Luke 10:19-20

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread ¹  on snakes and scorpions ²  and on the full force of the enemy, ³  and nothing will ⁴  hurt you. 10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that ⁵  the spirits submit to you, but rejoice ⁶  that your names stand written ⁷  in heaven.”

[10:19]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “trample on” (which emphasizes the impact of the feet on the snakes). See L&N 15.226.

[10:19]  ² sn Snakes and scorpions are examples of the hostility in the creation that is defeated by Jesus. The use of battle imagery shows who the kingdom fights against. See Acts 28:3-6.

[10:19]  ³ tn Or “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and [authority] over the full force of the enemy.” The second prepositional phrase can be taken either as modifying the infinitive πατεῖν (patein, “to tread”) or the noun ἐξουσίαν (exousian, “power”). The former is to be preferred and has been represented in the translation.

[10:19]  ⁴ tn This is an emphatic double negative in the Greek text.

[10:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “do not rejoice in this, that.” This is awkward in contemporary English and has been simplified to “do not rejoice that.”

[10:20]  ⁶ tn The verb here is a present imperative, so the call is to an attitude of rejoicing.

[10:20]  ⁷ tn The verb here, a perfect tense, stresses a present reality of that which was a completed action, that is, their names were etched in the heavenly stone, as it were.