Luke 12:35-40
Expanded Bible
Always Be Ready(A)
35 “·Be dressed, ready for service [T Let your loins be girded; C tucking garments into the waist belt to allow swift movement; a metaphor for preparedness], and have your lamps ·shining [burning; lit]. 36 Be like ·servants [L people] who are waiting for their ·master [lord] to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. 37 ·They [L Those servants/slaves] will be ·blessed [happy; or rewarded] when their ·master [lord] comes home, because he sees that they were ·watching [alert; awake] for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to ·sit at the table [recline; C the posture for a banquet or dinner party; see 7:36], and he will ·serve [wait on] them [C a radical reversal in a culture where a master would never wait on a slave]. 38 Those servants will be ·blessed [happy; or rewarded] when he comes in and finds them ·still waiting [L thus; C alert and ready], even ·if it is midnight or later [L even in the second or third watches; C between 9 PM and 3 AM (by Roman reckoning)].
39 “·Remember [Know] this: If the owner of the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to ·enter [break into] his house. 40 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man [C a title for the Messiah; Dan. 7:13–14] will come at a time when you don’t expect him!”
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Luke 12:35-40
Amplified Bible
Be in Readiness
35 “Be dressed and ready for active service, and keep your lamps continuously burning. 36 Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they may immediately open the door for him. 37 Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) are those servants whom the master finds awake and watching when he arrives. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he will prepare himself to serve, and will have them recline at the table, and will come and wait on them. 38 Whether he comes in the second watch (before midnight), or even in the third (after midnight), and finds them so [prepared and ready], blessed are those servants.
39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he [would have been awake and alert, and] would not have allowed his house to be broken into.(A) 40 You too, be continually ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
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