Lukas 12:24

12:24 Consider the ravens: ¹  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ²  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

Lukas 12:28

12:28 And if ³  this is how God clothes the wild grass, ⁴  which is here ⁵  today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ⁶  how much more ⁷  will he clothe you, you people of little faith!

[12:24]  ¹ tn Or “crows.” Crows and ravens belong to the same family of birds. English uses “crow” as a general word for the family. Palestine has several indigenous members of the crow family.

[12:24]  ² tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

[12:28]  ³ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[12:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “grass in the field.”

[12:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “which is in the field today.”

[12:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “into the oven.” The expanded translation “into the fire to heat the oven” has been used to avoid misunderstanding; most items put into modern ovens are put there to be baked, not burned.

[12:28]  sn The oven was most likely a rounded clay oven used for baking bread, which was heated by burning wood and dried grass.

[12:28]  ⁷ sn The phrase how much more is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for the little things, surely he will care for the more important things.