Luke 17

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that trip people up and make them sin are certain to come. But it will be terrible for the person who brings them.

1Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

Note"Offences" in 1611 did not mean insults or hurt feelings. It translates a Greek word for the trigger of a trap, or anything laid in a path to bring a person down, so the sense is causing someone else to fall into sin. "It is impossible but that" is old English for "it cannot turn out any other way than that."

2It would be better for that person to have a heavy grinding stone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

2It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

NoteThe stone meant is not the small hand stone a woman turned in her kitchen but the great upper wheel of a mill turned by a donkey, weighing hundreds of pounds. Drowning a man with a weight tied to him was a known form of execution in the Roman world and was regarded with particular horror.

3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins against you, correct him. And if he is sorry and changes his mind, forgive him.

3Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

Note"Brother" here means a fellow member of the community of followers, not a blood relative. "Repent" translates a word meaning to change one's mind and turn around, which is why the rendering spells it out as being sorry and changing.

4Even if he sins against you seven times in one day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I am sorry, I am changing,' you must forgive him."

4And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

NoteSeven was the ordinary number for fullness or completeness. "Seven times in a day" means as often as it happens rather than a quota that runs out on the eighth offense.

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Give us more faith!"

5And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

Note"Apostle" is a Greek word meaning one who is sent out as someone's representative. Luke uses it for the twelve men Jesus chose from among his followers.

6The Lord said, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

6And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

NoteThe mustard seed was proverbially the smallest seed a farmer handled. The "sycamine tree" is probably the black mulberry, though some take it as the sycamore fig; either way both were known for roots that made them very hard to shift. Planting a tree in the sea is a deliberate absurdity: the point is the size of the faith, not the size of the tree.

7Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing or taking care of the animals. When the servant comes in from the field, will you say to him, 'Come right now and sit down to eat'?

7But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

NoteThe word translated "servant" means a slave, a person owned by the household, not a hired worker who could quit. Two phrases here have shifted sense since 1611: "by and by" meant immediately, straight away, the opposite of what it means now, and "meat" meant food of any kind, so "sit down to meat" is simply sit down to a meal.

8No. You would say to him instead, 'Get my meal ready. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. After that you can eat and drink yourself.'

8And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

Note"Gird thyself" means tie up your long loose robe with a belt or sash so you can move freely, the standard posture of a servant on duty. "Sup" means to eat the evening meal.

9Does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? I do not think so.

9Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

Note"I trow not" is archaic English for "I think not." To trow was to believe or suppose; the word dropped out of use not long after 1611.

10It is the same with you. When you have done everything you were told to do, you should say, 'We are servants who deserve no special credit. We have only done what we were supposed to do.'"

10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Note"Unprofitable" translates a Greek word meaning without any claim, unworthy of special treatment. The sense is that the servants have earned no extra credit, not that their work was useless.

11As Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, he passed through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

11And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

NoteSamaria was the region lying between Galilee in the north and Judea, where Jerusalem stood, in the south. Because of longstanding hostility between Jews and Samaritans, Jewish travelers often went around it rather than through it. The Greek phrase here is vague and could describe passing through the middle of the two regions or along the border between them.

12As he came into one of the villages, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood a long way off,

12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

Note"Leprosy" in the Bible covers a range of persistent skin conditions and is not limited to the disease called leprosy today. The law in Leviticus 13 required anyone with such a condition to live apart from the community and warn others off, which is why these ten stand at a distance instead of coming near.

13and they shouted out, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

Note"Master" here translates a Greek word used only by Luke, meaning someone set over others, a chief or commander. It is a word of rank rather than the usual word for a teacher.

14When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they were going, their disease was cleared away.

14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

NoteLeviticus 14 sets out the procedure: only a priest could examine a person, declare the skin condition gone, and clear them to rejoin ordinary life and worship. Jesus sends the ten off to be certified before anything has visibly changed.

15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned around and came back, praising God in a loud voice.

15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16He threw himself facedown at Jesus' feet and thanked him. This man was a Samaritan.

16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

NoteSamaritans were the people of the old northern territory of Israel. They worshiped the God of Israel and kept their own version of the five books of Moses, but their temple stood on Mount Gerizim rather than in Jerusalem. Jews and Samaritans each regarded the other as corrupted, which is the sting in the detail being saved for the last word of the sentence.

17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten of them made clean? Where are the other nine?

17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18Was no one found to come back and give glory to God except this foreigner?"

18There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

NoteKJV "stranger" translates a word meaning one born of another people, a foreigner or outsider. It does not mean a person who happened to be unknown to them.

19Then Jesus said to him, "Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well."

19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

NoteThe Greek verb behind "made thee whole" means both to heal and to save, and Luke uses it in both senses. All ten were cured of the disease; this larger word is used only of the one who came back, and the English cannot carry both meanings at once.

20The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, "The kingdom of God does not come in a way that people can watch for and observe.

20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

NoteThe Pharisees were a movement devoted to exact keeping of the law of Moses as interpreted by their own tradition, and they carried considerable weight with ordinary people. "With observation" translates a word for the close watching of signs, the way one might scan the sky or count off a calendar waiting for a signal.

21People will not say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'Look, there it is!' The kingdom of God is among you."

21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

NoteThe Greek phrase behind "within you" can mean either inside you, in the heart, or in your midst, among you as a group. "You" is plural and the people addressed are the Pharisees. Translators have gone both ways for centuries and the wording itself does not settle it.

22Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

22And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

Note"Son of man" is the phrase Jesus regularly uses of himself. In Hebrew and Aramaic it can simply mean a human being, and it also echoes Daniel 7, where "one like the Son of man" is brought before God and given authority and a kingdom. Both senses are in play and the Greek keeps the oddness of the phrase rather than smoothing it out.

23People will say to you, 'Look, there he is!' or, 'Look, here he is!' Do not go off after them. Do not follow them.

23And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

24For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.

24For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25But first he must suffer many things and be turned away by the people of this time.

25But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

NoteIn 1611 English "rejected of" means rejected by. "This generation" means the people alive at that time, the present crop of contemporaries, not an age of the world.

26What happened in the days of Noah will happen again in the days of the Son of Man.

26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

Note"Noe" is the Greek spelling of the name Noah. The King James Version generally keeps the Greek forms of Old Testament names when they appear in the New Testament. The story referred to is the flood in Genesis 6 to 8.

27People were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, right up to the day Noah went into the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

NoteThe ark is the great wooden vessel Noah built before the flood. "Given in marriage" reflects a society where marriages were arranged: men took wives, and daughters were handed over in marriage by their fathers. Everything on this list is ordinary daily business rather than wickedness; the point being made is that nobody saw it coming.

28It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

NoteLot was Abraham's nephew, who settled in the city of Sodom. The account of his leaving the city and its destruction is in Genesis 19.

29But on the very day Lot left Sodom, fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Note"Brimstone" is the old English word for sulfur, which burns with a choking flame and a foul smell. "Fire and brimstone" was the standard phrase for what fell on Sodom.

30It will be just like that on the day when the Son of Man is shown for who he is.

30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31On that day, whoever is up on the roof of the house, with his belongings inside, must not go down to get them. And whoever is out in the field must not turn back either.

31In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

NoteHouses had flat roofs used for work, storage and sleeping in hot weather, reached by stairs on the outside of the building. A man on the roof could therefore leave without ever going back inside. "Stuff" is the ordinary 1611 word for household goods and possessions and carries no suggestion of junk.

32Remember what happened to Lot's wife.

32Remember Lot’s wife.

NoteGenesis 19:26. As Lot's household fled the burning city, his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. The two words assume the reader already knows the story.

33Whoever tries to hold on to his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it safe.

33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

NoteThe word translated "life" covers a person's life, self and inner being all at once, so the saying turns on a single word that English has to split between "life" and "soul."

34I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left.

34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

NoteThe Greek says only "two," with masculine grammar; "men" is supplied by the translators. Ordinary households slept several to a bed or mat, so the picture is simply of close quarters at night. The text does not say who does the taking, or whether being taken is the better outcome.

35Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.

35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

NoteGrinding grain into flour was the daily work of the household, done at first light by two women sitting opposite each other and turning a hand mill between them.

36Two men will be out in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left."

36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

ManuscriptsMost modern translations leave this verse out. It is in the Greek text the King James translators worked from, but not in the older manuscripts found since, so scholars generally take it as a copyist’s addition rather than part of the original.

NoteThis verse is missing from the oldest manuscripts of Luke and was most likely copied in by a scribe from the similar passage in Matthew 24:40. The King James Version includes it; many modern editions leave it out or move it to a footnote, which is why their verse numbering skips from 35 to 37.

37They asked him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Wherever the dead body is, that is where the vultures will gather."

37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

NoteThe Greek word rendered "eagles" covers both eagles and vultures, and birds circling over a carcass are vultures. The reply is a proverb rather than a location: you will not have to ask where, because it will be as unmistakable as birds gathering in the sky.