Lukas 6:12-19

Choosing the Twelve Apostles

6:12 Now ¹  it was during this time that Jesus ²  went out to the mountain ³  to pray, and he spent all night ⁴  in prayer to God. ⁵  6:13 When ⁶  morning came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ⁷  6:14 Simon ⁸  (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ⁹  6:15 Matthew, Thomas, ¹⁰  James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹¹  6:16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, ¹²  who became a traitor.

The Sermon on the Plain

6:17 Then ¹³  he came down with them and stood on a level place. ¹⁴  And a large number ¹⁵  of his disciples had gathered ¹⁶  along with ¹⁷  a vast multitude from all over Judea, from ¹⁸  Jerusalem, ¹⁹  and from the seacoast of Tyre ²⁰  and Sidon. ²¹  They came to hear him and to be healed ²²  of their diseases, 6:18 and those who suffered from ²³  unclean ²⁴  spirits were cured. 6:19 The ²⁵  whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power ²⁶  was coming out from him and healing them all.

[6:12]  ¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that in.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[6:12]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ³ tn Or “to a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὅρος, eis to Joro").

[6:12]  sn The expression to the mountain here may be idiomatic or generic, much like the English “he went to the hospital” (cf. 15:29), or even intentionally reminiscent of Exod 24:12 (LXX), since the genre of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be that of a new Moses giving a new law.

[6:12]  ⁴ sn This is the only time all night prayer is mentioned in the NT.

[6:12]  ⁵ tn This is an objective genitive, so prayer “to God.”

[6:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:13]  ⁷ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only in Matt 10:2, possibly in Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (here plus 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

[6:14]  ⁸ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (Matt 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[6:14]  ⁹ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[6:15]  ¹⁰ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[6:15]  ¹¹ sn The designation Zealot means that Simon was a political nationalist before coming to follow Jesus. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the descriptive term applied to Simon means something like “Simon the patriot” (see L&N 25.77 and especially 11.88).

[6:16]  ¹² sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[6:17]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:17]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “large crowd.”

[6:17]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and.”

[6:17]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:17]  ²⁰ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[6:17]  ²¹ 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]  map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[6:17]  ²² 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.

[6:18]  ²³ tn Or “were oppressed by,” “were troubled with.” See L&N 22.17.

[6:18]  ²⁴ sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits. See Luke 4:33.

[6:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:19]  ²⁶ sn There was a recognition that there was great power at work through Jesus, the subject of a great debate in 11:14-23. Luke highlights Jesus’ healing ministry (5:17; 6:18; 7:7; 8:47; 9:11, 42; 14:4; 17:15; 18:42-43; 22:51; Acts 10:38).