Luke 9:52-54
9:52 He 1 sent messengers on ahead of him. 2 As they went along, 3 they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance 4 for him,
9:53 but the villagers 5 refused to welcome 6 him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 7
9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume 8 them?” 9
1 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn Grk “sent messengers before his face,” an idiom.
3 tn Grk “And going along, they entered.” The aorist passive participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken temporally. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
4 tn Or “to prepare (things) for him.”
5 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the villagers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Or “did not receive”; this verb, δέχομαι (decomai), is a term of hospitality or welcome (L&N 34.53).
7 tn Grk “because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”
sn Jerusalem is to be the place of rejection, as Luke 9:44 suggested. Jesus had resolved to meet his fate in Jerusalem, so the rejection was no surprise.
8 tn Or “destroy.”
9 tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D W Θ Ψ Ë1,13 33 Ï it), read here “as also Elijah did,” making the allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14 more explicit. The shorter reading has better and earlier support (Ì45,75 א B L Ξ 579 700* 1241 pc lat sa). It is difficult to explain how the shorter reading could have arisen from the longer, especially since it is well represented early on. However, the longer reading looks to have been a marginal note originally, incorporated into the text of Luke by early scribes.
sn An allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14.