Discovery BoxLuke 11:16 
Context11:16 Others, to test 1 him, 2 began asking for 3 a sign 4 from heaven.
Luke 11:53-54
Context11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law 5 and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, 6 and to ask him hostile questions 7 about many things, 11:54 plotting against 8 him, to catch 9 him in something he might say.
1 tn Grk “testing”; the participle is taken as indicating the purpose of the demand.
2 tn The pronoun “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
3 tn Grk “seeking from him.” The imperfect ἐζήτουν (ezhtoun) is taken ingressively. It is also possible to regard it as iterative (“kept on asking”).
4 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
5 tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.
6 tn Or “terribly.”
7 tn For this term see L&N 33.183.
8 tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.
9 tn This term was often used in a hunting context (BDAG 455 s.v. θηρεύω; L&N 27.30). Later examples of this appear in Luke 20.
