Luke 11:11-13

11:11 What father among you, if your ¹  son asks for ²  a fish, will give him a snake ³  instead of a fish? 11:12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ⁴  11:13 If you then, although you are ⁵  evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit ⁶  to those who ask him!”

¹ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

² tc Most mss (א A C D L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy^c,p,h bo) have “bread, does not give him a stone instead, or” before “a fish”; the longer reading, however, looks like a harmonization to Matt 7:9. The shorter reading is thus preferred, attested by Ì^45,75 B 1241 pc sy^s sa.

³ sn The snake probably refers to a water snake.

⁴ sn The two questions of vv. 11-12 expect the answer, “No father would do this!”

⁵ tn The participle ὑπάρχοντες (Juparconte") has been translated as a concessive participle.

⁶ sn The provision of the Holy Spirit is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. Some apply it to the general provision of the Spirit, but this would seem to look only at one request in a context that speaks of repeated asking. The teaching as a whole stresses not that God gives everything his children want, but that God gives the good that they need. The parallel account in Matthew (7:11) refers to good things where Luke mentions the Holy Spirit.