Luke 17:28

17:28 Likewise, just as it was ¹  in the days of Lot, people ²  were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building;

Luke 20:9

The Parable of the Tenants

20:9 Then ³  he began to tell the people this parable: “A man ⁴  planted a vineyard, ⁵  leased it to tenant farmers, ⁶  and went on a journey for a long time.

Luke 13:6

Warning to Israel to Bear Fruit

13:6 Then ⁷  Jesus ⁸  told this parable: “A man had a fig tree ⁹  planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

Luke 17:6

17:6 So ¹⁰  the Lord replied, ¹¹  “If ¹²  you had faith the size of ¹³  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ¹⁴  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ¹⁵  and it would obey ¹⁶  you.

[17:28]  ¹ tn Or “as it happened.”

[17:28]  ² tn Grk “they.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

[20:9]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. The parable Jesus tells here actually addresses the question put to him by the leaders.

[20:9]  ⁴ tc ‡ There are several variants here, most of which involve variations in word order that do not affect translation. However, the presence or absence of τις (ti") after ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), which would be translated “a certain man,” does affect translation. The witnesses that have τις include A W Θ Ë¹³ 1241 2542 al sy. Those that lack it include א B C D L Ψ Ë¹ 33 Ï it. Externally, the evidence is significantly stronger for the omission. Internally, however, there is some pause. A feature unique to Luke-Acts in the NT is to use the construction ἄνθρωπος τις (cf. 10:30; 12:16; 14:2, 16; 15:11; 16:1; 19:12; Acts 9:33). However, scribes who were familiar with this idiom may have inserted it here. In light of the overwhelming external support for the omission of τις, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ places τις in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[20:9]  ⁵ sn The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1-7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11-24.

[20:9]  ⁶ sn The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.

[13:6]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ⁷ sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.

[17:6]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[17:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “said.”

[17:6]  ⁹ tn This is a mixed condition, with ἄν (an) in the apodosis.

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:6]  ¹¹ sn A black mulberry tree is a deciduous fruit tree that grows about 20 ft (6 m) tall and has black juicy berries. This tree has an extensive root system, so to pull it up would be a major operation.

[17:6]  ¹² tn The passives here (ἐκριζώθητι and φυτεύθητι, ekrizwqhti and futeuqhti) are probably a circumlocution for God performing the action (the so-called divine passive, see ExSyn 437-38). The issue is not the amount of faith (which in the example is only very tiny), but its presence, which can accomplish impossible things. To cause a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea is impossible. The expression is a rhetorical idiom. It is like saying a camel can go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25).

[17:6]  ¹³ tn The verb is aorist, though it looks at a future event, another rhetorical touch to communicate certainty of the effect of faith.