He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’
Parallel translations
- KJV And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
- BSB ‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’
- NKJV And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
- NASB And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’
- NLT ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The servant explains the feast is because the brother has returned safe and the father killed the fattened calf.
Overview
The good news is plainly stated: a lost brother restored, a father overjoyed. This is precisely the news that should gladden the elder son. His response will reveal whether he shares his father's heart for the lost, a question Jesus presses on the Pharisees.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Acts 22:13came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him.
- Luke 15:30But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
- Phlm 1:16no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
- Acts 9:17Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 15:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.