Text -- Luke 17:37 (NET)

17:37 Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 17:37

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Grk “they”; the referent (the disciples, v. 22) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “answering, they said to him.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

⁴ sn The question “Where, Lord?” means, “Where will the judgment take place?”

⁵ tn Or “corpse.”

⁶ tn The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; BDAG 22 s.v. ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures, because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers.

sn Jesus’ answer is that when the judgment comes, the scenes of death will be obvious and so will the location of the judgment.

⁷ tn Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.