Luke 18:1-6

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ¹  Jesus ²  told them a parable to show them they should always ³  pray and not lose heart. ⁴  18:2 He said, ⁵  “In a certain city ⁶  there was a judge ⁷  who neither feared God nor respected people. ⁸  18:3 There was also a widow ⁹  in that city ¹⁰  who kept coming ¹¹  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ¹²  a while he refused, but later on ¹³  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ¹⁴  18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ¹⁵  by her unending pleas.’” ¹⁶  18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! ¹⁷ 

[18:1]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ³ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ⁴ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

[18:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

[18:2]  ⁶ tn Or “town.”

[18:2]  ⁷ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

[18:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:3]  ⁹ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ¹¹ tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ¹² tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:5]  ¹⁵ tn The term ὑπωπιάζω (Jupwpiazw) in this context means “to wear someone out by continual annoying” (L&N 25.245).

[18:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).

[18:6]  ¹⁷ sn Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! The point of the parable is that the judge’s lack of compassion was overcome by the widow’s persistence.