Luke 7:25

7:25 What ¹  did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy ²  clothes? ³  Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury ⁴  are in kings’ courts! ⁵ 

Luke 7:27

7:27 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ⁶  who will prepare your way before you.’ ⁷ 

[7:25]  ¹ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 26.

[7:25]  ² tn Or “soft”; see L&N 79.100.

[7:25]  ³ sn The reference to fancy clothes makes the point that John was not rich or powerful, in that he did not come from the wealthy classes.

[7:25]  ⁴ tn See L&N 88.253, “to revel, to carouse, to live a life of luxury.”

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Or “palaces.”

[7:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

[7:27]  ⁷ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.