Luke 15:14 — ExegesisTAB

dapanesantos {δαπανήσαντος | dapanḗsantos} ‘having spent’ opens the verse as a genitive aorist participle conveying action prior to the main narrative. The postpositive conjunction de {δὲ | dé} links to the preceding context, marking a turn in events. The principal verb egeneto {ἐγένετο | egéneto} ‘there arose’ introduces the crisis, with the noun phrase limos ischyrá {λιμὸς ἰσχυρὰ | limós ischyrá} ‘a severe famine’ as its subject, the adjective following the noun to intensify the situation. The prepositional phrase kata tēn chōrán ekeínēn {κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐκείνην | katà tēn chōrán ekeínēn} ‘throughout that country’ uses kata with the accusative to express distribution over the specified region. The coordinating kai {καὶ | kaí} then introduces a secondary clause, kai autos ḗrxato hysterēisthai {καὶ αὐτὸς ἤρξατο ὑστερεῖσθαι | kaì autós ḗrxato hysterêisthai}, where autos ‘he himself’ emphasizes the prodigal’s personal plight, and the inceptive ḗrxato plus infinitive hysterēisthai conveys the beginning of an ongoing state of deprivation. Translation choices render the participle as “when he had spent all,” egeneto as “came upon” in formal and “struck” in dynamic to capture both onset and impact, and the ḗrxato + infinitive as “began to be in need” and “began to experience want” to reflect the emergent hardship.