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 15:4

15:4 “Which one ⁷  of you, if he has a hundred ⁸  sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture ⁹  and go look for ¹⁰  the one that is lost until he finds it? ¹¹ 

[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.

[15:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “What man.” The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a somewhat generic sense.

[15:4]  ⁸ sn This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.

[15:4]  ⁹ tn Or “desert,” but here such a translation might suggest neglect of the 99 sheep left behind.

[15:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “go after,” but in contemporary English the idiom “to look for” is used to express this.

[15:4]  ¹¹ sn Until he finds it. The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18.