Luke 17:9-14

17:9 He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, ¹  will he? ²  17:10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; ³  we have only done what was our duty.’” ⁴ 

The Grateful Leper

17:11 Now on ⁵  the way to Jerusalem, ⁶  Jesus ⁷  was passing along ⁸  between Samaria and Galilee. 17:12 As ⁹  he was entering ¹⁰  a village, ten men with leprosy ¹¹  met him. They ¹²  stood at a distance, 17:13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy ¹³  on us.” 17:14 When ¹⁴  he saw them he said, “Go ¹⁵  and show yourselves to the priests.” ¹⁶  And ¹⁷  as they went along, they were cleansed.

[17:9]  ¹ tn Grk “did what was commanded.”

[17:9]  ² tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “will he?” Thanks are not required.

[17:10]  ³ tn Some translations describe the slaves as “worthless” (NRSV) or “unworthy” (NASB, NIV) but that is not Jesus’ point. These disciples have not done anything deserving special commendation or praise (L&N 33.361), but only what would normally be expected of a slave in such a situation (thus the translation “we have only done what was our duty”).

[17:10]  ⁴ tn Or “we have only done what we were supposed to do.”

[17:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “Now it happened that on.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[17:11]  ⁶ sn This is another travel note about Jesus going to Jerusalem in Luke 9:51-19:48, the so-called “Jerusalem journey” section of Luke’s Gospel. It is not a straight line journey, because to travel along the Galilean and Samaritan border is to go east or west, not south to Jerusalem.

[17:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ⁸ tn Or “was traveling about.”

[17:12]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn The participle εἰσερχομένου (eisercomenou) is taken temporally.

[17:12]  ¹¹ sn The ten men with leprosy would have been unable to approach Jesus (Lev 13:45-46; Num 5:2-3). The ancient term for leprosy covered a wider array of conditions than what is called leprosy today. A leper was totally ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46).

[17:12]  ¹² tn Grk “leprosy, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun was replaced with a personal pronoun and a new sentence started at this point in the translation.

[17:13]  ¹³ sn “Have mercy on us” is a request to heal them (Luke 18:38-39; 16:24; Matt 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:31-32; Mark 10:47-49).

[17:14]  ¹⁴ tn Καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:14]  ¹⁵ tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") is a good example of an adverbial participle of attendant circumstance. As such, it picks up the force of an imperative from the verb to which it is related (ExSyn 640-45).

[17:14]  ¹⁶ sn These are the instructions of what to do with a healing (Lev 13:19; 14:1-11; Luke 5:14).

[17:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And it happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.