11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law 1 and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, 2 and to ask him hostile questions 3 about many things, 11:54 plotting against 4 him, to catch 5 him in something he might say.
20:20 Then 6 they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. 7 They wanted to take advantage of what he might say 8 so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction 9 of the governor.
1 tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.
2 tn Or “terribly.”
3 tn For this term see L&N 33.183.
4 tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.
5 tn This term was often used in a hunting context (BDAG 455 s.v. θηρεύω; L&N 27.30). Later examples of this appear in Luke 20.
6 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
7 tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.
8 tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”
9 tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).