Luke 3:1

The Ministry of John the Baptist

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ¹  when Pontius Pilate ²  was governor of Judea, and Herod ³  was tetrarch ⁴  of Galilee, and his brother Philip ⁵  was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ⁶  was tetrarch of Abilene,

Luke 5:36

5:36 He also told them a parable: ⁷  “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews ⁸  it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn ⁹  the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ¹⁰ 

Luke 6:48

6:48 He is like a man ¹¹  building a house, who dug down deep, ¹²  and laid the foundation on bedrock. When ¹³  a flood came, the river ¹⁴  burst against that house but ¹⁵  could not shake it, because it had been well built. ¹⁶ 

Luke 10:22

10:22 All things have been given to me by my Father. ¹⁷  No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides ¹⁸  to reveal him.”

Luke 14:12

14:12 He ¹⁹  said also to the man ²⁰  who had invited him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, ²¹  don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors so you can be invited by them in return and get repaid.

¹ tn Or “Emperor Tiberius” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

² sn The rule of Pontius Pilate is also described by Josephus, J. W. 2.9.2-4 (2.169-177) and Ant. 18.3.1 (18.55-59).

³ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He ruled from 4 b.c.-a.d. 39, sharing the rule of his father’s realm with his two brothers. One brother, Archelaus (Matt 2:22) was banished in a.d. 6 and died in a.d. 18; the other brother, Herod Philip (mentioned next) died in a.d. 34.

⁴ sn A tetrarch was a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king, who ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. Several times in the NT, Herod tetrarch of Galilee is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage.

⁵ sn Philip refers to Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and brother of Herod Antipas. Philip ruled as tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 b.c.-a.d. 34.

⁶ sn Nothing else is known about Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

⁷ sn The term parable in a Semitic context can cover anything from a long story to a brief wisdom saying. Here it is the latter.

⁸ tn Grk “puts”; but since the means of attachment would normally be sewing, the translation “sews” has been used.

⁹ tn Grk “he tears.” The point is that the new garment will be ruined to repair an older, less valuable one.

¹⁰ sn The piece from the new will not match the old. The imagery in this saying looks at the fact that what Jesus brings is so new that it cannot simply be combined with the old. To do so would be to destroy what is new and to put together something that does not fit.

¹³ tn Here and in v. 49 the Greek text reads ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), while the parallel account in Matt 7:24-27 uses ἀνήρ (anhr) in vv. 24 and 26.

¹⁴ tn There are actually two different Greek verbs used here: “who dug (ἔσκαψεν, eskayen) and dug deep (ἐβάθυνεν, ebaqunen).” Jesus is placing emphasis on the effort to which the man went to prepare his foundation.

¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁶ sn The picture here is of a river overflowing its banks and causing flooding and chaos.

¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the context.

¹⁸ tc Most mss, especially later ones (A C D Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï latt), read “because he built [it] on the rock” rather than “because it had been well built” (Ì^75vid א B L W Ξ 33 579 892 1241 2542 pc sa). The reading of the later mss seems to be a harmonization to Matt 7:25, rendering it most likely secondary.

¹⁹ sn This verse has been noted for its conceptual similarity to teaching in John’s Gospel (10:15; 17:2). The authority of the Son and the Father are totally intertwined.

²⁰ tn Or “wishes”; or “intends”; or “plans” (cf. BDAG 182 s.v. βούλομαι 2.b). Here it is the Son who has sovereignty.

²⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

²⁶ sn That is, the leader of the Pharisees (v. 1).

²⁷ tn The meaning of the two terms for meals here, ἄριστον (ariston) and δεῖπνον (deipnon), essentially overlap (L&N 23.22). Translators usually try to find two terms for a meal to use as equivalents (e.g., lunch and dinner, dinner and supper, etc.). In this translation “dinner” and “banquet” have been used, since the expected presence of rich neighbors later in the verse suggests a rather more elaborate occasion than an ordinary meal.