Luke 12:3

12:3 So then ¹  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ²  in private rooms ³  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ⁴ 

Luke 12:24

12:24 Consider the ravens: ⁵  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ⁶  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

[12:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[12:24]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.”