לוקם 15:17

Hebrew Modern Translation

וישב אל לבו ויאמר מה רבו שכירי אבי ויש להם לחם לשבע ואני אבד ברעב׃

Parallel Translations

Delitzsche Hebrew NT (1877)
וַיָּשֶׁב אֶל־לִבּוֹ וַיֹּאמַר מָה־רַבּוּ שְׂכִירֵי אָבִי אֲשֶׁר יֵשׁ לָהֶם לֶאֱכֹל דַּיָּם וְהוֹתֵר וַאֲנִי אֹבֵד בָּרָעָב׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

when: Luke 8:35, Luke 16:23, Psalms 73:20, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Jeremiah 31:19, Ezekiel 18:28, Acts 2:37, Acts 16:29, Acts 16:30, Acts 26:11-19, Ephesians 2:4, Ephesians 2:5, Ephesians 5:14, Titus 3:4-6, James 1:16-18

How: Luke 15:18, Luke 15:19, Lamentations 1:7

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 30:1 - thou shalt call 1 Kings 8:47 - Yet if they 2 Kings 7:4 - if they save us 2 Chronicles 6:37 - Yet if Job 36:9 - he Psalms 32:5 - I said Psalms 50:22 - consider Psalms 73:28 - But Psalms 119:59 - thought Proverbs 21:29 - he directeth Proverbs 27:7 - to Ecclesiastes 7:14 - but Isaiah 29:24 - also Isaiah 46:8 - bring Jeremiah 8:6 - saying Ezekiel 18:14 - considereth Hosea 2:7 - I will Haggai 1:5 - thus Haggai 2:18 - Consider Matthew 21:29 - he repented Mark 14:72 - Peter Acts 12:11 - was come Romans 2:4 - goodness Romans 6:21 - whereof Romans 10:3 - submitted 2 Corinthians 7:9 - I rejoice 2 Timothy 1:7 - a sound 2 Timothy 2:26 - recover

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when he came to himself,.... An unregenerate man, whether while a voluptuous man, or a self-righteous man, is not himself; he is beside himself; and is no other than a madman. The man that pursues his worldly lusts and pleasures, promises himself liberty, while he is a slave; he ruins himself, his soul, body, and estate, and chooses to do it rather than part with his lusts; he takes delight in doing mischief himself, and in seeing it done by others; he proclaims his folly publicly, declares his sin, and glories in it; all which a man in his right mind would never do. The self-righteous person trusts in his own heart, which is the greatest madness and folly in the world; he compasses himself about with sparks of his own kindling, and sacrifices to his own net; he dresses himself in his rags, and pleases and prides himself with them, when a robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, are provided; which no man in his senses would ever do. But when the Spirit of God comes to work upon a sinner's heart in conversion, he brings him to himself; which a man may be said to be, when he is brought to true evangelical repentance for sin; and that is, when he has a true sense of it, as committed against God, and a godly sorrow for it, and makes an hearty and ingenuous acknowledgment of it, and forsakes it; and when he is brought to a sense of the insufficiency of his own righteousness, and is made willing to part with it, and desires to be found in Christ, and in his righteousness alone, which he is encouraged to lay hold on, and receive by faith, trust to, and rejoice in; when he has his spiritual senses exercised on Christ, and to discern between good and evil; and is brought to the feet of Jesus, as to submit to his righteousness, so to serve him; when he is all this, then, like the man in the Gospel, he is clothed, and in his right mind:

he said, how many hired servants of my father's; who, according to some, were the Scribes and Pharisees, men of a servile disposition, and of mercenary views; and were, by profession, the servants of God, and had plenty of bread, because they had all the external means and ordinances: but these are designed by the elder brother in the parable; and besides, this man had endeavoured to live as they did in this far country. It may be queried, whether the ministers of the Gospel are not intended, since these are the servants of the most high God; are labourers hired by him, and are worthy of their hire, and abound with Gospel provisions for the service of others. But to this it may be objected, the desire of this man to be made as one of them, Luke 15:19 which petition expresses his humility; whereas to be a servant, in this sense, is to have the highest place and office in his father's house. Rather therefore the meanest of the saints, and household of God, are here meant, who have the least degree of evangelical light, whose faith is weak, and their consolation small; and who, though they are sons, yet by reason of that legality and mercenariness that appear in their frames and services, differ little from servants: and yet these, in comparison of him, who was in a hungry and starving condition,

have bread enough, and to spare; as the doctrines, promises, and ordinances of the Gospel, the fulness of grace that is in Christ, and Christ himself the bread of life; which are more than enough for them, and sufficient for the whole family in heaven, and in earth; and even the meanest and weakest believer may be said to have enough and to spare, because he has an interest in all these; though by reason of the weakness of his faith, it is but now and then he has a full and comfortable meal; but this is infinitely better than to be starving, as this man was:

and I perish with hunger. The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions add, "here"; in this far country, in the citizen's fields, among his swine, and their husks: all mankind are in a lost and perishing condition; for having sinned against God, they have exposed themselves to the curses of the law, and are destitute of a justifying righteousness, and are in the way, to ruin and destruction; but all are not sensible of it, being ignorant of God, and his righteousness, of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of the insufficiency of their own righteousness; but some are sensible of it, and in their own apprehensions are ready to perish: these see sin in its true light, without a view of pardon; an angry God without a smile; injured justice without a righteousness; and a broken law without a satisfaction for the violation of it; and such was this man's case. The Jewish writers a say,

"a sinner is like to a son that runs away from his father, and turns his back upon him, who yet afterwards repents, and has a mind to return to his father's house:''

so it was now with the publicans and sinners, signified by this man.

a R. Chayim in Lib. Chayim, par. 4. c. 6. apud Maii Jud. Theolog. loc 15. p. 243.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He came to himself - This is a very expressive phrase. It is commonly applied to one who has been “deranged,” and when he recovers we say he has “come to himself.” In this place it denotes that the folly of the young man was a kind of derangement - that he was insane. So it is of every sinner. Madness is in their hearts Ecclesiastes 9:3; they are estranged from God, and led, by the influence of evil passions, contrary to their better judgment and the decisions of a sound mind.

Hired servants - Those in a low condition of life - those who were not born to wealth, and who had no friends to provide for them.

I perish - I, who had property and a kind father, and who might have been provided for and happy.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Luke 15:17. When he came to himself — A state of sin is represented in the sacred writings as a course of folly and madness; and repentance is represented as a restoration to sound sense. See this fully explained on Matthew 3:2.

I perish with hunger! — Or, I perish HERE. ωδε, here, is added by BDL, Syriac, all the Arabic and Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the Itala, and several of the fathers.