Luke 6:48-49

6:48 He is like a man 1  building a house, who dug down deep, 2  and laid the foundation on bedrock. When 3  a flood came, the river 4  burst against that house but 5  could not shake it, because it had been well built. 6  6:49 But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice 7  is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When 8  the river burst against that house, 9  it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!” 10 

1 tn Here and in v. 49 the Greek text reads ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), while the parallel account in Matt 7:24-27 uses ἀνήρ (anhr) in vv. 24 and 26.

2 tn There are actually two different Greek verbs used here: “who dug (ἔσκαψεν, eskayen) and dug deep (ἐβάθυνεν, ebaqunen).” Jesus is placing emphasis on the effort to which the man went to prepare his foundation.

3 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

4 sn The picture here is of a river overflowing its banks and causing flooding and chaos.

5 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the context.

6 tc Most mss, especially later ones (A C D Θ Ψ Ë1,13 Ï latt), read “because he built [it] on the rock” rather than “because it had been well built” (Ì75vid א B L W Ξ 33 579 892 1241 2542 pc sa). The reading of the later mss seems to be a harmonization to Matt 7:25, rendering it most likely secondary.

7 tn Grk “does not do [them].”

8 tn Grk “against which”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative clause was converted to a temporal clause in the translation and a new sentence started here.

9 tn Grk “it”; the referent (that house) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

10 tn Grk “and its crash was great.”

sn The extra phrase at the end of this description (and was utterly destroyed) portrays the great disappointment that the destruction of the house caused as it crashed and was swept away.