¹ sn Is the phrase all peoples a reference to Israel alone, or to both Israel and the Gentiles? The following verse makes it clear that all peoples includes Gentiles, another key Lukan emphasis (Luke 24:47; Acts 10:34-43).

² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so to the end of this chapter).

³ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

⁴ sn These small herbs were tithed with great care (Mishnah, m. Demai 2:1).

⁵ tn Grk “and rue.” Καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

sn Rue was an evergreen herb used for seasoning.

⁶ sn Justice was a major theme of OT ethics (Mic 6:8; Zech 7:8-10).

⁷ tn Grk “those”; but this has been translated as “the others” to clarify which are meant.

⁸ sn You have taken away the key to knowledge is another stinging rebuke. They had done the opposite of what they were trying to do.

⁹ tn Or “you tried to prevent.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

¹¹ sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

¹² tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

¹³ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

¹⁴ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

sn The singular pronoun you refers to the city of Jerusalem personified.

¹⁵ tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

¹⁶ sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

¹⁷ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.

sn You did not recognize the time of your visitation refers to the time God came to visit them. They had missed the Messiah; see Luke 1:68-79.

¹⁹ sn But before all this. Another note of timing is present, this one especially important in understanding the sequence in the discourse. Before the things noted in vv. 8-11 are the events of vv. 12-19.

²⁰ tn Grk “will lay their hands on you.”

²¹ sn Some of the persecution is of Jewish origin (the synagogues). Some fulfillment of this can be seen in Acts. See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

²² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²³ sn See Luke 6:22, 27; 1 Cor 1:25-31.

²⁴ sn By your endurance is a call to remain faithful, because trusting in Jesus is the means to life.

²⁵ tc Some important Greek witnesses plus the majority of mss (א D L W Ψ Ë¹ Ï) read the aorist imperative κτήσασθε (kthsasqe) here, though some mss (A B Θ Ë¹³ 33 pc lat sa) read the future indicative κτήσεσθε (kthsesqe). A decision is difficult because the evidence is so evenly balanced, but the aorist imperative is the harder reading and better explains the rise of the other. J. A. Fitzmyer assesses the translation options this way: “In English one has to use something similar [i.e., a future indicative], even if one follows the [aorist imperative]” (Luke [AB], 2:1341); in the same vein, although this translation follows the aorist imperative, because of English requirements it has been translated as though it were a future indicative.

²⁶ tn Grk “your souls,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. In light of v. 16 that does not seem to be the case here. The entire phrase could be taken as an idiom meaning “you will save yourselves” (L&N 21.20), or (as in v. 18) this could refer to living ultimately in the presence of God.