Nehemiah 5:1-5

Nehemiah Intervenes on behalf of the Oppressed

5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. ¹  5:2 There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain ²  grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 5:3 There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” 5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ³  on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ⁴  and our children are just like their children, ⁵  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ⁶  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ⁷  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ⁸ 

Luke 12:22

Exhortation Not to Worry

12:22 Then ⁹  Jesus ¹⁰  said to his ¹¹  disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry ¹²  about your ¹³  life, what you will eat, or about your ¹⁴  body, what you will wear.

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹⁵  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ¹⁶  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ¹⁷  the yeast of the Pharisees, ¹⁸  which is hypocrisy. ¹⁹ 

Luke 4:11-12

4:11 and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” ²⁰  4:12 Jesus ²¹  answered him, ²²  “It is said, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” ²³ 

Luke 4:1

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then ²⁴  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River ²⁵  and was led by the Spirit ²⁶  in ²⁷  the wilderness, ²⁸ 

Luke 5:8

5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, ²⁹  for I am a sinful man!” ³⁰ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”

[5:2]  ² tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).

[5:4]  ³ tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ⁸ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[12:22]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Jesus’ remarks to the disciples are an application of the point made in the previous parable.

[12:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:22]  ¹¹ tc αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) is lacking in Ì^45vid,75 B 1241 c e. Although the addition of clarifying pronouns is a known scribal alteration, in this case it is probably better to view the dropping of the pronoun as the alteration in light of its minimal attestation.

[12:22]  ¹² tn Or “do not be anxious.”

[12:22]  ¹³ tc Most mss (Ì⁴⁵ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33 Ï) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although several important and early witnesses omit it (Ì⁷⁵ א A B D L Q W Θ Ë¹ 700 2542 al lat). Externally, the shorter reading is superior. Internally, the pronoun looks to be a scribal clarification. In context the article can be translated as a possessive pronoun anyway (ExSyn 215), as it has been done for this translation.

[12:22]  ¹⁴ tc Some mss (B 070 ˹³ 33 1424 al) supply the pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here, although the witnesses for the omission are early, important, and varied (Ì^45vid,75 א A D L Q W Θ Ψ Ë¹ Ï lat). See previous tc note for more discussion.

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ¹⁹ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[4:11]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 91:12.

[4:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “And Jesus.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:12]  ²² tn Grk “Jesus, answering, said to him.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified to “Jesus answered him.”

[4:12]  ²³ sn A quotation from Deut 6:16 used by Jesus in reply to the devil. The point is that God’s faithfulness should not be put to the test, but is rather a given.

[4:1]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate continuity with the previous topic.

[4:1]  ²⁵ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:1]  ²⁶ sn The double mention of the Spirit in this verse makes it clear that the temptation was neither the fault of Jesus nor an accident.

[4:1]  ²⁷ tc Most mss (A Θ Ξ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) read εἰς τὴν ἔρημον (ei" thn erhmon, “into the wilderness”), apparently motivated by the parallel in Matt 4:1. However, the reading behind the translation (ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, en th ejrhmw) is found in overall better witnesses (Ì^4vid,7,75vid א B D L W 579 892 1241 pc it).

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “desert.”

[5:8]  ²⁹ sn Lord is a term of high respect in this context. God’s presence in the work of Jesus makes Peter recognize his authority. This vocative is common in Luke (20 times), but does not yet have its full confessional force.

[5:8]  ³⁰ sn Peter was intimidated that someone who was obviously working with divine backing was in his presence (“Go away from me”). He feared his sinfulness might lead to judgment, but Jesus would show him otherwise.