Luke 12:17 (DBY)

Passage

And he reasoned within himself saying, What shall I do? for I have not [a place] where I shall lay up my fruits.

Nearby Context

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, Take heed and keep yourselves from all covetousness, for [it is] not because a man is in abundance [that] his life is in his possessions.

Luke 12:16 And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The land of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly.

Luke 12:17 And he reasoned within himself saying, What shall I do? for I have not [a place] where I shall lay up my fruits.

Luke 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will take away my granaries and build greater, and there I will lay up all my produce and my good things;

Luke 12:19 and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much good things laid by for many years; repose thyself, eat, drink, be merry.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "reasoned", "within", "himself", "saying", "shall", "place", and "where". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "reasoned" and "within", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "And he spoke a parable to them..." into verse 18's "And he said This will I do...", so "reasoned" and "within" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "reasoned" and "within" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.