Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
Parallel Translations
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Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
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And not longe after the yonger sonne gaddered all that he had to gedder and toke his iorney into a farre countre and theare he wasted his goodes with royetous lyvinge.
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So not many daies after, when the yonger sonne had gathered all together, hee tooke his iourney into a farre countrey, and there hee wasted his goods with riotous liuing.
Cross-references (33)
Passages linked to Luke 15:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 21:17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
- Proverbs 29:3 Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
- Jeremiah 2:5 Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless?
- Proverbs 23:19-22 Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path! Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat: for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
- Proverbs 28:7 Whoever keeps the law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.
- Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
- Luke 15:30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
- Luke 16:1 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
- Luke 16:19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
- Job 21:13-15 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
- Proverbs 6:26 For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
- Romans 13:13-14 Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- 2 Chronicles 33:1-10 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he raised up altars for the Baals, made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them. He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.” He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of Yahweh’s house. He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s house, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. I will not any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given by Moses.” Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel. Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they didn’t listen.
- Psalms 10:4-6 The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God. His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them. He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.”
- Psalms 73:27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
- Proverbs 5:8-14 Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house. You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
- Proverbs 18:9 One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.
- Proverbs 21:20 There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.
- Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.
- Isaiah 22:13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
- Isaiah 30:11 Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
- Isaiah 56:12 “Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
- Jeremiah 2:17-19 “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Jeremiah 2:31 Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’
- Amos 6:3-7 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall; who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.
- 1 Peter 4:3-4 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries. They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming.
- Job 22:17-18 who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’ Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
- Proverbs 27:8 As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.
- Micah 6:3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!
- Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.
- Ephesians 2:17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.
- 2 Peter 2:13 receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 And not many days after the younger son…
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Ver. 13. Gathered all together] Convasatis veluti omnibus.
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With riotous living] Ασωτως {a} Not caring to save any part, sibi nihil reservaus, imo seipsum non servans, being such as safety itself could not save; whence the Latins call such a man perditum, an undone person. Such were those of whom Seneca saith, that singulis auribus bina aut terna dependent patrimonia, hanged two or three good lordships at their ears. And such are those among us that turn lands into laces, great rents into great ruffs, &c. The expenses of Apicus’ kitchen amounted to more than two millions of gold. {b} He having eaten up his estate, and finding by his account that he had no more than 200,000 crowns remaining, thought himself poor, and that this sufficed not to maintain his luxury; whereupon he drank down a glass of poison.
{a} ασωτος quasi ασωστος, unsavable.
{b} H. S. millies in culinam coniecisset. {Seneca, Moral Essays, l. 12. c. 10. (8-10) 2:453}
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 And not many days after the younger son gathered…
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together,.... That his father had divided to him, all his goods and substance: as soon as a man has any internal substance, any considerable degree of natural knowledge, he immediately sets out from God, and employs it against him, in reasoning against him, against his being, his works, his providence, his purposes, his revelation, and will; as soon as a man has the exercise of his reason, as soon as he can think and speak, nay, as soon as he is born, he goes astray from God, speaking lies; and as soon as a wicked man has of this world, what his carnal heart desires, he is for living independent of God, and his providence; he is for gathering together all for himself, in order to spend it on his lusts, and at a distance from his father, the father of his mercies, of whom he is not mindful; and to whom he says, depart from me, having no regard to his worship and service, to his honour and glory, to his cause and interest:
and took his journey into a far country; which sets forth the state of alienation a sinner is in, while unconverted; he is afar off from God, from God the Father; from the presence of God, and communion with him: from the knowledge of God, and desire after it; from love to him, or fear of him; and from the life of God, or a living soberly, righteously, and godly; and from Christ, from the knowledge of him, from faith in him, love to him, fellowship with him, and subjection to his ordinances; and from the Spirit of God, and every thing that is spiritual; and from all that is good, from the law of God, and from the righteousness of it, and from righteous men:
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and there wasted his substance in riotous living; his internal substance, his knowledge and understanding, even in natural things, and became brutish, and even like the beasts that perish; and his worldly substance in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness, with harlots, as in Luk 15:30 whereby he was brought to a piece of bread, and to the want of it,
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 He took a journey into a far country -…
He took a journey into a far country - Far from God: God was not in all his thoughts: And squandered away his substance - All the grace he had received.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Not many days after] He probably hastened…
Verse 13. Not many days after] He probably hastened his departure for fear of the fine which he must have paid, and the reproach to which he must have been subjected, had the matter come before the civil magistrate. See above.
Riotous living.] ζων ασωτως, in a course of life that led him to spend all: from α not, and σωω I save. And this we are informed, Lu 15:30, was among harlots; the readiest way in the world to exhaust the body, debase the mind, ruin the soul, and destroy the substance.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Luk 15:13-16. And not many days after, the younger…
Luk 15:13-16. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together — Having gotten possession of his fortune, he lost no time, but, gathering together all he had, took his journey into a far country — That he might be wholly from under the eye of his parent, who was a person of great piety, and be freed from the restraints of religion, he went into a distant land, among the heathen, (Luk 15:15,) where was neither the knowledge nor worship of God, choosing such companions as were most agreeable to his vicious inclinations, and, connected with these, he wallowed in unbounded riot and debauchery. Thus sinners, through a spirit of infidelity, independence of God, pride, self-conceit, and the love of pleasure, soon go far from God, far from his favour and image; far from the fear and love of him, and all design and desire of pleasing him: and in this state of alienation and distance from him, employ to his dishonour the time and talents he had intrusted them with, to be used for his glory, ζωντες ασωτως, living intemperately, imprudently, foolishly, as the word implies, not considering that God will call them to an account for their abuse of his gifts. And when he had spent all — When this wretched course of intemperance, riot, and folly had clouded his understanding, weakened his memory, vitiated his affections, brought infirmity and disease upon his body, and he had squandered away the whole property he had received of his father, it so happened, through the righteous judgment of God upon him, that there arose a mighty famine in that land — Where he sojourned; and he began to be in want — Of the very necessaries of life. Observe, reader, in that country which is far from God; in that state of heart and life, in which men are alienated from the knowledge and love of him, and shut out from all intercourse with him, they will ere long find a mighty famine arising, and will be in extreme want of every thing calculated to make them happy. And went and joined himself to a citizen of that country — Finding no shelter or relief among those who had been his associates in vice, and had shared in the spoils of his substance; and yet being unable to brook the mortification of returning home in such circumstances; to keep himself from starving in the famine, he went still farther into the country, that was far from his father’s house, and submitted to accept the most disgraceful employment that a Jew could be engaged in; he hired himself to a person, who, thinking such a worthless creature unfit for any better post, sent him into his fields to feed swine, an employment to which, however mean and disagreeable, this unhappy youth, who had once lived in so much plenty and splendour, was forced to submit. Thus sinners, by wandering far from God, into the ways of vice and misery, join themselves to Satan and his servants, the genuine citizens of that country which is far from God, where they are employed in ministering to the lusts and pleasures of others, that is, in feeding the devil’s swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks, &c. — The wages he earned by this ignominious service were not sufficient, in a time of such great scarcity, to purchase him as much food of any kind as would satisfy the cravings of his appetite. Being half starved, therefore, he often looked on the swine with envy as they were feeding, and wished that he could have filled his belly with the husks which they devoured; a circumstance this, which beautifully and forcibly shows the extremity of his misery. And no man gave unto him — There was none that took so much pity upon him as to give him one morsel of food; so sparing did the famine make them, and so much did every one despise this foolish and scandalous prodigal. Thus sinners would fain satisfy themselves with carnal pleasures and worldly comforts, the husks which the swine eat, but the endeavour is vain and fruitless, for the enjoyment of no creature can give true happiness to the intelligent and immortal mind of man, formed and designed to find it in God only.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Gathered all together - Collected his property. If he…
Gathered all together - Collected his property. If he had received flocks or grain, he sold them and converted them into money. As soon as this arrangement had been made he left his father’s house.
Took his journey - Went, or traveled.
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Into a far country - A country far off from his father’s house. He went probably to trade or to seek his fortune, and in his wanderings came at last to this dissipated place, where his property was soon expended.
Wasted his substance - Spent his property.
In riotous living - Literally, “Living without saving anything.” He lived extravagantly, and in the most dissolute company. See Luk 15:30. By his wandering away we may understand that sinners wander far away from God; that they fall into dissolute and wicked company; and that their wandering so far off is the reason why they fall into such company, and are so soon and so easily destroyed.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain not many days--intoxicated with his new--found resources, and eager…
not many days--intoxicated with his new--found resources, and eager for the luxury of using them at Will.
a far country--beyond all danger of interference from home.
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wasted, &c.--So long as it lasted, the inward monitor (Isa 55:2) would be silenced (Isa 9:10; Isa 57:10; Amo 4:6-10).
riotous living-- (Luk 15:30), "with harlots." Ah! but this reaches farther than the sensualist; for "in the deep symbolical language of Scripture fornication is the standing image of idolatry; they are in fact ever spoken of as one and the same sin, considered now in its fleshly, now in its spiritual aspect" (Jer 3:1-15; Eze. 16:1-17:24) [TRENCH].
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 13. Not many days after—This son has set up…
13. Not many days after—This son has set up for himself, just as man desires to be independent of God. And being so, his next purpose is a due distance, where the will of God shall never seem to reach him, and if possible beyond the reach of his eye.
Gathered all together—His means were now all in a movable form, not in real estate; and he was fully prepared for a profligate squander.
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Riotous living—The word here rendered riotous is used both in Latin and Greek, and expresses the utmost abandonment of character, and is in fact the original of the English word “sot.”
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 13. not many days after] This shadows forth the…
13. not many days after] This shadows forth the rapidity (1) of national, and (2) of individual degeneracy. “In some children, says
Sir Thomas Elyot in The Governour, “nature is more prone to vice than to vertue, and in the tender wittes be sparkes of voluptuositie, whiche norished by any occasion or objecte, encrease oftentymes into so terrible a fire, that therwithall vertue and reason is consumed.” The first sign of going wrong is a yearning for spurious liberty.
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took his journey into a far country] The Gentiles soon became ‘afar off’ from God (Act_2:39; Eph_2:17), “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”—So too the individual soul, in its temptations and its guiltiness, ever tries in vain to escape from God (Psa_139:7-10) into the ‘far country’ of sin, which involves forgetfulness of Him. Jer. Ep. 146. Thus the younger son becomes “Lord of himself, that heritage of woe.”
with riotous living] Literally, “living ruinously”—asotos. The adverb occurs here only, and is derived from a ‘not,’ and σώζω ‘I save.’ The substantive occurs in 1Pe_4:4; Eph_5:18. Aristotle defines asotia as a mixture of intemperance and prodigality. For the historical fact indicated, see Rom_1:19-32. Th t individual fact needs, alas! no illustration. One phrase—two words—is enough. Our loving Saviour does not dwell upon, or darken the details, of our sinfulness.
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 (13) Took his journey into a far country.—Such instances…
(13) Took his journey into a far country.—Such instances of emigration were, we may believe, familiar things in most towns of Galilee and Judæa. The young man left his home, and started, bent on pleasure or on gain, for Alexandria, or Rome, or Corinth, and rumour came home of riotous living, and a fortune wasted upon harlots, sabbaths broken, synagogues unvisited, perhaps even of participation in idol feasts. In the interpretation that lies below the surface, the “far country” is the state of the human spirit, of the Gentile world, in their wanderings far off from God. The “riotous living” is the reckless waste of noble gifts and highest energies on unbridled sensuality of life, or sensuous, i.e., idolatrous, forms of worship. The fearful history traced in Rom_1:19-32, is but too faithful a picture of the wanderings of the younger son.
Riotous.—The exact meaning of the word is prodigal, thriftless.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 gathered together all he owned
gathered together all he owned
"packed his things" or "put his things in his bag"
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living recklessly
"living without thinking about the consequences of his actions" or "living wildly"
Now
This word is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here Jesus explains how the younger son went from having plenty to being in need.
a severe famine spread through that country
"a drought occurred there and the entire country did not have enough food"
to be in need
"to lack what he needed" or "to not have enough"
translationWords
famine
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 15:13 he wasted all his money in wild living:…
15:13 he wasted all his money in wild living: Jews considered the loss of family property to Gentiles in a distant land to be particularly disgraceful and grounds for excommunication (see also Deut 21:18-21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.