Luke 7:24-28

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Luke 7:24 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2. Luke 7:24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3. Luke 7:24 tn Or “desert.”
4. Luke 7:24 tn It is debated whether this expression should be read figuratively (“to see someone who is easily blown over?”) or literally (“to see the wilderness vegetation blowing in the wind?…No, to see a prophet”). Either view is possible, but the following examples suggest the question should be read literally, meaning that an extraordinary event like the arrival of a prophet (rather than the common occurrence of plants blowing in the wind) drew them to the desert.
5. Luke 7:25 tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 26.
6. Luke 7:25 sn The reference to soft clothing suggests that John was not rich or powerful, nor did he come from the wealthy or ruling classes. The crowds came out into the wilderness not to see the rich and famous, but to see a prophet.
7. Luke 7:25 tn See L&N 88.253, “to revel, to carouse, to live a life of luxury.”
8. Luke 7:25 tn This is a different Greek term than in the parallel in Matt 11:8. Cf. BDAG 169 s.v. βασίλειος, “the (royal) palace.”
9. Luke 7:26 tn John the Baptist is “more” because he introduces the one (Jesus) who brings the new era. The term is neuter, but may be understood as masculine in this context (BDAG 806 s.v. περισσότερος b.).
10. Luke 7:27 tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).
11. Luke 7:27 sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20, and provides a more precise description of John the Baptist’s role. He is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people (just as the cloud did for Israel in the wilderness at the time of the Exodus).
12. Luke 7:28 sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.
13. Luke 7:28 tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iōannou, “John”) here (P⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ ƒ¹ 579). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ ƒ¹³ M lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241]). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).
14. Luke 7:28 sn After John comes a shift of eras. John stands at the end of the old era (those born of women), and is to some extent a pivotal or transitional figure. The new era which John heralds is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era. (The parallel passage Matt 11:11 reads kingdom of heaven.)
15. Luke 7:28 sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ teaching. The nature of the kingdom of God in the NT and in Jesus’ teaching has long been debated by interpreters and scholars, with discussion primarily centering around the nature of the kingdom (earthly, heavenly, or both) and the kingdom’s arrival (present, future, or both). An additional major issue concerns the relationship between the kingdom of God and the person and work of Jesus himself. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. Here the kingdom of God is not viewed as strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.