38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; 1
like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.
53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;
each of us had strayed off on his own path,
but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. 2
18:1 Then 10 Jesus 11 told them a parable to show them they should always 12 pray and not lose heart. 13
3:18 And in this way, 14 with many other exhortations, John 15 proclaimed good news to the people.
1 tn Heb “pass over my head.”
2 tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.
3 tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.
4 tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).
5 tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).
6 tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.
7 sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.
8 tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
11 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).
13 sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).
14 tn On construction μὲν οὖν καί (men oun kai), see BDF §451.1.
15 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.