Exegesis:

kai dielogizeto en heautō ‘and he debated with himself,’ durative imperfect. For dialogizomai cf. on 1.29.

hoti ouk echō pou sunaxō tous karpous mou lit. ‘for I have not where I shall store my crops,’ i.e. ‘I have no place to store my crops.’

sunagō (cf. on 3.17) here ‘to store.’

karpos ‘fruit,’ here in the plural of grain/corn crops.

Translation:

He thought to (or, within) himself, or, ‘he deliberated,’ ‘he asked (in) his heart,’ or simply, ‘he thought.’

What shall I do, or, ‘what am I to do.’ Some idiomatic renderings are, ‘what-now my-tactics’ (Malay), ‘how am I to devise now’ (Balinese), ‘how the plan’ (Javanese).

Nowhere to store …, or, ‘no place where I can put-away…’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘not enough place for-storing…’ (Tae’). Some versions (e.g. Tae’ 1933) use the more specific term rendering “barn” in v. 18.

My crops may have to become, ‘the crops (or, the produce/yield) of my farm/fields’ (e.g. in some Indonesian languages).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.