Bible Strands
Luke 15:17
Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The son speaks, in effect to himself, after starving among pigs and at the moment he turns to his father’s household. He has not yet gone back, but he is forming the decision recorded in Luke 15:18.
The words — ἐλθὼν (elthōn), “having come,” marks the turn of his mind. μισθιοί (misthioi), “hired servants,” names the father’s household he contrasts with his own starvation.
The thread — This considered turning runs with Ezekiel 18:28, where turning from transgression leads to life, and with the confession in Luke 15:18. The father’s household and mercy also connect to Ephesians 2:4.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to see their own hunger plainly and compare it with the father’s household that has plenty. Then it requires the next step: getting up and going back.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 18:28 Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.
- Ephesians 2:4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Luke 15:18 I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
- Ephesians 5:14 So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Acts 16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
- Acts 26:11 I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
- Titus 3:4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
- Jeremiah 31:19 After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
- Luke 8:35 So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
- Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”