Luke 22:63-71

Context

22:63 Now¹ the men who were holding Jesus² under guard began to mock him and beat him. 22:64 They³ blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly,⁴ “Prophesy! Who hit you?”⁵ 22:65 They also said many other things against him, reviling⁶ him.

22:66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law.⁷ Then⁸ they led Jesus⁹ away to their council¹⁰ 22:67 and said, “If¹¹ you are the Christ,¹² tell us.” But he said to them, “If¹³ I tell you, you will not¹⁴ believe, 22:68 and if¹⁵ I ask you, you will not¹⁶ answer. 22:69 But from now on¹⁷ the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand¹⁸ of the power¹⁹ of God.” 22:70 So²⁰ they all said, “Are you the Son of God,²¹ then?” He answered²² them, “You say²³ that I am.” 22:71 Then²⁴ they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves²⁵ from his own lips!”²⁶

[22:63] ¹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[22:63] ²tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:64] ³tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:64] ⁴tn The verb ἐπηρώτων (ephrwtwn) has been translated as an iterative imperfect. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[22:64] ⁵tn Grk “Who is the one who hit you?”

[22:65] ⁶tn Or “insulting.” Luke uses a strong word here; it means “to revile, to defame, to blaspheme” (L&N 33.400).

[22:66] ⁷tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[22:66] ⁸tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:66] ⁹tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:66] ¹⁰sn Their council is probably a reference to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the council of seventy leaders.

[22:67] ¹¹tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[22:67] ¹²tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[22:67] ¹³tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. Jesus had this experience already in 20:1-8.

[22:67] ¹⁴tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:68] ¹⁵tn This is also a third class condition in the Greek text.

[22:68] ¹⁶tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:69] ¹⁷sn From now on. Jesus’ authority was taken up from this moment on. Ironically he is now the ultimate judge, who is himself being judged.

[22:69] ¹⁸sn Seated at the right hand is an allusion to Ps 110:1 (“Sit at my right hand…”) and is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.

[22:69] ¹⁹sn The expression the right hand of the power of God is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

[22:70] ²⁰tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.

[22:70] ²¹sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.

[22:70] ²²tn Grk “He said to them.”

[22:70] ²³sn Jesus’ reply, “You say that I am,” was not a denial, but a way of giving a qualified positive response: “You have said it, but I do not quite mean what you think.”

[22:71] ²⁴tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:71] ²⁵sn We have heard it ourselves. The Sanhedrin regarded the answer as convicting Jesus. They saw it as blasphemous to claim such intimacy and shared authority with God, a claim so serious and convicting that no further testimony was needed.

[22:71] ²⁶tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).