The Rich Fool

The words

Luke 12:13–21 (opens a new tab)

1. Barns

   The man proposes pulling down his barns and building greater ones to gather his fruits and goods; the NET calls the stored crop grain, making the farming setting explicit.

   Did you know?

   The National Park Service describes separate floors in the pictured barn for stables, farm equipment, and hay and grain; ramps gave horse-drawn wagons access to the third floor.

   Luke 12:17–18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab) · NPS: Spring Hill Ranch barn (opens a new tab)

2. Bestow

   Store; put away.

   Bestow names the storing that concerns the rich man: he first says he has no room for his fruits, then plans greater barns to bestow his fruits and goods.

   Luke 12:17–18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

3. Beware

   Be on guard.

   Beware introduces Jesus’s warning against covetousness; the NET says to guard against greed. The warning stands between the inheritance exchange and the parable of the rich man.

   Luke 12:13–16 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

4. Consisteth

   Consists; has its basis.

   Before the parable, Jesus says a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions; the story follows this warning with a man who treats stored goods as a secure future.

   Luke 12:15, 19 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

5. Covetousness

   Greed; desire for more.

   Jesus warns the listeners to beware of covetousness after declining to divide the inheritance; the NET names greed, before the parable turns to a rich man’s plentiful harvest and storage plans.

   Luke 12:14–18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

6. Divider

   A person who apportions property.

   Divider is the role Jesus declines when asked to tell a brother to share an inheritance; the NET uses arbitrator alongside judge in his reply to the request.

   Luke 12:13–14 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

7. Ease

   Rest; relax.

   In his planned speech to his soul, the man says take thine ease, with goods laid up for many years; the NET says relax before the eating, drinking and merriment.

   Luke 12:19 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

8. Fool

   Unwise; lacking good sense.

   God calls the man Thou fool after his imagined years of ease; the same speech says his soul is required that night and asks who will receive the prepared goods.

   Luke 12:19–20 (opens a new tab) · Strong’s Greek: fool (opens a new tab)

9. Greater

   Greater describes the new barns in the man’s proposal to pull down his existing ones; the NET says bigger. The larger buildings are where he plans to gather his crops and goods.

   Luke 12:18 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

10. Inheritance

    An unnamed listener asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him; Jesus’s reply asks who appointed him judge or divider, before he turns to the warning about covetousness.

    Luke 12:13–15 (opens a new tab)

11. Many Years

    Many years belongs to what the man plans to tell his soul about stored goods and ease; God’s reply says this night, contrasting the future he imagines with the announcement he receives.

    Luke 12:19–20 (opens a new tab)

12. Much Goods

    Much goods appears in the speech the man plans for his soul after proposing greater barns; he imagines abundance laid up for many years, before God asks who will receive it.

    Luke 12:18–20 (opens a new tab)

13. Plentifully

    The parable begins with the ground of a rich man bringing forth plentifully; the NET describes an abundant crop. His conversation with himself then turns to where he can store the produce.

    Luke 12:16–17 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

14. Possesseth

    Owns; holds as property.

    Possesseth belongs to Jesus’s warning that life does not consist in the abundance of what a person owns; the rich man’s later speech repeatedly names his crops, barns and goods as his own.

    Luke 12:15, 17–19 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)

15. Required

    Demanded back, in this saying.

    God’s reply says the man’s life will be required that night, then asks who will have the prepared goods; Jesus ends with the contrast between treasure for oneself and being rich toward God.

    Luke 12:20–21 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Luke 12:13-21 (opens a new tab)