Luke 12:19

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.

Luk 12:19. Κείμενα, laid up, lying in store) He speaks of them as if present.—ἀναπαύου, begin to rest [Take thine ease]) cease to toil. Comp. Sir 11:23-24, in the Greek.—φάγε, eat) He might have done so long ago, and in good style [he might have eaten and enjoyed good fare].

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 12:19 . ἀναπαύου , etc., rest, eat, drink, be jolly: an epicurean asyndeton .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be merry and make good cheer.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. Soul, thou hast much goods] Great possessions are generally accompanied with pride, idleness, and luxury; and these are the greatest enemies to salvation. Moderate poverty, as one justly observes, is a great talent in order to salvation; but it is one which nobody desires.

Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.] This was exactly the creed of the ancient Atheists and Epicureans. Ede, bibe, lude; post mortem nulla voluptas. What a wretched portion for an immortal spirit! and yet those who know not God have no other, and many of them not even this.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Eat, drink, and be merry.—The words remind us of St. Paul’s “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” (1Co_15:32), and may possibly have suggested them. There is, however, a suggestive difference in the context. Extremes meet, and the life of self-indulgence may spring either from an undue expectation of a lengthened life, or from unduly dwelling on the fact of its shortness, without taking into account the judgment that comes after it. The latter, as in the “carpe diem” of Horace (Odes, i. 11, 8), was the current language of popular Epicureanism; the former seems to have been more characteristic of a corrupt Judaism. (Comp. Jas_4:13.) In acting on it the Jew with his far outlook, as he dreamt, into the future, was sinking to the level of the dissolute heathen, who was content to live in and for the present only.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. I will say to my soul, Soul] “What folly! Had thy soul been a sty, what else couldst thou have promised to it? Art thou so bestial, so ignorant of the soul’s goods, that thou pledgest it the foods of the flesh? And dost thou convey to thy soul, the things which the draught receiveth?” St Basil.

for many years] “Boast not thyself of to morrow,” Pro_27:1.

take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry] More energetically in the four words of the original, rest, eat, drink, enjoy. His motive is the same as that of the selfish and cynical Epicureans, who say, “Let us eat and drink;” but the reason he assigns is different. They snatch pleasure, “for to morrow we die” (1Co_15:32); he because he hopes to be “happy” for “many years.” For similar warnings see Jas_4:13-17; Jas_5:1-3; Ecc_11:9.

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.

And I will say to my soul,.... Himself, see Psa 49:18 or to his sensual appetite, which he sought to indulge and gratify, for he was wholly a sensual and carnal man:

soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: he foolishly promises himself a long life, when no man can boast of tomorrow, or knows what a day will bring forth; or can assure himself he shall live a day, an hour, or moment longer: and he also depended upon the safety of his goods, thus laid up; whereas his barns might be consumed by fire at once, or his goods be devoured by vermin, or plundered by thieves, and by various ways taken out of his hands; for riches are uncertain things, and make themselves wings and fly away:

take thine case, eat, drink, and be merry; spend thy life in ease, luxury, and mirth; put away the evil day far from thee: never trouble thyself about a future state, tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundantly; and thou hast enough to make thyself happy, and let nothing disturb thee, and give a loose to all sensual pleasures, and carnal joys. This is the language of epicure among the Jews, and is forbidden to be used, especially on fast days; for so it is said, (i).

"let not a man say I will go to my house, "and I will eat and drink", (and say) , "peace to thee, O my soul"; if he does so, of him the Scripture says, Isa 22:13 "Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die---surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, &c."''

(i) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 11. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

Ver. 19. Eat and drink, and be merry] A right epicure, one that had made his gut his god; another Sardanapahs, that did eat that in earth which he digested in hell, as Augustine hath it. How many, alas, are there, that having one foot in the grave and the other in hell, do yet put far away thoughts of either! These, when they should be building their tombs, are building their tabernacles, Donec mors vitae studiura praevertat, longa conantes opprimat. (Sen. Consol. ad Marc. xi.)

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.

Much goods - Much property. Enough to last a long while, so that there is no need of anxiety or labor.

Take thine ease - Be free from care about the future. Have no anxiety about coming to want.

Eat, drink, and be merry - This was just the doctrine of the ancient Epicureans and atheists, and it is, alas! too often the doctrine of those who are rich. They think that all that is valuable in life is to eat, and drink, and be cheerful or merry. Hence, their chief anxiety is to obtain the “delicacies of the season “ - the luxuries of the world; to secure the productions of every clime at any expense, and to be distinguished for splendid repasts and a magnificent style of living. What a portion is this for an immortal soul! What folly to think that “all” that a man lives for is to satisfy his sensual appetites; to forget that he has an intellect to be cultivated, a heart to be purified, a soul to be saved!

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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).

19. Soul—Neither he nor his soul has a thought of anything but the enjoyments he now enumerates.

Ease, eat, drink, and be merry— Indolence, gluttony, drunkenness, and licentiousness; in these four things lie this man’s conception of life.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

19. ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μου. “What folly! Had thy soul been a sty, what else couldst thou have promised to it? Art thou so bestial, so ignorant of the soul’s goods, that thou pledgest it the foods of the flesh? And dost thou convey to thy soul, the things which the draught receiveth?” St Basil.

εἰς ἔτη πολλά. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow,” Pro 27:1.

ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου. ‘Rest, eat, drink, enjoy.’ The absence of conjunctions (asyndeton) suits the man’s gloating selfishness, as in Sophocles, ζῆ, πῖνε, φέρβου. The motive of the Rich Glutton is the same as that of the selfish and cynical Epicureans, who say, “Let us eat and drink;” but the reason he assigns is different. They snatch pleasure, “for tomorrow we die,” 1Co 15:32; he because he hopes to be ‘happy’ for ‘many years.’ For similar warnings see Jas 4:13-17; Jas 5:1-3; Eccl. 11:19.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19.] “His folly is fourfold:—he forgets the Giver (‘my fruits, my goods’),—he greedily reserves all for himself (συνάξω ἐκεῖ πάντα),—he imagines such things to be food for his soul (ψυχή, … ἀναπ., φ., π., εὐφρ.)—he forgets death, which is every day possible.” (Stier, iii. 146, edn. 2.) A very striking similarity is found in Sir. 11:18, 19, ἔστι πλουτῶν ἀπὸ προσοχῆς καὶ σφιγγίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὕτη ἡ μερὶς τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ· ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν αὐτὸν Εὗρον ἀνάπαυσιν, καὶ νῦν φάγωμαι ἐκ τῶν ἀγαθῶν μου, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε τίς καιρὸς παρελεύσεται, καὶ καταλείψει αὐτὰ ἑτέροις καὶ ἀποθανεῖται. Stier thinks this a convincing proof that our Lord did occasionally refer to the Apocrypha (?).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μοῦ. There is probably no irony in making him address, not his body, but his soul: the ψυχή is here used as the seat of all joyous emotions. comp μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ τί φάγητε (ver. 22). Field quotes καρτέρησον, ψυχή, προθεσμίαν σύντομον, ἵνα τὸν πλείω χρόνον ἀπολαύσης ἀσφαλοῦς ἡδονῆς (Charit. Aphrod. iii. 2); and Wetst. quotes θαρρυνῶ ἐμαυτὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ψυχὴν εἰπών· Ἀθηναῖος εἶμι (Libanius, D 6. P. 463). See Stallbaum on Plat. Repub. ii. 8, p. 365 A.

κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά· ἀναπαύον, φάγε, πίε. These words are amitted, in D and some Latin authorities (a b c d e ff2). With εἰς ἔτη πολλά comp. Jas 4:13-17; Pro 27:1; Ecclus. 29:12:, and with φάγε, πίε comp. Tobit 7:10 and the remarkable parallel Ecclus. 11:19. The asyndeton marks the man’s confidence and eagerness.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Soul [ψυχη] . See on Mr 12:30.

Take thine ease. See on Mt 11:28.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.