¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Here δεῖ (dei, “it is necessary”) indicates divine commission (cf. Luke 2:49).

³ sn The good news of the kingdom, the kingdom of the rule of God through the Messiah, is the topic of Jesus’ preaching.

⁴ tn Or “cities.”

⁵ sn Jesus was sent by God for this purpose. This is the language of divine commission.

⁶ tn Grk “because for this purpose I was sent.”

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate consequential nature of the action.

⁸ tn That is, “they signaled by making gestures” (L&N 33.485).

⁹ tn This infinitive conveys the idea that the boats were at the point of sinking.

¹⁰ sn The phrase strikes you on the cheek probably pictures public rejection, like the act that indicated expulsion from the synagogue.

¹¹ sn This command to offer the other cheek as well is often misunderstood. It means that there is risk involved in reaching out to people with God’s hope. But if one is struck down in rejection, the disciple is to continue reaching out.

¹² tn Or “cloak.”

¹³ tn See the note on the word “tunics” in 3:11.

¹⁴ sn The command do not withhold your tunic either is again an image of continually being totally at risk as one tries to keep contact with those who are hostile to what Jesus and his disciples offer.

¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the final stage of the parable.

¹⁶ tn Grk “when it grew, after it grew.”

¹⁷ sn Unlike the parallel accounts in Matt 13:8 and Mark 4:8, there is no distinction in yield in this version of the parable.

¹⁸ tn Grk “said these things.”

¹⁹ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 14:35).

²⁰ tn Grk “Now it happened that one.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here δέ (de) has not been translated either.

²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²² sn A boat that held all the disciples would be of significant size.

²³ tn Grk “lake, and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the response to Jesus’ request. In addition, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

²⁵ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

²⁶ sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.

²⁷ tn In the Greek text this is a third class condition that for all practical purposes is a hypothetical condition (note the translation of the following verb “should say”).

²⁸ tn The term “that” (ἐκεῖνος, ekeino") is used as a catchword to list out, in the form of a number of hypothetical circumstances, what the possible responses of “that” servant could be. He could be faithful (vv. 43-44) or totally unfaithful (vv. 45-46). He does not complete his master’s will with knowledge (v. 47) or from ignorance (v 48). These differences are indicated by the different levels of punishment in vv. 46-48.

²⁹ tn Grk “should say in his heart.”

³⁰ tn Or “is taking a long time.”

³¹ sn The slave’s action in beginning to beat the other slaves was not only a failure to carry out what was commanded but involved doing the exact reverse.

³² tn The word “other” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

³³ tn Grk “the menservants and the maidservants.” The term here, used in both masculine and feminine grammatical forms, is παῖς (pais), which can refer to a slave, but also to a slave who is a personal servant, and thus regarded kindly (L&N 87.77).

³⁴ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

³⁵ sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

³⁶ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

³⁷ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

³⁸ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

³⁹ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.

⁴⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁴¹ tn This question uses a Greek particle (οὐχί, ouci) that expects a positive reply.

⁴² tn This is a collective singular use of the term καρδία (kardia), so each of their hearts were burning, a reference itself to the intense emotion of their response.

⁴³ tc ‡ Most mss have the phrase ἐν ἡμῖν (en Jhmin, “within us”) after οὐχὶ ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν καιομένη ἦν (ouci Jh kardia Jhmwn kaiomenh hn, “Didn’t our hearts burn”). The phrase “within us” is lacking in some early mss (Ì⁷⁵ B D c e sy^s,c). These early witnesses could have overlooked the words, since there are several occurrences of ἡμῖν in the context. But it seems likely that other scribes wanted to clarify the abrupt expression “Didn’t our hearts burn,” even as the translation has done here. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

sn Even though it is most likely not original (see tc note above), the phrase within us has been included in the translation for clarity.

⁴⁴ tn Grk “opening” (cf. Acts 17:3).