Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ³  the yeast of the Pharisees, ⁴  which is hypocrisy. ⁵ 

Luke 12:24

12:24 Consider the ravens: ⁶  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ⁷  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

Luke 19:15

19:15 When ⁸  he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned ⁹  these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted ¹⁰  to know how much they had earned ¹¹  by trading.

[12:1]  ¹ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ³ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ⁵ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[12:24]  ⁶ tn Or “crows.” Crows and ravens belong to the same family of birds. English uses “crow” as a general word for the family. Palestine has several indigenous members of the crow family.

[12:24]  ⁷ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

[19:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:15]  ¹² tn Grk “he said for these slaves to be called to him.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one and simplified to “he summoned.”

[19:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “in order that he might know” (a continuation of the preceding sentence). Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he” as subject and the verb “wanted” to convey the idea of purpose.

[19:15]  ¹⁴ sn The Greek verb earned refers to profit from engaging in commerce and trade (L&N 57.195). This is an examination of stewardship.