Luke 12:49-56
New English Translation
Not Peace, but Division
49 “I have come[a] to bring[b] fire on the earth—and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism[c] to undergo,[d] and how distressed I am until it is finished! 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division![e] 52 For from now on[f] there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided,[g] father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Reading the Signs
54 Jesus[h] also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west,[i] you say at once, ‘A rainstorm[j] is coming,’ and it does. 55 And when you see the south wind[k] blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. 56 You hypocrites![l] You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how[m] to interpret the present time?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Luke 12:49 sn This mission statement, “I have come to bring fire on the earth,” looks to the purging and division Jesus causes: See Luke 3:9, 17; 9:54; 17:29 for fire, 5:32; 7:34; 9:58; 12:51 for the topic of mission.
- Luke 12:49 tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballō) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.
- Luke 12:50 sn The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as some see a reference (1) to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God’s judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense: Jesus is about to be uniquely inundated with God’s judgment as he is rejected, persecuted, and killed (Pss 18:4, 16; 42:7; 69:1-2; Isa 8:7-8; 30:27-28; Jonah 2:3-6).
- Luke 12:50 tn Grk “to be baptized with.”
- Luke 12:51 tn Or “hostility.” This term pictures dissension and hostility (BDAG 234 s.v. διαμερισμός).sn For rhetorical reasons, Jesus’ statement is deliberately paradoxical (seeming to state the opposite of Matt 10:13, for example, where the messengers are to bring peace). The conflict implied by the division (the parallel in Matt 10:34 has “sword”) is not primarily eschatological in this context, however, but immediate, and concerns the hostility and discord even among family members that a person’s allegiance to Jesus would bring (vv. 52-53).
- Luke 12:52 sn From now on is a popular phrase in Luke: 1:48; 5:10; 22:18, 69; see Mic 7:6.
- Luke 12:53 tn There is dispute whether this phrase belongs to the end of v. 52 or begins v. 53. Given the shift of object, a connection to v. 53 is slightly preferred.
- Luke 12:54 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “also” and δέ (de) has not been translated.
- Luke 12:54 sn A cloud rising in the west refers to moisture coming from the Mediterranean Sea.
- Luke 12:54 tn The term ὄμβρος (ombros) refers to heavy rain, such as in a thunderstorm (L&N 14.12).
- Luke 12:55 sn The south wind comes from the desert, and thus brings scorching heat.
- Luke 12:56 sn In Luke, the term hypocrites occurs here, in 6:42, and in 13:15.
- Luke 12:56 tc Most mss (P45 A W Ψ ƒ1,13 M lat) have a syntax here that reflects a slightly different rhetorical question: “but how do you not interpret the present time?” The reading behind the translation, however, has overall superior support: P75 א B L Θ 33 892 1241.
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