Luke 18:38
Context18:38 So 1 he called out, 2 “Jesus, Son of David, 3 have mercy 4 on me!”
Luke 9:38
Context9:38 Then 5 a man from the crowd cried out, 6 “Teacher, I beg you to look at 7 my son – he is my only child!
Luke 18:7
Context18:7 Won’t 8 God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out 9 to him day and night? 10 Will he delay 11 long to help them?
Luke 3:4
Context3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice 12 of one shouting in the wilderness: 13
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make 14 his paths straight.


[18:38] 1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the blind man learning that Jesus was nearby.
[18:38] 2 tn Grk “called out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
[18:38] 3 sn Jesus was more than a Nazarene to this blind person, who saw quite well that Jesus was Son of David. He understood what Luke 7:22-23 affirms. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).
[18:38] 4 sn Have mercy on me is a request for healing (cf. 17:13). It is not owed the man. He simply asks for God’s kind grace.
[9:38] 5 tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the somewhat unexpected appearance of the man. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
[9:38] 6 tn Grk “cried out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
[9:38] 7 tn This verb means “to have regard for”; see Luke 1:48.
[18:7] 9 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[18:7] 10 sn The prayers have to do with the righteous who cry out to him to receive justice. The context assumes the righteous are persecuted.
[18:7] 11 tn The emphatic particles in this sentence indicate that God will indeed give justice to the righteous.
[18:7] 12 sn The issue of delay has produced a whole host of views for this verse. (1) Does this assume provision to endure in the meantime? Or (2) does it mean God restricts the level of persecution until he comes? Either view is possible.
[3:4] 14 tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).
[3:4] 15 tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.