Luke 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

Luke 4:18

4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed ⁶  me to proclaim good news ⁷  to the poor. ⁸ 

He has sent me ⁹  to proclaim release ¹⁰  to the captives

and the regaining of sight ¹¹  to the blind,

to set free ¹²  those who are oppressed, ¹³ 

Luke 6:17

The Sermon on the Plain

6:17 Then ¹⁴  he came down with them and stood on a level place. ¹⁵  And a large number ¹⁶  of his disciples had gathered ¹⁷  along with ¹⁸  a vast multitude from all over Judea, from ¹⁹  Jerusalem, ²⁰  and from the seacoast of Tyre ²¹  and Sidon. ²²  They came to hear him and to be healed ²³  of their diseases,

Luke 9:33

9:33 Then ²⁴  as the men ²⁵  were starting to leave, ²⁶  Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, ²⁷  one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he was saying.

[3:8]  ¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[4:18]  ⁶ sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.

[4:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

[4:18]  ⁸ sn The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11-25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.

[4:18]  ⁹ tc The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” at this point (A Θ Ψ 0102 ˹ Ï). The phrase is lacking in several weighty mss (א B D L W Ξ Ë¹³ 33 579 700 892* pc lat sy^s co), including representatives from both the Alexandrian and Western texttypes. From the standpoint of external evidence, the omission of the phrase is more likely original. When internal evidence is considered, the shorter reading becomes almost certain. Scribes would be much more prone to add the phrase here to align the text with Isa 61:1, the source of the quotation, than to remove it from the original.

[4:18]  ¹⁰ sn The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77-79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).

[4:18]  ¹¹ sn Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[4:18]  ¹² sn The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message – he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, afesi") translated release earlier in the verse.

[4:18]  ¹³ sn Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[6:17]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:17]  ¹² tn Or “on a plateau.” This could refer to a message given in a flat locale or in a flat locale in the midst of a more mountainous region (Jer 21:13; Isa 13:2). It is quite possible that this sermon is a summary version of the better known Sermon on the Mount from Matt 5-7.

[6:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “large crowd.”

[6:17]  ¹⁴ tn There is no verb in Greek at this point, but since “a large crowd” (see preceding tn) is in the nominative case, one needs to be supplied.

[6:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and.”

[6:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and from,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:17]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:17]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[6:17]  ¹⁹ sn These last two locations, Tyre and Sidon, represented an expansion outside of traditional Jewish territory. Jesus’ reputation continued to expand into new regions.

[6:17]  ²⁰ sn To hear him and to be healed. Jesus had a two-level ministry: The word and then wondrous acts of service that showed his message of God’s care were real.

[9:33]  ¹⁶ 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. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:33]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “as they”; the referent (“the men,” referring to Moses and Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:33]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to leave from him.”

[9:33]  ¹⁹ tn Or “booths,” “dwellings” (referring to the temporary booths constructed in the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles).