Luke 9:14

9:14 (Now about five thousand men ¹  were there.) ²  Then ³  he said to his disciples, “Have ⁴  them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

Luke 10:1

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

10:1 After this ⁵  the Lord appointed seventy-two ⁶  others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town ⁷  and place where he himself was about to go.

[9:14]  ¹ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνδρες (andres) – that is, adult males. The actual count would be larger, since the use of this Greek term suggests that women and children were not included in this number (see the parallel in Matt 14:21).

[9:14]  ² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[9:14]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:14]  ⁴ tn Or “Make” (depending on how the force of the imperative verb is understood). Grk “cause them to recline” (the verb has causative force here).

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “And after these things.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:1]  ⁶ tc There is a difficult textual problem here and in v. 17, where the number is either “seventy” (א A C L W Θ Ξ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï and several church fathers and early versions) or “seventy-two” (Ì⁷⁵ B D 0181 pc lat as well as other versions and fathers). The more difficult reading is “seventy-two,” since scribes would be prone to assimilate this passage to several OT passages that refer to groups of seventy people (Num 11:13-17; Deut 10:22; Judg 8:30; 2 Kgs 10:1 et al.); this reading also has slightly better ms support. “Seventy” could be the preferred reading if scribes drew from the tradition of the number of translators of the LXX, which the Letter of Aristeas puts at seventy-two (TCGNT 127), although this is far less likely. All things considered, “seventy-two” is a much more difficult reading and accounts for the rise of the other. Only Luke notes a second larger mission like the one in 9:1-6.

[10:1]  ⁷ tn Or “city.”