Proverbs 18:11

18:11 The wealth ¹  of a rich person is like ²  a strong city, ³ 

and it is like a high wall in his imagination. ⁴ 

Job 31:24-25

31:24 “If I have put my confidence in gold

or said to pure gold,

‘You are my security!’

31:25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth,

or because of the great wealth my hand had gained,

Psalms 49:6

49:6 They trust ⁵  in their wealth

and boast ⁶  in their great riches.

Psalms 52:7

52:7 “Look, here is the man who would not make ⁷  God his protector!

He trusted in his great wealth

and was confident about his plans to destroy others.” ⁸ 

Ecclesiastes 7:12

7:12 For wisdom provides ⁹  protection, ¹⁰ 

just as ¹¹  money provides protection. ¹² 

But the advantage of knowledge is this:

Wisdom preserves the life ¹³  of its owner.

Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ¹⁴ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹⁵ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹⁶ 

Mark 10:24

10:24 The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, ¹⁷  “Children, how hard it is ¹⁸  to enter the kingdom of God!

Luke 12:19

12:19 And I will say to myself, ¹⁹  “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ²⁰  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²¹  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ²²  the yeast of the Pharisees, ²³  which is hypocrisy. ²⁴ 

Luke 6:17

The Sermon on the Plain

6:17 Then ²⁵  he came down with them and stood on a level place. ²⁶  And a large number ²⁷  of his disciples had gathered ²⁸  along with ²⁹  a vast multitude from all over Judea, from ³⁰  Jerusalem, ³¹  and from the seacoast of Tyre ³²  and Sidon. ³³  They came to hear him and to be healed ³⁴  of their diseases,

[18:11]  ¹ sn This proverb forms a contrast with the previous one. The rich, unlike the righteous, trust in wealth and not in God.

[18:11]  ² tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[18:11]  ³ tn Heb “city of his strength”; NIV “fortified city.” This term refers to their place of refuge, what they look to for security and protection in time of trouble.

[18:11]  ⁴ tc The MT reads בְּמַשְׂכִּיתוֹ (bÿmaskito, “in his imaginations”). The LXX, Tg. Prov 18:11, and the Latin reflect בִּמְשֻׂכָּתוֹ (bimsukato, “like a fence [or, high wall]”) that is, wealth provides protection. The MT reading, on the other hand, suggests that this security is only in the mind.

[49:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the ones who trust.” The substantival participle stands in apposition to “those who deceive me” (v. 5).

[49:6]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form emphasizes their characteristic behavior.

[52:7]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action. The evildoer customarily rejected God and trusted in his own abilities. Another option is to take the imperfect as generalizing, “[here is the man who] does not make.”

[52:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “he was strong in his destruction.” “Destruction” must refer back to the destructive plans mentioned in v. 2. The verb (derived from the root עָזַז, ’azaz, “be strong”) as it stands is either an imperfect (if so, probably used in a customary sense) or a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive). However the form should probably be emended to וַיָּעָז (vayya’az), a Qal preterite (with vav [ו] consecutive) from עָזַז. Note the preterite form without vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line (וַיִּבְטַח, vayyivtakh, “and he trusted”). The prefixed vav (ו) was likely omitted by haplography (note the suffixed vav [ו] on the preceding עָשְׁרוֹ, ’oshro, “his wealth”).

[7:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “wisdom is a shade.” When used with a predicate nominative in a verbless clause, the preposition בְּ (bet) which appears twice in the line בְּצֵל הַחָכְמָה בְּצֵל הַכָּסֶף (bÿtsel hakhokhmah bÿtsel hakkasef) denotes identity, the so-called bet of essence (HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ 3; BDB 88 s.v. בְּ 1.7; see also R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 45, §249).

[7:12]  ¹⁰ tn The term צֵל (tsel, “shade, shadow”) refers to that which provides protection or a shelter from the sun (Gen 19:8; Judg 9:36; Isa 25:5; 32:2; Jer 48:45; Jonah 4:5). It is used often in a figurative sense (hypocatastasis) to connote “protection” from calamity (Num 14:9; Isa 49:2; Hos 14:8; Pss 17:8; 36:8; 57:2; 63:8; 91:1; 121:5; Lam 4:20).

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “just as” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[7:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Wisdom is a shade, money is a shade.” The repetition of בְּצֵל (bÿtsel, “shade; protection”) suggests that the A-line and B-line function as comparisons. Thus the Hebrew phrases “Wisdom is a shade, money is a shade” may be nuanced, “Wisdom [provides] protection [just as] money [provides] protection.” This approach is adopted by several translations: “wisdom is a defense, as money is a defense” (ASV), “wisdom is protection just as money is protection” (NASB), “wisdom like wealth is a defense” (Moffatt), “the protection of wisdom is as the protection of money” (NAB), “the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money” (RSV, NRSV), “wisdom protects as wealth protects” (MLB), and “wisdom is a shelter, as money is a shelter” (NIV). The comparison is missed by KJV: “wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense.” Less likely is taking בְּ (bet) in a locative sense: “to be in the shelter of wisdom is to be in the shelter of money” (NJPS).

[7:12]  ¹³ tn The verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) in the Piel denotes (1) “to let live; to keep alive; to preserve alive; to allow to live happily” (Gen 12:12; Exod 1:17; Num 31:15; Deut 6:24; Josh 9:15; Isa 7:21; Jer 49:11) and (2) “to bring back to life” persons who are ill (Ps 30:4) or deceased (Hos 6:2); HALOT 309 s.v. חָיָה. Its parallelism with צֵל (tsel, “protection”) indicates that it means “to preserve someone’s life” from premature death or calamity. Therefore, “preserves the life” (RSV, NAB, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS) is preferable to “gives life to” (KJV, Douay, NRSV, YLT).

[9:23]  ¹⁴ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[10:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “But answering, Jesus again said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[10:24]  ¹⁸ tc Most mss (A C D Θ Ë^1,13 28 565 2427 Ï lat sy) have here “for those who trust in riches” (τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐπὶ [τοῖς] χρήμασιν, tou" pepoiqota" epi [toi"] crhmasin); W has πλούσιον (plousion) later in the verse, producing the same general modification on the dominical saying (“how hard it is for the rich to enter…”). But such qualifications on the Lord’s otherwise harsh and absolute statements are natural scribal expansions, intended to soften the dictum. Further, the earliest and best witnesses, along with a few others (א B Δ Ψ sa), lack any such qualifications. That W lacks the longer expansion and only has πλούσιον suggests that its archetype agreed with א B here; its voice should be heard with theirs. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is preferred.

[12:19]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.

[12:1]  ²⁰ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ²⁴ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[6:17]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “on a plateau.” This could refer to a message given in a flat locale or in a flat locale in the midst of a more mountainous region (Jer 21:13; Isa 13:2). It is quite possible that this sermon is a summary version of the better known Sermon on the Mount from Matt 5-7.

[6:17]  ²⁷ tn Grk “large crowd.”

[6:17]  ²⁸ tn There is no verb in Greek at this point, but since “a large crowd” (see preceding tn) is in the nominative case, one needs to be supplied.

[6:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and.”

[6:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and from,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:17]  ³¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:17]  ³² map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[6:17]  ³³ sn These last two locations, Tyre and Sidon, represented an expansion outside of traditional Jewish territory. Jesus’ reputation continued to expand into new regions.

[6:17]  ³⁴ sn To hear him and to be healed. Jesus had a two-level ministry: The word and then wondrous acts of service that showed his message of God’s care were real.