Luke 12:4-5

12:4 “I ¹  tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, ²  and after that have nothing more they can do. 12:5 But I will warn ³  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ⁴  has authority to throw you ⁵  into hell. ⁶  Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Luke 12:8-9

12:8 “I ⁷  tell you, whoever acknowledges ⁸  me before men, ⁹  the Son of Man will also acknowledge ¹⁰  before God’s angels. 12:9 But the one who denies me before men will be denied before God’s angels.

Luke 12:22

Exhortation Not to Worry

12:22 Then ¹¹  Jesus ¹²  said to his ¹³  disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry ¹⁴  about your ¹⁵  life, what you will eat, or about your ¹⁶  body, what you will wear.

[12:4]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:4]  ² sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[12:5]  ³ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ⁴ sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ⁵ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ⁶ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[12:8]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:8]  ⁸ tn Or “confesses.”

[12:8]  ⁹ tn Although this is a generic reference and includes both males and females, in this context “men” has been retained because of the wordplay with the Son of Man and the contrast with the angels. The same is true of the occurrence of “men” in v. 9.

[12:8]  ¹⁰ sn This acknowledgment will take place at the judgment. Of course, the Son of Man is a reference to Jesus as it has been throughout the Gospel. On Jesus and judgment, see 22:69; Acts 10:42-43; 17:31.

[12:22]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Jesus’ remarks to the disciples are an application of the point made in the previous parable.

[12:22]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:22]  ¹³ tc αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) is lacking in Ì^45vid,75 B 1241 c e. Although the addition of clarifying pronouns is a known scribal alteration, in this case it is probably better to view the dropping of the pronoun as the alteration in light of its minimal attestation.

[12:22]  ¹⁴ tn Or “do not be anxious.”

[12:22]  ¹⁵ tc Most mss (Ì⁴⁵ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33 Ï) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although several important and early witnesses omit it (Ì⁷⁵ א A B D L Q W Θ Ë¹ 700 2542 al lat). Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the pronoun looks to be a scribal clarification. In context the article can be translated as a possessive pronoun anyway (ExSyn 215), as it has been done for this translation.

[12:22]  ¹⁶ tc Some mss (B 070 ˹³ 33 1424 al) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although the witnesses for the omission are early, important, and varied (Ì^45vid,75 א A D L Q W Θ Ψ Ë¹ Ï lat). See previous tc note for more discussion.