Luke 12:33

12:33 Sell your possessions ¹  and give to the poor. ²  Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out – a treasure in heaven ³  that never decreases, ⁴  where no thief approaches and no moth ⁵  destroys.

Luke 12:39

12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief ⁶  was coming, he would not have let ⁷  his house be broken into.

[12:33]  ¹ sn The call to sell your possessions is a call to a lack of attachment to the earth and a generosity as a result.

[12:33]  ² tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today.

[12:33]  ³ tn Grk “in the heavens.”

[12:33]  ⁴ tn Or “an unfailing treasure in heaven,” or “an inexhaustible treasure in heaven.”

[12:33]  ⁵ tn The term σής (shs) refers to moths in general. It is specifically the larvae of moths that destroy clothing by eating holes in it (L&N 4.49; BDAG 922 s.v.). See Jas 5:2, which mentions “moth-eaten” clothing.

[12:39]  ⁶ sn On Jesus pictured as a returning thief, see 1 Thess 5:2, 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.

[12:39]  ⁷ tc Most mss (א¹ A B L Q W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy^p,h sa^ms bo) read “he would have watched and not let” here, but this looks like an assimilation to Matt 24:43. The alliance of two important and early mss along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ א* [D] e i sy^s,c sa^mss), coupled with much stronger internal evidence, suggests that the shorter reading is authentic.