Luke 12:35-40
English Standard Version
You Must Be Ready
35 (A)“Stay dressed for action[a] and (B)keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are (C)waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and (D)knocks. 37 (E)Blessed are those servants[b] whom the master finds (F)awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, (G)he will dress himself for service and (H)have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 (I)But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour (J)the thief was coming, he[c] would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be (K)ready, for (L)the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
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- Luke 12:35 Greek Let your loins stay girded; compare Exodus 12:11
- Luke 12:37 Or bondservants
- Luke 12:39 Some manuscripts add would have stayed awake and
Luke 12:35-40
Lexham English Bible
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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- Luke 12:35 Literally “your loins must be girded”
- Luke 12:35 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
- Luke 12:36 Or perhaps simply “feast”
- Luke 12:36 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“comes back”)
- Luke 12:36 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Luke 12:37 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“will come by”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Luke 12:38 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Luke 12:40 *The words “he will come” are not in the Greek text but are implied
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