Luke 10:40

10:40 But Martha was distracted ¹  with all the preparations she had to make, ²  so ³  she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care ⁴  that my sister has left me to do all the work ⁵  alone? Tell ⁶  her to help me.”

Luke 11:31

11:31 The queen of the South ⁷  will rise up at the judgment ⁸  with the people ⁹  of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ¹⁰  something greater ¹¹  than Solomon is here!

Luke 13:25

13:25 Once ¹²  the head of the house ¹³  gets up ¹⁴  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ¹⁵  let us in!’ ¹⁶  But he will answer you, ¹⁷  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ¹⁸ 

Luke 14:10

14:10 But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host ¹⁹  approaches he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up here to a better place.’ ²⁰  Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you.

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¹ sn The term distracted means “to be pulled away” by something (L&N 25.238). It is a narrative comment that makes clear who is right in the account.

² tn Grk “with much serving.”

³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the following was a result of Martha’s distraction.

⁴ tn The negative οὐ (ou) used with the verb expects a positive reply. Martha expected Jesus to respond and rebuke Mary.

⁵ tn Grk “has left me to serve alone.”

⁶ tn The conjunction οὖν (oun, “then, therefore”) has not been translated here.

⁷ sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.

⁸ sn For the imagery of judgment, see Luke 10:13-15 and 11:19. The warnings are coming consistently now.

⁹ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as is the case here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1, 2). The same term, translated the same way, occurs in v. 32.

¹⁰ tn Grk “behold.”

¹¹ sn The message of Jesus was something greater than what Solomon offered. On Jesus and wisdom, see Luke 7:35; 10:21-22; 1 Cor 1:24, 30.

¹² tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

¹³ tn Or “the master of the household.”

¹⁴ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

¹⁵ tn Or “Sir.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “Open to us.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

¹⁸ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

¹⁹ tn Grk “the one who invited you.”

²⁰ tn Grk “Go up higher.” This means to move to a more important place.