Luke 17:31-33

17:31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, ¹  with his goods in the house, must not come down ²  to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife! ³  17:33 Whoever tries to keep ⁴  his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life ⁵  will preserve it.

[17:31]  ¹ sn Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[17:31]  ² sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There is no time to come down from one’s roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.

[17:32]  ³ sn An allusion to Gen 19:26. The warning about Lot’s wife is not to look back and long to be where one used to be. The world is being judged, and the person who delays or turns back will be destroyed.

[17:33]  ⁴ tn Or “tries to preserve”; Grk “seeks to gain.”

[17:33]  ⁵ sn Whoever loses his life. Suffering and persecution caused by the world, even to death, cannot stop God from saving (Luke 12:4-6).