Luke 12:57-59

Clear the Debts

12:57 “And ¹  why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 12:58 As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, ²  make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, ³  and the officer throw you into prison. 12:59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!” ⁴ 

[12:57]  ¹ tn Jesus calls for some personal reflection. However, this unit probably does connect to the previous one – thus the translation of δέ (de) here as “And” – to make a good spiritual assessment, thus calling for application to the spiritual, rather than personal, realm.

[12:58]  ² sn The term magistrate (ἄρχων, arcwn) refers to an official who, under the authority of the government, serves as judge in legal cases (see L&N 56.29).

[12:58]  ³ sn The officer (πράκτωρ, praktwr) was a civil official who functioned like a bailiff and was in charge of debtor’s prison. The use of the term, however, does not automatically demand a Hellenistic setting (BDAG 859 s.v.; K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT 8:539; C. Maurer, TDNT 6:642).

[12:59]  ⁴ tn Here the English word “cent” is used as opposed to the parallel in Matt 5:26 where “penny” appears, since the Greek word there is different and refers to a different but similar coin.