11:5 Then 4 he said to them, “Suppose one of you 5 has a friend, and you go to him 6 at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 7
1 sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.
2 tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.
3 tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).
4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
5 tn Grk “Who among you will have a friend and go to him.”
6 tn Grk “he will go to him.”
7 tn The words “of bread” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by ἄρτους (artou", “loaves”).
8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
9 tn “The word of the Lord” is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; here and in Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said. Because of its technical nature the expression has been retained in the translation in preference to a smoother rendering like “remembered what the Lord had said” (cf. TEV, NLT).