St Luke 12: 13-21
Be rich toward God, your treasure
12:13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”
12:14But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”
12:15And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
12:16Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.
12:17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’
12:18Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
12:19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’
12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
12:21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
[13] Εἶπε δέ τις αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου· διδάσκαλε, εἰπὲ τῷ ἀδελφῷ μου μερίσασθαι τὴν κληρονομίαν μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ.
[14] ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἄνθρωπε, τίς με κατέστησε δικαστὴν ἢ μεριστὴν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς;
[15] εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς· ὁρᾶτε καὶ φυλάσσεσθε ἀπὸ πάσης πλεονεξίας· ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῦ.
[16] Εἶπε δὲ παραβολὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγων· ἀνθρώπου τινὸς πλουσίου εὐφόρησεν ἡ χώρα·
[17] καὶ διελογίζετο ἐν ἑαυτῷ λέγων· τί ποιήσω, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχω ποῦ συνάξω τοὺς καρπούς μου;
[18] καὶ εἶπε· τοῦτο ποιήσω· καθελῶ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας καὶ μείζονας οἰκοδομήσω, καὶ συνάξω ἐκεῖ πάντα τὰ γενήματά μου καὶ τὰ ἀγαθά μου,
[19] καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μου· ψυχή, ἔχεις πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά· ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου.
[20] εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός· ἄφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας τίνι ἔσται;
[21] οὕτως ὁ θησαυρίζων ἑαυτῷ, καὶ μὴ εἰς Θεὸν πλουτῶν.
Comments
‘Growing rich towards/to God’ in Greek denotes directing one’s material wealth to God or for the sake of God (v. 21, εἰς Θεὸν πλουτῶν) rather than for oneself. For the ambivalent attitudes to work and labour in early Christianity, see Peter Brown, Treasure in heaven (2016).
[13] ὄχλου: ὄχλος, ὁ, ‘crowd, throng, masses’ (cl. Gk prose & poetry, also LXX: LSJ s.v. I.1; Muraoka); ‘mob’ (cl. prose: LSJ I.2). The crowd is the ‘anonymous background to Jesus’ ministry’, and reacts to him positively or harmfully (EDNT s.v.).
μερίσασθαι: μερίζομαι, mid. vc, ‘divide among myself and others’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v., also LXX). Cf. 14.
[14] τίς με κατέστησε δικαστὴν ἢ μεριστὴν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς: μεριστής, ‘arbitrator’, lit. ‘divider’ (first attested here). The question in Lk echoes Exodus 12: 14, τίς σε κατέστησεν ἄρχοντα καὶ δικαστὴν ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν…
[15] πλεονεξίας: πλεονεξία, ‘greed’ (cl. Gk prose.:LSJ s.v., I.1; also LXX: Muraoka s.v., 1).
οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῦ: περισσεύω (Αtt. form περιττεύω), ‘be more than enough’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v., II); in cl. Gk περισσεύω + ‘from something’ means ‘I have more than enough of something’. In NT the meaning is the same, ‘I have a superabundance’, ‘am rich (in something)’.
ἡ ζωὴ: ‘life opp. to death’ (after Homer in poet. & prose: LSJ s.v., I.2). ὑπαρχόντων: τὰ ὑπάρχοντα,‘possessions’ (also in cl. Gk).
Thus: ‘not through enjoying a superabundance of goods does one have life.’
[18] μου τὰς ἀποθήκας: the personal pron. μου ( ‘of me’) is emphatic as it precedes the word it determines, ἀποθήκας (‘barns’). The possessive ‘my’ is repeated in the verse: ‘MY produce’ (τὰ γενήματά μου), ‘MY goods’ (τὰ ἀγαθά μου). Greed/ possessiveness lurks in the repetition of the personal pronoun.
[19] ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου: four uncoordinated (asyndetic) imperatives, the equivalent of ‘Eat, drink, (and) be merry’. Echoes of a popular ditty?
[20] τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ: ἀπαιτέω, ‘demand back’ (something owed to another) (cl. Gk); ‘demand something of one’ (also cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., I.1a). Cf. ἀ. τι παρά τινος (Aristotle), ‘I demand something of someone’.
Certain beings, not God, are demanding (back?) the man’s life. If they are indeed requiring a return, the man’s life never was his own.
[21] εἰς Θεὸν πλουτῶν: πλουτέω, ‘I am rich’, ‘I grow rich’ (early Gk poetry & cl. pr.). The part. phrase ‘to, towards God’ denotes purpose or goal (EDNT s.v. εἰς, 4). God is the ultimate goal of wealth (πλοῦτος, cf.Engl. plutocracy).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 