Psalms 38:4

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ¹ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Isaiah 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ² 

Luke 18:13-14

18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ³  far off and would not even look up ⁴  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ⁵  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁶  18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ⁷  rather than the Pharisee. ⁸  For everyone who exalts ⁹  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ¹⁰  Jesus ¹¹  told them a parable to show them they should always ¹²  pray and not lose heart. ¹³ 

Luke 3:18

3:18 And in this way, ¹⁴  with many other exhortations, John ¹⁵  proclaimed good news to the people.

[38:4]  ¹ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[53:6]  ² tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[18:13]  ³ tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

[18:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

[18:13]  ⁵ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

[18:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.

[18:14]  ⁷ sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.

[18:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ⁹ sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹² tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ¹³ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

[3:18]  ¹⁴ tn On construction μὲν οὖν καί (men oun kai), see BDF §451.1.

[3:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.