Bible Strands
Luke 15:32
But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The father addresses his older son, who has just refused to enter the celebration for the returning younger brother.
The words — ἔδει (edei) translates to it was fitting or necessary, while εὐφρανθῆναι (euphranthēnai) means to make merry or celebrate.
The thread — The father repeats the dead-and-alive, lost-and-found formula from Luke 15:24 and echoes the redeemed's return with singing in Isaiah 35:10, while the New Testament applies the dead-to-life motif to spiritual condition in Ephesians 2:1.
Why it lands — The text commands recognition of the father's standard for joy, requiring the listener to align their assessment of worthiness with the fact of restoration rather than personal merit.
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
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Luke 15:24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
- Isaiah 35:10 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- Romans 3:4 Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
- Psalms 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- Jonah 4:10 But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.
- Romans 15:9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”
- Hosea 14:9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Luke 7:34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’