Luke 19:12

19:12 Therefore he said, “A nobleman ¹  went to a distant country to receive ²  for himself a kingdom and then return. ³ 

Luke 19:15

19:15 When ⁴  he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned ⁵  these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted ⁶  to know how much they had earned ⁷  by trading.

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¹ tn Grk “a man of noble birth” or “a man of noble status” (L&N 87.27).

² sn Note that the receiving of the kingdom takes place in the far country. This suggests that those in the far country recognize and acknowledge the king when his own citizens did not want him as king (v. 14; cf. John 1:11-12).

³ sn The background to this story about the nobleman who went…to receive for himself a kingdom had some parallels in the area’s recent history: Archelaus was appointed ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea in 4 b.c., but the people did not like him. Herod the Great also made a similar journey to Rome where he was crowned King of Judea in 40 b.c., although he was not able to claim his kingdom until 37 b.c.

⁴ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “he said for these slaves to be called to him.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one and simplified to “he summoned.”

⁶ tn Grk “in order that he might know” (a continuation of the preceding sentence). Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he” as subject and the verb “wanted” to convey the idea of purpose.

⁷ sn The Greek verb earned refers to profit from engaging in commerce and trade (L&N 57.195). This is an examination of stewardship.