Luke 15 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionaldashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The grumbling of the Pharisees 15:1–2

vv. 1–2 — the outcasts draw near; the pious mutter

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to himindependent — periphrastic imperfect Ἦσαν ἐγγίζοντες — the habitual gathering that occasions all three parables

to hear him.purpose — infinitive of purpose — they come to listen, not to spy

And both the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, saying,independent — iterative imperfect διεγόγγυζον — the wilderness murmur-word (Exod 16; Num 14) turned on Jesus

'This man receives sinnerscontent — ὅτι recitativum; contemptuous Οὗτος — 'this fellow'; the charge the chapter answers

and eats with them.'content — table-fellowship as the scandal — customary presents: this is his practice

The lost sheep 15:3–7

vv. 3–6 — the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine

So he told them this parable, saying:independent — the speech-frame carrying vv. 4–7 — parable, not rebuttal, answers the grumbling

'Which man of you,content — the suspended interrogative subject — a 'which of you?' expecting universal assent

having a hundred sheepparticipial — the modest flock — one of a hundred still matters

and losing one of them,participial — ἀπόλλυμι — the chapter's keyword sounded: sheep, coin, son

does not leave the ninety-nine in the wildernesscontent — the question's verb resumes the suspended Τίς ἄνθρωπος; οὐ expects 'yes'

and go after the lost onecontent — τὸ ἀπολωλός — intensive perfect: the settled state of lostness, until found

until he finds it?conditional — trailing ἕως + subjunctive (typed cnd; no temporal key) — the search ends only in finding

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,content — preposed εὑρών kept with its verb; gnomic present — carried home, not driven

rejoicing,participial — manner participle — the joy-word χαίρω that saturates all three parables

and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors,content — the recovery overflows into summons — joy must be shared to be joy

saying to them:participial — speech participle opening the refrain

'Rejoice with me,content — the shared-joy imperative — repeated word for word by the woman (v. 9)

for I have found my sheep that was lost.'cause — found/lost side by side — the antithesis vv. 24 and 32 will seal

v. 7 — the application: heaven's arithmetic of joy

I tell youcontent — the solemn formula turning story into verdict

that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous personscontent — comparative ἢ without a fronted 'more' — Semitic; 'in heaven' a reverent name for God's own joy

who have no need of repentance.relative — qualitative οἵτινες — 'such as feel no need': the edge aimed at v. 2's grumblers

The lost coin 15:8–10

vv. 8–9 — the woman and the lamp: the same search, indoors

'Or what woman, having ten drachmas,independent — Ἢ pairs the parables as one question; suspended subject with its ἔχουσα kept in line — the speech continues, restarting the column

if she loses one drachma,conditional — third-class protasis leaning forward on οὐχὶ ἅπτει — ἀπόλλυμι again; a drachma ≈ a day's wage

does not light a lampindependent — emphatic οὐχί expecting assent; a windowless peasant house needs the lamp by day

and sweep the houseindependent — the second of three gnomic presents — the search made methodical

and search carefullyindependent — ἐπιμελῶς — the diligence of the seeking God figured in a woman

until she finds it?conditional — trailing ἕως οὗ (typed cnd) — the same until-found clause as v. 4

And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors,independent — preposed εὑροῦσα kept with its verb; the guest-list turns feminine — τὰς φίλας

saying:participial — speech participle — the refrain returns

'Rejoice with me,content — verbatim from v. 6 — the deliberate parallel: recovery means shared joy

for I have found the drachmacause — εὗρον matching the shepherd's — the finding is the ground of the feast

that I lost.'relative — she owns the losing — ἀπώλεσα in the first person

v. 10 — the application: joy before the angels

In the same way, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'independent — λέγω ὑμῖν parenthetical this time; 'before the angels' — God's own delight, reverently veiled, matching v. 7

The prodigal son and the elder brother 15:11–32

vv. 11–16 — the younger son: demand, departure, destitution

And he said:independent — the barest of frames — one Εἶπεν carries the whole double parable, vv. 11–32

'A certain man had two sons.content — δύο υἱούς — both sons announced: the story will not end at v. 24

And the younger of them said to the father,content — story-internal speech frame — the narrative catena runs coordinate under the v. 11 Εἶπεν

'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.'content — the shocking demand — the portion of a father as good as dead; Πάτερ, the address both sons will use

So he divided his living between them.content — no protest — the father grants the breach; βίος, 'living,' returns in the elder's accusation (v. 30)

And not many days later, gathering everything together, the younger son journeyed to a far country,content — preposed συναγαγών kept in line — assets liquidated; the 'far country' images the estrangement

and there he squandered his property,content — διασκορπίζω — the estate scattered to the winds

living recklessly.participial — manner participle; ἀσώτως ('unsavingly') — the source of 'prodigal': profligate, not yet the elder's lurid gloss

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose throughout that country,content — genitive absolute kept in line — the turning of fortune: purse empty, then the land fails too

and he began to be in need.content — ingressive ἤρξατο — the descent begins

So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country,content — ἐκολλήθη — 'glued himself': a clinging, desperate dependence on a Gentile master

and he sent him into his fieldscontent — subject shifts to the citizen — the son now at another's disposal

to feed pigs.purpose — purpose infinitive — unclean beasts (Lev 11:7): the nadir for a Jewish son

And he longed to be filled with the podscontent — imperfect ἐπεθύμει — the gnawing, unsatisfied craving for carob pods, swine-fodder

that the pigs were eating,relative — ὧν attracted to the genitive of its antecedent — he envies the swine their supper

and no one gave him anything.content — customary imperfect ἐδίδου — even the pods withheld: the absolute bottom

vv. 17–19 — he comes to himself: the resolve and the rehearsed confession

But when he came to himself he said,content — εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐλθών — 'came to his senses'; the inner speech frame for the soliloquy

'How many of my father's hired men have bread to spare,content — exclamatory Πόσοι — even the day-laborers abound in the father's house

while I am perishing here with hunger!content — emphatic ἐγὼ δέ — and ἀπόλλυμαι: the keyword now in the son's own mouth; he names himself lost

I will arise and go to my father,content — the resolve — ἀναστάς, the rising verb, enacted word for word at v. 20

and I will say to him,content — the speech planned inside the speech — the confession rehearsed before it is spoken

"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;content — the confession, clause one — sin against heaven (God) first, then the father; cf. Pharaoh and David's 'I have sinned'

I am no longer worthy to be called your son;content — clause two — sonship renounced

make me as one of your hired men."'content — clause three — the bid for μίσθιος standing: the one clause he will never get to say (v. 21)

vv. 20–24 — the running father: compassion outruns confession

And he arose and came to his own father.content — ἀναστάς repeated verbatim from v. 18 — resolve become act

But while he was still far off, his father saw himcontent — genitive absolute kept in line — 'still far off': the father was watching the road

and was moved with compassion,content — σπλαγχνίζομαι — gut-level pity, the verb elsewhere reserved for Jesus (7:13; 10:33)

and ran and fell on his neckcontent — δραμών — a patriarch running, undignified love; the embrace of Gen 33:4; 45:14

and kissed him.content — κατά-intensive καταφιλέω — kissed fervently, before a word of confession is spoken

And the son said to him,content — the confession now delivered — inside the embrace

'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;content — verbatim recurrence of v. 18 — the rehearsal spoken word for word

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'content — verbatim from v. 19 — but the hired-man clause never comes: the father's welcome has cut it off (shorter text printed)

But the father said to his servants,content — the reply is not to the son but to the servants — restoration by command, not negotiation

'Quickly, bring out the best robecontent — Ταχύ (with the earliest witnesses) — the father's haste; the στολὴ πρώτη, the robe of honor

and put it on him,content — clothed by others' hands — honor conferred, not earned back

and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet,content — signet and sandals — authority restored, and a free son's feet: slaves went barefoot

and bring the fattened calf,content — the animal kept for the great occasion — this is that occasion

slaughter it,content — asyndetic imperative — the commands tumbling out

and let us eat and celebrate,content — hortatory εὐφρανθῶμεν — the feast-keyword (vv. 24, 29, 32); the father joins his own household's joy

for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'cause — the double antithesis kept whole — dead/alive, lost/found: homecoming as resurrection, tying the son to sheep and coin; recurs at v. 32

And they began to celebrate.content — ingressive ἤρξαντο — the feast underway: the hinge into the elder brother's half

vv. 25–30 — the elder brother: anger outside the feast

Now his older son was in the field;content — the second son of v. 11 enters — at his work, the picture of dutiful service

and as he came and drew near to the house,conditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd) leaning forward on ἤκουσεν — ἤγγισεν, the very verb of the sinners drawing near (v. 1)

he heard music and dancing.content — the feast heard from outside — where he will choose to remain

And he called one of the servants and inquiredcontent — he asks a servant rather than enter — already at a distance from the household's joy

what these things might be.content — indirect question with ἄν + optative — a refined Lukan touch

And he said to himcontent — the servant's report — the story's plainest voice

that 'Your brother has come,content — ὅτι recitativum; 'your brother' — the relation the elder will refuse (v. 30)

and your father has killed the fattened calf,content — the fact that will rankle — the calf named again at vv. 23, 30

because he has received him back safe and sound.'cause — ἀπέλαβεν — got him back; ὑγιαίνοντα, the recovery that grounds the feast

But he became angrycontent — ingressive ὠργίσθη — the elder's anger mirrors the grumbling of v. 2

and refused to go in;content — imperfect οὐκ ἤθελεν — a sustained refusal: now the elder is the one outside

so his father came out and was entreating him.content — the father goes out to this son too; imperfect παρεκάλει — persistent pleading, as he ran for the other

But he answered his father,content — the protest's frame — no vocative Πάτερ: the elder omits the address both uses of the younger carried

'Look, these many years I have served youcontent — δουλεύω — his telling word: sonship experienced as slavery

and I never disobeyed a command of yours,content — the claim of flawless obedience — the 'righteous who need no repentance' of v. 7 in narrative dress

yet you never gave me a young goatcontent — adversative καί; fronted ἐμοί — the grievance: a mere goat withheld against a calf bestowed

that I might celebrate with my friends.purpose — the feast-word in the elder's grudging mouth — and with his friends, not his father

But when this son of yours came, who devoured your living with prostitutes,conditional — temporal ὅτε (typed cnd) leaning forward on ἔθυσας — 'this son of yours,' not 'my brother'; the prostitutes are his own harsh surmise, never narrated

you killed the fattened calf for him!'content — the accusation lands on the calf — the feast itself is his grievance

vv. 31–32 — the father's last word: the necessity of joy

And he said to him,content — the father's reply — gentle where the protest was bitter

'Child, you are always with me,content — Τέκνον — the tender address; emphatic σύ: the elder's unbroken nearness, which he has counted as servitude

and all that is mine is yours.content — the whole remaining estate is already his — nothing has been taken from the elder

But it was necessary to celebrate and rejoice,content — ἔδει — the divine 'must': joy over the found is not indulgence but obligation; χαρῆναι binds the feast to the χαρά of vv. 7, 10

because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"cause — the v. 24 refrain kept whole and returned — 'this son of yours' corrected to 'this brother of yours'; the parable ends open, the elder's answer (the Pharisees') left to the hearer

Analysis. Luke 15 is one answer to one complaint, and the layout shows it: the only flush-left narrative is the murmuring frame of vv. 1–2 and the speech-frames that reply to it — εἶπεν ... λέγων (v. 3), the fresh Ἢ-question of v. 8, and the bare Εἶπεν δέ of v. 11 — so that nearly the whole chapter hangs blue (cnt) beneath a verb of saying. Following the convention settled at Mark 4, parable narrative keeps Luke's parataxis as a coordinate cnt catena at the speech's own depth: the shepherd's search runs under the λέγων of v. 3, and the entire prodigal-son story — both sons, vv. 11–32 — stands as one column under Εἶπεν δέ, while dialogue inside the story nests under its own speech verbs: the younger son's demand (v. 12), his soliloquy under ἔφη (v. 17) with the rehearsed confession one step deeper under ἐρῶ (vv. 18–19) — a confession that then recurs verbatim at v. 21, cut off (with the earliest witnesses) before the 'make me a hired man' clause the father will not hear — the father's imperative volley to the servants (vv. 22–23), the servant's report (v. 27), the elder brother's protest with its telling δουλεύω (vv. 29–30), and the Τέκνον reply (vv. 31–32). The τίς-questions of vv. 4 and 8 are shown with their suspended interrogative subjects (dashed) resumed by the οὐ/οὐχί verbs; the ἐάν protasis of v. 8 and the temporal ὡς (v. 25) and ὅτε (v. 30) clauses lean forward anchorless (typed cnd), while trailing ἕως-clauses hang from their verbs; genitive absolutes are kept in line with their main verbs (vv. 14, 20). The lost-coin section restarts at depth 0, its Ἢ binding it to the sheep as one paired question, and the twin Συγχάρητέ μοι refrains (vv. 6, 9) and λέγω-ὑμῖν applications (vv. 7, 10) are laid out in matching shapes. The dead/alive–lost/found refrain is kept whole at vv. 24 and 32 so its recurrence — and the father's correction of 'this son of yours' (v. 30) to 'this brother of yours' — reads at a glance; the chapter closes on ἔδει, the divine 'must' of joy, the parable left open toward the grumblers of v. 2.