Luke 10:1

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

10:1 After this ¹  the Lord appointed seventy-two ²  others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town ³  and place where he himself was about to go.

Joshua 2:1

Joshua Sends Spies into the Land

2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: ⁴  “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” ⁵  They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. ⁶ 

Mark 6:7

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

6:7 Jesus ⁷  called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸ 

Acts 10:7-8

10:7 When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius ⁹  called two of his personal servants ¹⁰  and a devout soldier from among those who served him, ¹¹  10:8 and when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Revelation 11:3

11:3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority ¹²  to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.

[10:1]  ¹ tn Grk “And after these things.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:1]  ² tc There is a difficult textual problem here and in v. 17, where the number is either “seventy” (א A C L W Θ Ξ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï and several church fathers and early versions) or “seventy-two” (Ì⁷⁵ B D 0181 pc lat as well as other versions and fathers). The more difficult reading is “seventy-two,” since scribes would be prone to assimilate this passage to several OT passages that refer to groups of seventy people (Num 11:13-17; Deut 10:22; Judg 8:30; 2 Kgs 10:1 et al.); this reading also has slightly better ms support. “Seventy” could be the preferred reading if scribes drew from the tradition of the number of translators of the LXX, which the Letter of Aristeas puts at seventy-two (TCGNT 127), although this is far less likely. All things considered, “seventy-two” is a much more difficult reading and accounts for the rise of the other. Only Luke notes a second larger mission like the one in 9:1-6.

[10:1]  ³ tn Or “city.”

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:7]  ⁸ sn The phrase unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

[10:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “domestic servants.” The Greek word here is οἰκέτης (oiketh"), which technically refers to a member of the household, but usually means a household servant (slave) or personal servant rather than a field laborer.

[10:7]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the genitive participle προσκαρτερούντων (proskarterountwn) could either be “a soldier from the ranks of those who served him” (referring to his entire command) or “a soldier from among his personal staff” (referring to a group of soldiers who were his personal attendants). The translation “from among those who served him” is general enough to cover either possibility.

[11:3]  ¹² tn The word “authority” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. “Power” would be another alternative that could be supplied here.