Luke 12:5-13

12:5 But I will warn ¹  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ²  has authority to throw you ³  into hell. ⁴  Yes, I tell you, fear him! 12:6 Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? ⁵  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 12:7 In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; ⁶  you are more valuable than many sparrows.

12:8 “I ⁷  tell you, whoever acknowledges ⁸  me before men, ⁹  the Son of Man will also acknowledge ¹⁰  before God’s angels. 12:9 But the one who denies me before men will be denied before God’s angels. 12:10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit ¹¹  will not be forgiven. ¹²  12:11 But when they bring you before the synagogues, ¹³  the ¹⁴  rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense ¹⁵  or what you should say, 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment ¹⁶  what you must say.” ¹⁷ 

The Parable of the Rich Landowner

12:13 Then ¹⁸  someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell ¹⁹  my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

[12:5]  ¹ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ² sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ³ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ⁴ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[12:6]  ⁵ sn The pennies refer to the assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest thing sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.

[12:7]  ⁹ sn Do not be afraid. One should respect and show reverence to God (v. 5), but need not fear his tender care.

[12:8]  ¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “confesses.”

[12:8]  ¹⁵ tn Although this is a generic reference and includes both males and females, in this context “men” has been retained because of the wordplay with the Son of Man and the contrast with the angels. The same is true of the occurrence of “men” in v. 9.

[12:8]  ¹⁶ sn This acknowledgment will take place at the judgment. Of course, the Son of Man is a reference to Jesus as it has been throughout the Gospel. On Jesus and judgment, see 22:69; Acts 10:42-43; 17:31.

[12:10]  ¹⁷ sn Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit probably refers to a total rejection of the testimony that the Spirit gives to Jesus and the plan of God. This is not so much a sin of the moment as of one’s entire life, an obstinate rejection of God’s message and testimony. Cf. Matt 12:31-32 and Mark 3:28-30.

[12:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “it will not be forgiven the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.”

[12:11]  ²¹ sn The saying looks at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to the rulers and the authorities suggests.

[12:11]  ²² tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[12:11]  ²³ tn Grk “about how or what you should say in your defense,” but this is redundant with the following clause, “or what you should say.”

[12:12]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in that very hour” (an idiom).

[12:12]  ²⁶ tn Grk “what it is necessary to say.”

[12:13]  ²⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:13]  ³⁰ sn Tell my brother. In 1st century Jewish culture, a figure like a rabbi was often asked to mediate disputes, except that here mediation was not requested, but representation.