Ready for the Master’s Return

35 “Be ready for service[a] and have your lamps lit.(A) 36 You are to be like people waiting for their master(B) to return from the wedding banquet(C) so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.(D) 37 Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert(E) when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready,[b] have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.(F) 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn,[c] and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming,(G) he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also be ready,(H) because the Son of Man(I) is coming at an hour you do not expect.”(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 12:35 Lit “Let your loins be girded; an idiom for tying up loose outer clothing in preparation for action; Ex 12:11
  2. 12:37 Lit will gird himself
  3. 12:38 Lit even in the second or third watch

On the Alert for the Master’s Return

35 You must be prepared for action[a] and your[b] lamps burning. 36 And you, be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast,[c] so that when he[d] comes back and knocks, they can open the door[e] for him immediately. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he returns! Truly I say to you that he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table and will come by and[f] serve them. 38 Even if he should come back in the second or in the third watch of the night and find them[g] like this, blessed are they! 39 But understand this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think he will come.”[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 12:35 Literally “your loins must be girded”
  2. Luke 12:35 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  3. Luke 12:36 Or perhaps simply “feast”
  4. Luke 12:36 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“comes back”)
  5. Luke 12:36 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  6. Luke 12:37 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“will come by”) has been translated as a finite verb
  7. Luke 12:38 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  8. Luke 12:40 *The words “he will come” are not in the Greek text but are implied