5:1 Now 1 Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and the crowd was pressing around him 3 to hear the word of God.
1 tn Grk “Now it happened that.” 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.
2 sn The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Cf. the parallel in Matt 4:18.
3 sn The image of the crowd pressing around him suggests the people leaning forward to catch Jesus’ every word.
4 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the clause that follows is a logical conclusion based on the preceding examples.
5 tn This first class condition, the first of three “if” clauses in the following verses, presents the example vividly as if it were so. In fact, all three conditions in these verses are first class. The examples are made totally parallel. The expected answer is that Satan’s kingdom will not stand, so the suggestion makes no sense. Satan would not seek to heal.
6 tn Grk “because.” “I ask you this” is supplied for the sake of English.