Luke 10:40

10:40 But Martha was distracted ¹  with all the preparations she had to make, ²  so ³  she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care ⁴  that my sister has left me to do all the work ⁵  alone? Tell ⁶  her to help me.”

Luke 12:2-3

12:2 Nothing is hidden ⁷  that will not be revealed, ⁸  and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then ⁹  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ¹⁰  in private rooms ¹¹  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ¹² 

[10:40]  ¹ sn The term distracted means “to be pulled away” by something (L&N 25.238). It is a narrative comment that makes clear who is right in the account.

[10:40]  ² tn Grk “with much serving.”

[10:40]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the following was a result of Martha’s distraction.

[10:40]  ⁴ tn The negative οὐ (ou) used with the verb expects a positive reply. Martha expected Jesus to respond and rebuke Mary.

[10:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “has left me to serve alone.”

[10:40]  ⁶ tn The conjunction οὖν (oun, “then, therefore”) has not been translated here.

[12:2]  ⁷ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ⁸ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[12:3]  ⁹ tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.

[12:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ¹¹ sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[12:3]  ¹² tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.