Luke 17:6

So ¹  the Lord replied, ²  “If ³  you had faith the size of ⁴  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ⁵  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ⁶  and it would obey ⁷  you.

Mt 13:31,32; Mt 17:20,21; Mt 21:21; Mr 9:23; Mr 11:22,23; Lu 13:19; 1Co 13:2

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

² tn Grk “said.”

³ tn This is a mixed condition, with ἄν (an) in the apodosis.

⁴ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

⁵ sn A black mulberry tree is a deciduous fruit tree that grows about 20 ft (6 m) tall and has black juicy berries. This tree has an extensive root system, so to pull it up would be a major operation.

⁶ tn The passives here (ἐκριζώθητι and φυτεύθητι, ekrizwqhti and futeuqhti) are probably a circumlocution for God performing the action (the so-called divine passive, see ExSyn 437-38). The issue is not the amount of faith (which in the example is only very tiny), but its presence, which can accomplish impossible things. To cause a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea is impossible. The expression is a rhetorical idiom. It is like saying a camel can go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25).

⁷ tn The verb is aorist, though it looks at a future event, another rhetorical touch to communicate certainty of the effect of faith.