12:16a

Then He told them a parable: Jesus told the people a parable to illustrate what he had told them in 12:15.

parable: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as parable is a general word that describes different types of wise speech. This includes symbolic stories, metaphors, proverbs, illustrations, and wise sayings. Here Jesus used the word to refer to a story that illustrated his teaching in 12:15a–b. The story does not describe an event that actually happened.

Some other ways to translate parable in this context are:

illustration (God’s Word)
-or-
story (New Living Translation (2004))

The word parable first occurs in Luke at 5:36a.

12:16b

The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance: There is a lot of new information in this verse part. In some languages it may be more natural to give this information in more than one sentence. For example:

Once there was a man who was very rich. He owned fields that produced large harvests.
-or-

⌊There was once⌋ a rich man who owned some farmland. ⌊One year,⌋ an unusually large crop grew on this land.

In some languages it is not natural to say that a person’s “ground produced an abundance.” You should speak about this in a natural way in your language. For example:

There was a rich man who harvested much ⌊grain⌋ from his land.
-or-
A certain rich man got much produce from his fields.

a certain rich man: The phrase a certain rich man does not refer to an actual person. He is a character in the parable that Jesus told.

In some languages there are specific ways to introduce a character like this. For example:

Once there lived a rich man

Use a natural way in your language to introduce the man.

an abundance: The word abundance refers to the harvest (produce) that a person gets from his cultivated land. It means an “abundant crop.” A crop is described as abundant when much produce is harvested from that land. In this context the crop probably consisted of one or more grains, such as wheat or barley. Describe this in a natural way in your language.

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