Luke 18:2-5

18:2 He said, ¹  “In a certain city ²  there was a judge ³  who neither feared God nor respected people. ⁴  18:3 There was also a widow ⁵  in that city ⁶  who kept coming ⁷  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ⁸  a while he refused, but later on ⁹  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ¹⁰  18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ¹¹  by her unending pleas.’” ¹² 

[18:2]  ¹ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

[18:2]  ² tn Or “town.”

[18:2]  ³ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

[18:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:3]  ⁵ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ⁶ tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ⁷ tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:5]  ¹¹ tn The term ὑπωπιάζω (Jupwpiazw) in this context means “to wear someone out by continual annoying” (L&N 25.245).

[18:5]  ¹² tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).