Luke 17:22-33

The Coming of the Son of Man

17:22 Then ¹  he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days ²  of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 17:23 Then people ³  will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ ⁴  or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. ⁵  17:24 For just like the lightning flashes ⁶  and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. ⁷  17:25 But first he must ⁸  suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 17:26 Just ⁹  as it was ¹⁰  in the days of Noah, ¹¹  so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 17:27 People ¹²  were eating, ¹³  they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage – right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then ¹⁴  the flood came and destroyed them all. ¹⁵  17:28 Likewise, just as it was ¹⁶  in the days of Lot, people ¹⁷  were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 17:29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ¹⁸  17:30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 17:31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, ¹⁹  with his goods in the house, must not come down ²⁰  to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife! ²¹  17:33 Whoever tries to keep ²²  his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life ²³  will preserve it.

[17:22]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:22]  ² sn This is a reference to the days of the full manifestation of Jesus’ power in a fully established kingdom. The reference to “days” instead of “day” is unusual, appearing only here and in v. 26, but it may be motivated merely by parallelism with the “days” of Noah there and the “days of Lot” in v. 28.

[17:23]  ³ tn Grk “And they will say.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:23]  ⁴ tn The words “he is” here and in the following clause are understood and have been supplied from the context.

[17:23]  ⁵ sn Do not go out or chase after them. There will be no need to search for the Son of Man at his coming, though many will falsely claim its arrival.

[17:24]  ⁵ sn The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning. No one will need to point it out.

[17:24]  ⁶ tc Some very important mss (Ì⁷⁵ B D it sa) lack the words ἐν τῇ ἡμέρα αὐτοῦ (en th Jhmera autou, “in his day”), but the words are included in א A L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy bo. On the one hand, the shorter reading is impressive because it has some of the best Alexandrian and Western witnesses in support; on the other hand, the expression ἐν τῇ ἡμέρα αὐτοῦ is unusual (found nowhere else in the NT), and may be considered the harder reading. A decision is difficult, but it is probably best to retain the words. NA²⁷ rightly has the words in brackets, expressing doubt as to their authenticity.

[17:25]  ⁷ sn The Son of Man’s suffering and rejection by this generation is another “it is necessary” type of event in God’s plan (Luke 4:43; 24:7, 26, 44) and the fifth passion prediction in Luke’s account (9:22, 44; 12:50; 13:32-33; for the last, see 18:32-33).

[17:26]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:26]  ¹⁰ tn Or “as it happened.”

[17:26]  ¹¹ sn Like the days of Noah, the time of the flood in Gen 6:5-8:22, the judgment will come as a surprise as people live their day to day lives.

[17:27]  ¹¹ tn Grk “They.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

[17:27]  ¹² tn These verbs (“eating… drinking… marrying… being given in marriage”) are all progressive imperfects, describing action in progress at that time.

[17:27]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:27]  ¹⁴ sn Like that flood came and destroyed them all, the coming judgment associated with the Son of Man will condemn many.

[17:28]  ¹³ tn Or “as it happened.”

[17:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “they.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

[17:29]  ¹⁵ sn And destroyed them all. The coming of the Son of Man will be like the judgment on Sodom, one of the most immoral places of the OT (Gen 19:16-17; Deut 32:32-33; Isa 1:10).

[17:31]  ¹⁷ sn Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[17:31]  ¹⁸ sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There is no time to come down from one’s roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.

[17:32]  ¹⁹ sn An allusion to Gen 19:26. The warning about Lot’s wife is not to look back and long to be where one used to be. The world is being judged, and the person who delays or turns back will be destroyed.

[17:33]  ²¹ tn Or “tries to preserve”; Grk “seeks to gain.”

[17:33]  ²² sn Whoever loses his life. Suffering and persecution caused by the world, even to death, cannot stop God from saving (Luke 12:4-6).