Luke 15:3

So ¹  Jesus ²  told them ³  this parable: ⁴ 

Then Jesus told them this parable:

So He told them this parable, saying,

So Jesus used this illustration:

Their grumbling triggered this story.

And he made a story for them, saying,

So he told them this parable:

So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

So ¹  Jesus ²  told them ³  this parable: ⁴ 

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ telling of the parable is in response to the complaints of the Pharisees and experts in the law.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Them means at the minimum the parable is for the leadership, but probably also for those people Jesus accepted, but the leaders regarded as outcasts.

⁴ tn Grk “parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.