Luke 3:7

3:7 So John ¹  said to the crowds ²  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ³  Who warned you to flee ⁴  from the coming wrath?

Luke 4:22

4:22 All ⁵  were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They ⁶  said, “Isn’t this ⁷  Joseph’s son?”

Luke 8:4

The Parable of the Sower

8:4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus ⁸  from one town after another, ⁹  he spoke to them ¹⁰  in a parable:

Luke 12:39

12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief ¹¹  was coming, he would not have let ¹²  his house be broken into.

Luke 12:54

Reading the Signs

12:54 Jesus ¹³  also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, ¹⁴  you say at once, ‘A rainstorm ¹⁵  is coming,’ and it does.

Luke 18:3

18:3 There was also a widow ¹⁶  in that city ¹⁷  who kept coming ¹⁸  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

Luke 21:26

21:26 People will be fainting from fear ¹⁹  and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁰ 

Luke 23:29

23:29 For this is certain: ²¹  The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ ²² 

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¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.

³ tn Or “snakes.”

⁴ sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.

⁵ tn Grk “And all.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁶ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ sn The form of the question assumes a positive reply. It really amounts to an objection, as Jesus’ response in the next verses shows. Jesus spoke smoothly and impressively. He made a wonderful declaration, but could a local carpenter’s son make such an offer? That was their real question.

⁸ tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn This phrase renders a distributive use of κατά (kata) with πόλις (polis), literally “according to [each] town.”

¹⁰ tn The words “to them” do not appear in the Greek text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn On Jesus pictured as a returning thief, see 1 Thess 5:2, 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.

¹² tc Most mss (א¹ A B L Q W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy^p,h sa^ms bo) read “he would have watched and not let” here, but this looks like an assimilation to Matt 24:43. The alliance of two important and early mss along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ א* [D] e i sy^s,c sa^mss), coupled with much stronger internal evidence, suggests that the shorter reading is authentic.

¹³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “also” and δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁴ sn A cloud rising in the west refers to moisture coming from the Mediterranean Sea.

¹⁵ tn The term ὄμβρος (ombro") refers to heavy rain, such as in a thunderstorm (L&N 14.12).

¹⁶ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

¹⁷ tn Or “town.”

¹⁸ tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

¹⁹ tn According to L&N 23.184 this could be mainly a psychological experience rather than actual loss of consciousness. It could also refer to complete discouragement because of fear, leading people to give up hope (L&N 25.293).

²⁰ sn An allusion to Isa 34:4. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

²¹ tn Grk “For behold.”

²² tn Grk “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed!”

sn Normally barrenness is a sign of judgment, because birth would be seen as a sign of blessing. The reversal of imagery indicates that something was badly wrong.