
5 sn Note the younger son is not “my brother” but this son of yours (an expression with a distinctly pejorative nuance).
6 sn This is another graphic description. The younger son’s consumption had been like a glutton. He had both figuratively and literally devoured the assets which were given to him.
7 sn The charge concerning the prostitutes is unproven, but essentially the older brother accuses the father of committing an injustice by rewarding his younger son’s unrighteous behavior.
