A parable about caring for worldly goods after a man asks him to win his inheritance.
Luke 12:16 The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luke 12:16 The ground of a certain rich manharvest.
The estate of a man, of a rich someone was productive.
Something we have can do well.
The humor here begins the verse and the ending resolves some suspense about the topic. Jesus begins with
"of a man, a rich someone." Then he add the verb before the subject to add suspense, "it was productive." What was productive? The suspense is resolved by the last word, "the estate."
The word translated as "the ground" means "a special place", "a spot" and "a landed estate". It means "land" more in the sense of an estate, that is, granted land.
The word translated as "of a certain" means primarily "anything" or "anyone." It is a pronoun, not an adjective. When it is used with a noun, Jesus it means "a someone" or "a something" to emphasize it.
- CW --Confusing Word -- This is not the common word usually translated as "ground."
- WW --Wrong Word -- The word translated as "certain" should be something more like "someone."
- CW --Confusing Word -- This is not the common word usually translated as "ground."
- WW --Wrong Word -- The word translated as "certain" should be something more like "someone."
- IW - Inserted Word-- The "harvest" doesn't exist in the source.
The -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, "the," which usually precedes a noun or changes the word it precedes (adjective, infinitive, participle, etc.) to act like a noun. The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more.
ground - "Ground" is a word that means "space," "place," "spot," "the position," "the proper place for a thing or person," "land," and "landed estate." It is a metaphor for "station," "place" or "position," in society. This is not the word usually translated as "ground."
of -- This word "of" comes from the possessive form (genitive case) of the following word that requires the addition of a preposition in English. The most common is the "of" of possession.
a -- There is no indefinite article in Greek, but when a noun doesn't have a definite article, the indefinite article can be added in English translation.
certain -- (WW) The Greek word translated as "certain" in the singular means "anyone," "someone," "something," and "anything." The same forms are used both for the masculine or feminine so "anyone" works best for a person. Jesus uses it like this to mean "a someone." This word doesn't mean "certain."
rich -- "Rich" is from an adjective that means "rich," and "opulent." It very much has the sense of ostentatiously rich. Here, it is used with an article, "the rich" but unlike English the sense is not a group of people, which would be plural, not singular, but "one who is wealthy."
man - The Greek word for "man" means "man," "person" and "humanity" in the singular. In the plural, it means "men," "people," and "peoples."
brought forth plentifully: - - The Greek verb translated as "brought forth plentifully" means "bear well" and "be productive".
The -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, "the," which usually precedes a noun or changes the word it precedes (adjective, infinitive, participle, etc.) to act like a noun. The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more.
ground - "Ground" is a word that means "space," "place," "spot," "the position," "the proper place for a thing or person," "land," and "landed estate." It is a metaphor for "station," "place" or "position," in society. This is not the word usually translated as "ground."
of -- This word "of" comes from the possessive form (genitive case) of the following word that requires the addition of a preposition in English. The most common is the "of" of possession.
a -- There is no indefinite article in Greek, but when a noun doesn't have a definite article, the indefinite article can be added in English translation.
certain -- (WW) The Greek word translated as "certain" in the singular means "anyone," "someone," "something," and "anything." The same forms are used both for the masculine or feminine so "anyone" works best for a person. Jesus uses it like this to mean "a someone." This word doesn't mean "certain."
rich -- "Rich" is from an adjective that means "rich," and "opulent." It very much has the sense of ostentatiously rich. Here, it is used with an article, "the rich" but unlike English the sense is not a group of people, which would be plural, not singular, but "one who is wealthy."
man - The Greek word for "man" means "man," "person" and "humanity" in the singular. In the plural, it means "men," "people," and "peoples."
yielded an abundant: - - The Greek verb translated as "yielded an abundant" means "bear well" and "be productive".
harvest. -- (IW) This word is not in the Greek source.
Ἀνθρώπου [209 verses] (noun sg masc gen) "Man" is anthropos, which is "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate. Used as a form of address, it is a bit contemptuous, "sir."
τινὸς [252 verses] (pron sg gen) "Certain" is tis, which can mean "someone," "something," "any one," "everyone," "they [indefinite]," "many a one," "whoever," "anyone," "anything," "some sort," "some sort of," "each," "any," "the individual," "such," and so on. In a question, it can mean "who," "why," or "what." Plural, "who are" is τίνες ἐόντες. It has specific meanings with certain prepositions, διὰ τί; for what reason? ἐκ τίνος; from what cause? ἐς τί; to what point? to what end?
πλουσίου [11 verses] (adj sg masc acc) "Rich" is from plousios, which means "rich," and "opulent." It very much has the sense of ostentatiously rich.
εὐφόρησεν [1 verse](verb 3rd sg aor ind act) "Brought forth plentifully" is euphoreo, which means "bear well" and "be productive".
ἡ [821 verses](article sg masc nom) "The" is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"). It usually precedes a noun or changes the word it precedes (adjective, infinitive, participle, etc.) to act like a noun. When not preceding a a word that can become a noun, takes the meaning of "the one" or, in the plural, "the ones."
χώρα. [8 verses] (noun sg fem nom) "Ground" is from chora, which means "space," "the spot in a room where a thing is," "place," "spot," "the position," "the proper place for a thing or person," "land," and "landed estate." It is a metaphor for "station," "place" or "position," in society.