GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
Luke 12:18-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
And he sayde: This will I do. I will destroye my barnes and bilde greater and therin will I gadder all my frutes and my goodes:
and I will saye to my soule: Soule thou hast moch goodes layde vp in stoore for many yeares take thyne ease: eate drinke and be mery.
But God sayde vnto him: Thou fole this night will they fetche awaye thy soule agayne from the. Then whose shall thoose thinges be which thou hast provyded?
And he said, This wil I do, I wil pul downe my barnes, and builde greater, and therein will I gather all my fruites, and my goods.
And I wil say to my soule, Soule, thou hast much goods laide vp for many yeeres: liue at ease, eate, drinke and take thy pastime.
But God said vnto him, O foole, this night wil they fetch away thy soule from thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided?
64 distinct cross-references across this passage (65 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v19 Be merry and make good cheer.
Be merry and make good cheer.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18 And he said, This will I do: I…
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Ver. 18. My barns] So my fruits, and my goods, all was his; God came not into this epicure’s thoughts. Hic Deus nihil fecit, Here God does nothing, one wittily twitted Pope Adrian, talking after the same rate.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–20 And he said, this will I do,.... This was…
And he said, this will I do,.... This was the resolution he came to, and which he took up, without consulting God, or asking leave of him:
I will pull down my barns, and build greater; which was not a very wise one; for he might have let his present barns have stood, and have added new ones to them:
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and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods; he ascribes the increase of his substance to himself, and reckons them his own acquisitions, and entirely owing to his diligence and industry; and therefore calls them my fruits, and my goods; and accounts them his good things, his only good things; as worldly men place all good and happiness in outward enjoyments, having no notion of spiritual and eternal good things he determines to lay up all in his barns, for his own use and service, and nothing for God and his interest, nor any thing for the poor and their relief.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v20 Thou fool - To think of satisfying thy soul…
Thou fool - To think of satisfying thy soul with earthly goods! To depend on living many years! Yea, one day! They - The messengers of death, commissioned by God, require thy soul of thee!
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Verse 18. I will pull down, &c.] The rich…
Verse 18. I will pull down, &c.] The rich are full of designs concerning this life, but in general take no thought about eternity till the time that their goods and their lives are both taken away.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–20 I will pull down my barns - The word…
I will pull down my barns - The word “barns” here, properly means, “granaries,” or places exclusively designed to put wheat, barley, etc. They were commonly made, by the ancients, “underground,” where grain could be kept a long time more safe from thieves and from vermin. If it be asked why he did not let the old ones remain and build new ones, it may be answered that it would be easier to “enlarge” those already excavated in the earth than to dig new ones.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v19 Much goods, &c. It is evident how far this…
Much goods, &c. It is evident how far this poor man was mistaken, when he called these things goods, which with more reason ought to be esteemed evils. The only things that can rightly be called goods, are humility, modesty, and its other attendants. The opposite to these ought to be esteemed evils; and riches we ought to consider as indifferent. (St. John Chrysostom)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v20 this night, &c.--This sudden cutting short of his career…
this night, &c.--This sudden cutting short of his career is designed to express not only the folly of building securely upon the future, but of throwing one's whole soul into what may at any moment be gone. "Thy soul shall be required of thee" is put in opposition to his own treatment of it, "I will say to my soul, Soul," &c.
whose shall those things be, &c.--Compare Psa 39:6, "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. Pull down—His barns then are not, as they…
18. Pull down—His barns then are not, as they often were among the Jews, caves of the earth or rocks. They are tall buildings; but he must have still more spacious ones.
My fruits—My products.
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My goods—The heathen philosophers, especially the Stoics, denied that perishable things should be called goods. But to this man they were, indeed, my goods. They were his life, than which he knew no life higher, and which he considered to consist in the abundance of his possessions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. my barns] Rather, storehouses (apothekas—not only for corn).…
18. my barns] Rather, storehouses (apothekas—not only for corn). He never thought of the admonition of the Son of Sirach, “Shut up alms in thy storehouses,” Sir_29:12.
my fruits] Not the same word as before. Rather, my produce.
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my goods] Such ‘good things’ as he was alone capable of recognising, Luk_16:25. And “all my goods,” with no mention of the poor.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 (18) I will pull down my barns.—The Greek noun…
(18) I will pull down my barns.—The Greek noun (apothekè, whence our “apothecary,”) has a somewhat wider meaning, and includes storehouses or warehouses of all kinds.
All my fruits.—Here, too, the Greek word is somewhat wider. Literally, produce—i.e., crops of every kind.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–20 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou…
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. "What folly!" writes St. Basil. "Had thy soul been a sty, what else couldst thou have promised to it? Art thou so ignorant of what really belongs to the soul, that thou offerest to it the foods of the body? And givest thou to thy soul the things which the draught receives?" Many years. How little did that poor fool, so wise in all matters of earthly business, suspect the awful doom was so close to him! He forgot Solomon"s words, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow". (Pro_27:1) Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. "Extremes meet," suggests Dean Plumptre; "and the life of self-indulgence may spring either from an undue expectation of a lengthened life" (as was the ease here), "or from unduly dwelling on its shortness, without taking into account the judgment that comes after it. The latter, as in the "carpe diem" of Horace ("Odes," 1:11. 8), was the current language of popular epicureanism"; (see St. Paul"s reproduction of this thought, 1Co_15:32) "the former seems to have been more characteristic of a corrupt Judaism."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v20 20, 21. Thou fool. The still, small voice may…
20, 21. Thou fool. The still, small voice may have said this, as mortal disease attacked him. Men said that he was sagacious, wise; but God said, “Thou fool.” This night. Instead of having many years, this night he shall die, unprepared, and all his goods on which he set his heart be delivered over to others.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself. He is guilty of folly in the eyes of God. Wisdom requires that we should lay up treasure in heaven.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus quotes how God responds to the rich man, as he finishes telling his parable.
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tonight your soul is required of you
The "soul" refers to the life of a person. AT: "you will die tonight" or "I will take your life from you tonight" (See: Euphemism and Active or Passive)
the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
"who will own what you have stored up?" or "who will have what you prepared?" God uses a question to make the man realize that he would no longer possess those things. AT: "the things that you have prepared will belong to someone else!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
stores up treasure
"saves up valuable things"
is not rich toward God
has not used his time and possessions for the things that are important to God
translationWords
God
fool
soul
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v19 12:19-20 My friend: Literally Soul. The man was speaking…
12:19-20 My friend: Literally Soul. The man was speaking to himself. • You fool! In Scripture, a fool is not someone with a low intelligence, but one who dishonors and disobeys God (Ps 14:1-5). • You will die (literally Your soul will be demanded from you): The man was satisfied with his soul, but God was not.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.