Lukas 8:7

8:7 Other seed fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up with it and choked ²  it.

Lukas 17:16

17:16 He ³  fell with his face to the ground ⁴  at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. ⁵  (Now ⁶  he was a Samaritan.) ⁷ 

Lukas 8:5

8:5 “A sower went out to sow ⁸  his seed. ⁹  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ¹⁰  devoured it.

Lukas 8:8

8:8 But ¹¹  other seed fell on good soil and grew, ¹²  and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” ¹³  As he said this, ¹⁴  he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” ¹⁵ 

Lukas 13:4

13:4 Or those eighteen who were killed ¹⁶  when the tower in Siloam fell on them, ¹⁷  do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? ¹⁸ 

[8:7]  ¹ sn Palestinian weeds like these thorns could grow up to six feet in height and have a major root system.

[8:7]  ² sn That is, crowded out the good plants.

[17:16]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “he fell on his face” (an idiom for complete prostration).

[17:16]  ⁵ sn And thanked him. This action recognized God’s healing work through Jesus.

[17:16]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a parenthetical comment.

[17:16]  ⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The comment that the man was a Samaritan means that to most Jews of Jesus’ day he would have been despised as a half-breed and a heretic. The note adds a touch of irony to the account (v. 18).

[8:5]  ⁸ sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable is a field through which a well-worn path runs in the Palestinian countryside. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots: Isa 55:10-11.

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Luke’s version of the parable, like Mark’s (cf. Mark 4:1-9) uses the collective singular to refer to the seed throughout, so singular pronouns have been used consistently throughout this parable in the English translation. However, the parallel account in Matt 13:1-9 begins with plural pronouns in v. 4 but then switches to the collective singular in v. 5 ff.

[8:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the final stage of the parable.

[8:8]  ¹² tn Grk “when it grew, after it grew.”

[8:8]  ¹³ sn Unlike the parallel accounts in Matt 13:8 and Mark 4:8, there is no distinction in yield in this version of the parable.

[8:8]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “said these things.”

[8:8]  ¹⁵ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 14:35).

[13:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them.” This relative clause embedded in a prepositional phrase is complex in English and has been simplified to an adjectival and a temporal clause in the translation.

[13:4]  ¹⁷ sn Unlike the previous event, when the tower in Siloam fell on them, it was an accident of fate. It raised the question, however, “Was this a judgment?”

[13:4]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.