Luke 8:8-10

8:8 But ¹  other seed fell on good soil and grew, ²  and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” ³  As he said this, ⁴  he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” ⁵ 

8:9 Then ⁶  his disciples asked him what this parable meant. ⁷  8:10 He ⁸  said, “You have been given ⁹  the opportunity to know ¹⁰  the secrets ¹¹  of the kingdom of God, ¹²  but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand. ¹³ 

[8:8]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the final stage of the parable.

[8:8]  ² tn Grk “when it grew, after it grew.”

[8:8]  ³ sn Unlike the parallel accounts in Matt 13:8 and Mark 4:8, there is no distinction in yield in this version of the parable.

[8:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “said these things.”

[8:8]  ⁵ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 14:35).

[8:9]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “what this parable might be” (an optative after a secondary tense, in keeping with good Koine style).

[8:10]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:10]  ⁹ tn This is an example of a so-called “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[8:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “it has been given to you to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[8:10]  ¹² sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[8:10]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.