Discovery BoxLuke 10:5-6 
Context10:5 Whenever 1 you enter a house, 2 first say, ‘May peace 3 be on this house!’ 10:6 And if a peace-loving person 4 is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. 5
Luke 10:10-12
Context10:10 But whenever 6 you enter a town 7 and the people 8 do not welcome 9 you, go into its streets 10 and say, 10:11 ‘Even the dust of your town 11 that clings to our feet we wipe off 12 against you. 13 Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’ 14 10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom 15 than for that town! 16
1 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “Into whatever house you enter.” This acts as a distributive, meaning every house they enter; this is expressed more naturally in English as “whenever you enter a house.”
3 sn The statement ‘May peace be on this house!’ is really a benediction, asking for God’s blessing. The requested shalom (peace) is understood as coming from God.
4 tn Grk “a son of peace,” a Hebrew idiom for a person of a certain class or kind, as specified by the following genitive construction (in this case, “of peace”). Such constructions are discussed further in L&N 9.4. Here the expression refers to someone who responds positively to the disciples’ message, like “wisdom’s child” in Luke 7:30.
5 sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if they are not welcomed with peace, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.
6 tn Grk “whatever town you enter,” but this is more often expressed in English as “whenever you enter a town.”
7 tn Or “city.”
8 tn Grk “and they”; the referent (the people who live in the town) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn More discussion takes place concerning rejection (the people do not welcome you), as these verses lead into the condemnation of certain towns for their rejection of God’s kingdom.
10 tn The term πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to the “broad street,” so this refers to the main roads of the town.
11 tn Or “city.”
12 sn See Luke 9:5, where the verb is different but the meaning is the same. This was a sign of rejection.
13 tn Here ὑμῖν (Jumin) has been translated as a dative of disadvantage.
14 tn Or “has come near.” As in v. 9 (see above), the combination of ἐγγίζω (engizw) with the preposition ἐπί (epi) is decisive in showing that the sense is “has come” (see BDAG 270 s.v. ἐγγίζω 2, and W. R. Hutton, “The Kingdom of God Has Come,” ExpTim 64 [Dec 1952]: 89-91).
15 sn The allusion to Sodom, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious than the worst sins of the old era and will result in more severe punishment. The noun Sodom is in emphatic position in the Greek text.
16 tn Or “city.”
