Luke 12:20 BSB — MannaFest

Luke 12:20

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?

KJV

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

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Commentary

6 voices

Ambrose of Milan

Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.122 (397)

For he gathers wealth in vain who does not know how to use it: just like that person who, when the granaries were bursting with new harvests, was preparing receptacles for himself to collect the overflowing fruits, being ignorant of how to use them. For everything that belongs to the world remains in the world, and whatever is gathered together by heirs passes away from us; for those things are not ours, which we cannot take away with us.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

Cyril of Alexandria

COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89 (444)

What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, "What should I do?" … He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity.

Basil of Caesarea

Catena Aurea by Aquinas (379)

(Hom. in loc.) But he was permitted to deliberate in every thing, and to manifest his purpose, that he might receive a sentence such as his inclinations deserved. But while he speaks in secret, his words are weighed in heaven, from whence the answers come to him. For it follows, But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall they require of thee. Hear the name of folly, which most properly belongs to thee which not man has imposed, but God Himself.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

But it is night to a worldling, a dark night; he lies down in sorrow. It is this night, this present night, without delay; there is no giving bail, or begging a day. This pleasant night, when thou art promising thyself many years to come, now thou must die, and go to judgment.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Thou fool! - To imagine that a man’s comfort and peace can depend upon temporal things; or to suppose that these can satisfy the wishes of an immortal spirit! This night - How awful was this saying! He had just made the necessary arrangements for the gratification of his sensual appetites; and, in the very night in which he had finally settled all his plans, his soul was called into the eternal world! What a dreadful awakening of a soul, long asleep in sin!

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

20 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
εἶπεν	eipen	Said	G2036 →
δὲ	de	then	G1161 →
αὐτῷ	autō	to him	G846 →
ὁ	ho	<the>	G3588 →
θεός·	theos	God;	G2316 →
ἄφρων,	aphrōn	Fool!	G878 →
ταύτῃ	tautē	On this	G3778 →
τῇ	tēa	<the>	G3588 →
νυκτὶ	nukti	night	G3571 →
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
ψυχήν	psuchēn	soul	G5590 →
σου	sou	of you	G4771 →
ἀπαιτοῦσιν	apaitousin	is required	G523 →
ἀπὸ	apo	of	G575 →
σοῦ.	sou	you.	G4771 →
ἃ	ha	what	G3739 →
δὲ	de	now	G1161 →
ἡτοίμασας,	hētoimasas	you did prepare —	G2090 →
τίνι	tini	to whom	G5101 →
ἔσται;	estai	will [it] be?	G1510 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Timothy 6:7
For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.
leads to
- Luke 12:20–21
  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
  Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
- Job 1:21
  saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Psalms 49:17
  For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.
- Ecclesiastes 5:15–16
  As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
Through
James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
leads to
- 1 Peter 1:24
  For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Psalms 39:5
  You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- 1 John 2:17
  The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- Psalms 102:3
  For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

Featured studies on this passage

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Fire

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About Luke

The Return of the Prodigal Son — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

Luke: the study guide →Read chapter 12 →The featured study →

Continue: Luke 12 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Luke

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Luke