Luke 13:2

13:2 He ¹  answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners ²  than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

Luke 23:12

23:12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, ³  for prior to this they had been enemies. ⁴ 

Luke 13:4

13:4 Or those eighteen who were killed ⁵  when the tower in Siloam fell on them, ⁶  do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? ⁷ 

[13:2]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[13:2]  ² sn Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners.

[23:12]  ³ sn Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. It may be that Pilate’s change of heart was related to the death of his superior, Sejanus, who had a reputation for being anti-Jewish. To please his superior, Pilate may have ruled the Jews with insensitivity. Concerning Sejanus, see Philo, Embassy 24 (160-61) and Flaccus 1 (1).

[23:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “at enmity with each other.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them.” This relative clause embedded in a prepositional phrase is complex in English and has been simplified to an adjectival and a temporal clause in the translation.

[13:4]  ⁶ sn Unlike the previous event, when the tower in Siloam fell on them, it was an accident of fate. It raised the question, however, “Was this a judgment?”

[13:4]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.