Lukas 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ²  will name him John. ³ 

Lukas 1:17

1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ⁴  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ⁵  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

Lukas 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ⁶  fruit ⁷  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ⁸  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁹  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ 

Lukas 6:38

6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, ¹¹  will be poured ¹²  into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.” ¹³ 

Lukas 8:18

8:18 So listen carefully, ¹⁴  for whoever has will be given more, but ¹⁵  whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has ¹⁶  will be taken from him.”

Lukas 13:35

13:35 Look, your house is forsaken! ¹⁷  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ¹⁸ 

Lukas 16:9

16:9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, ¹⁹  so that when it runs out you will be welcomed ²⁰  into the eternal homes. ²¹ 

Lukas 18:16

18:16 But Jesus called for the children, ²²  saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God ²³  belongs to such as these. ²⁴ 

Lukas 21:34

Be Ready!

21:34 “But be on your guard ²⁵  so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day close down upon you suddenly like a trap. ²⁶ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  sn Your prayer has been heard. Zechariah’s prayer while offering the sacrifice would have been for the nation, but the answer to the prayer also gave them a long hoped-for child, a hope they had abandoned because of their old age.

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ³ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.

[1:13]  sn “Do not be afraid…you must call his name John.” This is a standard birth announcement (see Gen 16:11; Isa 7:14; Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31).

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ⁵ sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.

[3:8]  ⁶ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ⁸ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁹ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ¹⁰ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[6:38]  ¹¹ sn The background to the image pressed down, shaken together, running over is pouring out grain for measure in the marketplace. One often poured the grain into a container, shook it to level out the grain and then poured in some more. Those who are generous have generosity running over for them.

[6:38]  ¹² tn Grk “they will give”; that is, “pour.” The third person plural has been replaced by the passive in the translation.

[6:38]  ¹³ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured back to you.”

[8:18]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Therefore pay close attention”; Grk “Take heed therefore how you hear.”

[8:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:18]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase what he thinks he has is important, because it is not what a person thinks he has that is important but whether he actually has something or not. Jesus describes the person who does not heed his word as having nothing. The person who has nothing loses even that which he thought was something but was not. In other words, he has absolutely nothing at all. Jesus’ teaching must be taken seriously.

[13:35]  ¹⁷ sn Your house is forsaken. The language here is from Jer 12:7 and 22:5. It recalls exilic judgment.

[13:35]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26. The judgment to come will not be lifted until the Lord returns. See Luke 19:41-44.

[16:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “unrighteous mammon.” Mammon is the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. The call is to be generous and kind in its use. Zacchaeus becomes the example of this in Luke’s Gospel (19:1-10).

[16:9]  ²⁰ sn The passive refers to the welcome of heaven.

[16:9]  ²¹ tn Grk “eternal tents” (as dwelling places).

[18:16]  ²² tn Grk “summoned them”; the referent (the children) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:16]  ²³ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[18:16]  ²⁴ sn The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.

[21:34]  ²⁵ tn Grk “watch out for yourselves.”

[21:34]  sn Disciples are to watch out. If they are too absorbed into everyday life, they will stop watching and living faithfully.

[21:34]  ²⁶ sn Or like a thief, see Luke 12:39-40. The metaphor of a trap is a vivid one. Most modern English translations traditionally place the words “like a trap” at the end of v. 34, completing the metaphor. In the Greek text (and in the NRSV and REB) the words “like a trap” are placed at the beginning of v. 35. This does not affect the meaning.