Discovery BoxLuke 12:2-3 
Context12:2 Nothing is hidden 1 that will not be revealed, 2 and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then 3 whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered 4 in private rooms 5 will be proclaimed from the housetops. 6
1 tn Or “concealed.”
2 sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.
3 tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.
4 tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”
5 sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).
6 tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.
