Luke 12:2-3

12:2 Nothing is hidden ¹  that will not be revealed, ²  and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then ³  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ⁴  in private rooms ⁵  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ⁶ 

[12:2]  ¹ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ² sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[12:3]  ³ tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.

[12:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ⁵ sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[12:3]  ⁶ tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.