9:17 “Stolen waters 2 are sweet,
and food obtained in secret 3 is pleasant!”
12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, 4
including every secret thing, whether good or evil.
23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself
where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. 5
“Do you not know that I am everywhere?” 6
the Lord asks. 7
12:1 Meanwhile, 8 when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus 9 began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against 10 the yeast of the Pharisees, 11 which is hypocrisy. 12 12:2 Nothing is hidden 13 that will not be revealed, 14 and nothing is secret that will not be made known.
1 tn Heb “and before the sun.”
2 sn The offer is not wine and meat (which represented wisdom), but water that is stolen. The “water” will seem sweeter than wine because it is stolen – the idea of getting away with something exciting appeals to the baser instincts. In Proverbs the water imagery was introduced earlier in 5:15-19 as sexual activity with the adulteress, which would seem at the moment more enjoyable than learning wisdom. Likewise bread will be drawn into this analogy in 30:20. So the “calling out” is similar to that of wisdom, but what is being offered is very different.
3 tn Heb “bread of secrecies.” It could mean “bread [eaten in] secret places,” a genitive of location; or it could mean “bread [gained through] secrets,” a genitive of source, the secrecies being metonymical for theft. The latter makes a better parallelism in this verse, for bread (= sexually immoral behavior) gained secretly would be like stolen water.
4 tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”
5 tn Heb “Oracle of the
6 tn The words “Don’t you know” are not in the text. They are a way of conveying the idea that the question which reads literally “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” expects a positive answer. They follow the pattern used at the beginning of the previous two questions and continue that thought. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “Oracle of the
8 tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”
9 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.
11 sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.
12 sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.
13 tn Or “concealed.”
14 sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.
15 tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.
16 tn Grk “of people.”
17 sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
19 tn Grk “another book was opened, which is of life.”
20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the books being opened.
21 tn Grk “from the things written in the books according to their works.”