Luke 11:44-45

11:44 Woe to you! ¹  You are like unmarked graves, and people ²  walk over them without realizing it!” ³ 

11:45 One of the experts in religious law ⁴  answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult ⁵  us too.”

[11:44]  ¹ tc Most mss (A [D] W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï it) have “experts in the law and Pharisees, hypocrites” after “you,” but this looks like an assimilation to the parallel in Matt 23:25, 27, 29. The shorter reading has earlier attestation from a variety of reliable mss (Ì^45,75 א B C L ˹ 33 1241 2542 lat sa).

[11:44]  ² tn Grk “men.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:44]  ³ sn In Judaism to come into contact with the dead or what is associated with them, even without knowing it, makes one unclean (Num 19:11-22; Lev 21:1-3; Mishnah, m. Demai 2:3). To Pharisees, who would have been so sensitive about contracting ceremonial uncleanness, it would have been quite a stinging rebuke to be told they caused it.

[11:45]  ⁴ sn That is, an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law. They worked closely with the Pharisees.

[11:45]  ⁵ tn For this term, see Matt 22;6; Luke 18:32; Acts 14:5; 1 Thess 2:2.