Luke 12:15

12:15 Then ¹  he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from ²  all types of greed, ³  because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Luke 12:33

12:33 Sell your possessions ⁴  and give to the poor. ⁵  Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out – a treasure in heaven ⁶  that never decreases, ⁷  where no thief approaches and no moth ⁸  destroys.

Luke 19:8

19:8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give ⁹  to the poor, and if ¹⁰  I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!”

---

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn See L&N 13.154 for this use of the middle voice of φυλάσσω (fulassw) in this verse.

³ tn Or “avarice,” “covetousness.” Note the warning covers more than money and gets at the root attitude – the strong desire to acquire more and more possessions and experiences.

⁴ sn The call to sell your possessions is a call to a lack of attachment to the earth and a generosity as a result.

⁵ tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today.

⁶ tn Grk “in the heavens.”

⁷ tn Or “an unfailing treasure in heaven,” or “an inexhaustible treasure in heaven.”

⁸ tn The term σής (shs) refers to moths in general. It is specifically the larvae of moths that destroy clothing by eating holes in it (L&N 4.49; BDAG 922 s.v.). See Jas 5:2, which mentions “moth-eaten” clothing.

⁹ sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).

¹⁰ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.