Luke 13:24-25

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ²  the head of the house ³  gets up ⁴  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ⁵  let us in!’ ⁶  But he will answer you, ⁷  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ⁸ 

[13:24]  ¹ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

[13:25]  ² tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

[13:25]  ³ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ⁴ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ⁵ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ⁶ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

[13:25]  ⁸ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.