Acts 14:4

14:4 But the population ¹  of the city was divided; some ²  sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

Acts 17:4

17:4 Some of them were persuaded ³  and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group ⁴  of God-fearing Greeks ⁵  and quite a few ⁶  prominent women.

Acts 18:7-8

18:7 Then Paul ⁷  left ⁸  the synagogue ⁹  and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, ¹⁰  whose house was next door to the synagogue. 18:8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, ¹¹  believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it ¹²  believed and were baptized.

Matthew 15:14

15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. ¹³  If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, ¹⁴  both will fall into a pit.”

Matthew 16:4

16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then ¹⁵  he left them and went away.

Luke 12:51-53

12:51 Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ¹⁶  12:52 For from now on ¹⁷  there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. 12:53 They will be divided, ¹⁸  father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹⁹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²⁰  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ²¹  the yeast of the Pharisees, ²²  which is hypocrisy. ²³ 

Luke 6:5

6:5 Then ²⁴  he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord ²⁵  of the Sabbath.”

Luke 6:2

6:2 But some of the Pharisees ²⁶  said, “Why are you ²⁷  doing what is against the law ²⁸  on the Sabbath?”

Luke 3:5

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ²⁹ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

[14:4]  ¹ tn BDAG 825 s.v. πλῆθος 2.b.γ has this translation for πλῆθος (plhqo").

[14:4]  ² tn These clauses are a good example of the contrastive μὲν…δέ (men…de) construction: Some “on the one hand” sided with the Jews, but some “on the other hand” sided with the apostles.

[17:4]  ³ tn Or “convinced.”

[17:4]  ⁴ tn Or “a large crowd.”

[17:4]  ⁵ tn Or “of devout Greeks,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Luke frequently mentions such people (Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:17; 18:7).

[17:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[18:7]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:7]  ⁸ tn Grk “Then leaving from there he went.” The participle μεταβάς (metabas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[18:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “from there”; the referent (the synagogue) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “a worshiper of God.” The clarifying phrase “a Gentile” has been supplied for clarity, and is indicated by the context, since Paul had parted company with the Jews in the previous verse. The participle σεβομένου (sebomenou) is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44.

[18:8]  ¹¹ tn That is, “the official in charge of the synagogue”; ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “leader/president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93).

[18:8]  ¹² tn Or “who heard him,” or “who heard Paul.” The ambiguity here results from the tendency of Greek to omit direct objects, which must be supplied from the context. The problem is that no less than three different ones may be supplied here: (1) “him,” referring to Crispus, but this is not likely because there is no indication in the context that Crispus began to speak out about the Lord; this is certainly possible and even likely, but more than the text here affirms; (2) “Paul,” who had been speaking in the synagogue and presumably, now that he had moved to Titius Justus’ house, continued speaking to the Gentiles; or (3) “about it,” that is, the Corinthians who heard about Crispus’ conversion became believers. In the immediate context this last is most probable, since the two incidents are juxtaposed. Other, less obvious direct objects could also be supplied, such as “heard the word of God,” “heard the word of the Lord,” etc., but none of these are obvious in the immediate context.

[15:14]  ¹³ tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א¹ C L W Z Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). The shorter reading is read by א*^,2 B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tufloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuflwn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is original: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA²⁷ places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[15:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”

[16:4]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:51]  ¹⁶ tn Or “hostility.” This term pictures dissension and hostility (BDAG 234 s.v. διαμερισμός).

[12:52]  ¹⁷ sn From now on is a popular phrase in Luke: 1:48; 5:10; 22:18, 69; see Mic 7:6.

[12:53]  ¹⁸ tn There is dispute whether this phrase belongs to the end of v. 52 or begins v. 53. Given the shift of object, a connection to v. 53 is slightly preferred.

[12:1]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ²¹ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ²² sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ²³ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[6:5]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:5]  ²⁵ tn The term “lord” is in emphatic position in the Greek text. To make this point even clearer a few mss add “also” before the reference to the Son of Man, while a few others add it before the reference to the Sabbath.

[6:2]  ²⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[6:2]  ²⁷ tn Note that the verb is second person plural (with an understood plural pronominal subject in Greek). The charge is again indirectly made against Jesus by charging the disciples.

[6:2]  ²⁸ sn The alleged violation expressed by the phrase what is against the law is performing work on the Sabbath. That the disciples ate from such a field is no problem given Deut 23:25, but Sabbath activity is another matter in the leaders’ view (Exod 20:8-11 and Mishnah, m. Shabbat 7.2). The supposed violation involved reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food. This probably explains why the clause describing the disciples “rubbing” the heads of grain in their hands is mentioned last, in emphatic position. This was preparation of food.

[3:5]  ²⁹ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.