6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate 1 the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 2 the other. You cannot serve God and money. 3
5:1 Therefore, be 25 imitators of God as dearly loved children
6:9 Masters, 26 treat your slaves 27 the same way, 28 giving up the use of threats, 29 because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, 30 and there is no favoritism with him.
6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power.
1 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
2 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
3 tn Grk “God and mammon.”
4 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
5 tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”
6 sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.
7 tn Grk “he had many possessions.” This term (κτῆμα, kthma) is often used for land as a possession.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
9 tn See L&N 13.154 for this use of the middle voice of φυλάσσω (fulassw) in this verse.
10 tn Or “avarice,” “covetousness.” Note the warning covers more than money and gets at the root attitude – the strong desire to acquire more and more possessions and experiences.
11 tn Grk “And he.” Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the connection to the preceding statement.
12 tn Grk “a parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.
13 tn Or “yielded a plentiful harvest.”
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this is a result of the preceding statement.
15 tn Grk “to himself, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.
16 sn I have nowhere to store my crops. The thinking here is prudent in terms of recognizing the problem. The issue in the parable will be the rich man’s solution, particularly the arrogance reflected in v. 19.
17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
18 sn Note how often the first person pronoun is present in these verses. The farmer is totally self absorbed.
19 tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.
20 tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.
21 tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).
22 tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
23 sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.
24 tn Grk “be knowing this.” See also 2 Pet 1:20 for a similar phrase: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες (touto prwton ginwskonte").
25 tn Or “become.”
26 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
27 tn Though the Greek text only has αὐτούς (autous, “them”), the antecedent is the slaves of the masters. Therefore, it was translated this way to make it explicit in English.
28 tn Grk “do the same things to them.”
29 tn Grk “giving up the threat.”
30 tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”