Luke 13
Unless you turn, you will perish. The barren fig tree, the mustard seed and the leaven follow, then the narrow door and a lament over Jerusalem.
Whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices — this event stands only in this book, and no other record of it survives.
Beyond all the Galileans — the question is about degree of guilt.
In the same way — the warning is aimed at the hearers, not at the dead.
The tower in Siloam — only this book records it. Debtors (ὀφειλέται, opheiletai) is a money word, used here of guilt.
Likewise — the second warning is the first, with the last word changed.
This parable stands only in this book — a fig tree spared, where Mark 11:14 has one cursed.
Why this rendering
Luke.13.6 Observation
Syntactic observation
Luke too has a fig tree without fruit, and it does not wither. At Matthew 21:19 and Mark 11:13-14, 20-21 Jesus speaks to a fruitless fig tree and it withers (Matthew ἐξηράνθη παραχρῆμα; Mark ἐξηραμμένην ἐκ ῥιζῶν). Luke 13:6-9 puts the fruitless fig tree in a parable: the owner says ἔκκοψον, cut it down, and the vinedresser asks for one more year — he will dig around it and put on manure. The counts hold the difference up. Luke's συκῆ occurs three times (13:6, 13:7, 21:29) and there is no cursing among them. ξηραίνω, to wither, occurs three times in Matthew, six in Mark and once in John; Luke has one, at 8:6, of the seed — not of a fig tree. καταράομαι, to curse, stands three times in the four Gospels: Matt 25:41, Mark 11:21, and Luke 6:28, bless those who curse you. So in this book that verb is something done to them, not something Jesus does. And three hapax in the four Gospels cluster in this short passage — ἀμπελουργός, vinedresser (v.7); κόπριον, manure (v.8); καταργέω, to use up the ground (v.7). σκάπτω, to dig, is Luke's alone three times: 6:48 (dug for the foundation), 13:8 (dig around it), 16:3 (I am not strong enough to dig). ἐκκόπτω, to cut down, occurs four times in Matthew and three in Luke, and one of Luke's three is 3:9 — where John says every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. That axe becomes the owner's word at 13:7 and the condition at 13:9. One verb carries the three places.
Rendering options · 2
Basis There is no cursed and withered fig tree in Luke, and the datum is that the words of that story (ξηραίνω, καταράομαι) stand only elsewhere in this book. Keeping ἐκκόπτω the same as at 3:9 is what lets John's axe be seen reaching this far.
Basis To a reader of all three books it looks like one symbol, and bringing that out makes the sense plain.
Rejected That story is not in Luke. What is here is a tree that gets one more year. Matching the key erases the fact that this book does not carry that story, and closes the open end of v.9 — if it bears, well; if not, cut it down. The parable does not report an outcome: the text never says whether the tree bore fruit.
Lost in translation
The Greek of v.9 breaks off — and if it bears fruit in the future —, but if not, cut it down — leaving the first limb unfinished. English versions often supply the missing limb with well and good. Supplying it squares the sentence and the break disappears; here the break is kept with a dash.
Three years — the count is given, and the vinedresser asks for one more.
Dung (κόπρια, kopria) — this edition keeps this word apart from its singular at 14:35.
The sentence breaks off unfinished in Greek — “and if it bears fruit in the future —”. This edition leaves the break.
This is the last synagogue scene in this book.
A spirit of weakness — the writer names the trouble as a spirit and then treats it as an illness.
You have been released — the release-word of 4:18, here in the perfect.
She was glorifying God — this book ends a healing in praise again and again.
Six days on which one must work — the ruler answers the crowd, not Jesus.
Manger (φάτνη, phatnē) — the same word as the feeding trough at 2:7, and this edition keeps one word for both. Hypocrites — the manuscripts differ between singular and plural.
Why this rendering
Luke.13.15 Observation
Syntactic observation
φάτνη occurs four times in the four Gospels and all four are in Luke — 2:7, 2:12, 2:16, 13:15. The first three are where the child is laid; the fourth, here, is what the ox or the donkey is untied from on the Sabbath. It is the same word. So the only places the word stands in this book are where the newborn is laid and where an animal is tied up and then loosed. And the whole passage is built on binding and loosing: at v.15 the animal is λύει, loosed; at v.16 Satan ἔδησεν, bound, the woman, and ought she not to be λυθῆναι, loosed. δεσμός, a bond, stands in this form at two places in the four Gospels, the other being Mark 7:35, the bond of the tongue. But the neuter form of the same word, δεσμόν, stands also at Luke 8:29 — the chains the demoniac kept breaking. So binding and loosing meet twice inside Luke: once broken by force, once loosed on a sabbath. The words for the woman's body are this book's own: συγκύπτω, to be bent together (v.11), and ἀνορθόω, to be made straight (v.13), are each a hapax in the four Gospels, and ἀνακύπτω, to straighten up, occurs twice in Luke, the other at 21:28, lift up your heads. The one who objects is the ἀρχισυνάγωγος, the synagogue ruler, a word Mark has four times and Luke twice and Matthew not at all (Matt 9:18 has ἄρχων). And eighteen appears three times in this chapter, counted two ways — 13:4 δεκαοκτώ, those the tower fell on; 13:11 δεκαοκτώ, the years she was bent; 13:16 δέκα καὶ ὀκτώ, ten and eight. Only the last is spelled out. So the eighteen crushed by the tower and the woman bent for eighteen years stand under the same number within one chapter.
Rendering options · 2
Basis There are four in this book and three of them are in chapter 2. Splitting the word erases the link. That the place an animal is tied to and the place the child is laid are one word is the datum here.
Basis The context at v.15 is livestock, so it reads naturally.
Rejected It cuts the link to 2:7. And φάτνη is not a building but a feeding trough — being untied from a stall and from a manger are not the same place. Of twelve English versions examined, eleven read stall and only the ESV reads manger; the Korean 개역한글 has 마구, a stable. It is the majority road, but it changes the word.
Lost in translation
“Untie the ox from the manger” catches in English, since manger names where the animal eats rather than where it is tied. But the Greek carries both places on one word, so the catch is the shape of the original. Smoothing to stall reads easily and loses 2:7.
Ten and eight years keeps the Greek way of saying eighteen — the same number as verse 11, said differently.
Glorious things (ἔνδοξα, endoxa) is used once in the four Gospels.
What is the kingdom of God like — the question is asked twice, here and at verse 20.
His own garden — this book puts the seed in a garden; Matthew 13:31 puts it in a field.
Why this rendering
Luke.13.19 Observation
Syntactic observation
The mustard seed goes into different ground in the three books. Matthew 13:31 has ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ, in his field; Mark 4:31 ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, on the ground; Luke 13:19 εἰς κῆπον ἑαυτοῦ, into his own garden. κῆπος stands five times in the four Gospels and apart from this one place in Luke they are all John's — 18:1, the garden where Jesus is seized; 18:26; and 19:41 twice, the garden where the tomb was. So the only gardens in the four Gospels are this one and John's seizing and burial. The verb differs too: Matthew ἔσπειρεν, sowed; Mark σπαρῇ, is sown; Luke ἔβαλεν, threw. Only Luke does not sow it. And Luke drops two steps whole. Matthew and Mark both say μικρότερον πάντων τῶν σπερμάτων, smallest of all seeds; Luke has no smallness at all. Matthew and Mark both pass through λάχανον, a garden plant — Matthew, greater than the plants and becomes a tree; Mark, greatest of all the plants — and Luke has no plants. From seed straight to δένδρον, a tree. And Mark never calls it a tree: Mark's one δένδρον in the whole book is at 8:24, men who look like trees. Where the birds settle differs as well: Matthew and Luke have κλάδοις, in its branches; Mark ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν, under its shade. The leaven that follows also differs from Matthew 13:33 by one word — Matthew ἐνέκρυψεν, hid it inside; Luke ἔκρυψεν, hid, without the prefix. σάτον stands at two places only, Matt 13:33 and Luke 13:21.
Rendering options · 2
Basis These words are exactly where the three books part. Matching it to field merges Luke with Matthew; smoothing to planted loses the throwing. The smallness and the λάχανον stage are not in Luke, so they are not put in. John 18:1 and 19:41 already read garden, so this must match for the link to show.
Basis Throwing a seed reads oddly, and what is meant is planting.
Rejected Where Matthew and Mark use σπείρω, Luke alone uses βάλλω; matching makes the three books look alike. And the same verb stands one chapter earlier at 12:49, I came to throw fire, which falls with it.
Lost in translation
Keeping 동산 and garden makes it the same word as John 18:1 and 19:41, but a reader who does not set the books side by side will not see the link. The word crosses over; the link does not — and that is not a fault of any language but of reading the books apart.
The question is put a second time, in fewer words.
Sata is a dry measure kept as sound; three of them is a great deal of flour.
Making his way toward Jerusalem — the journey begun at 9:51 is marked again.
Are those who are being saved few — the question is asked, and not answered.
Strive renders ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnizomai) — the word behind “agony”, from the contest. This book says door; Matthew 7:13 says gate.
I do not know you, where you are from — the Greek runs the two together.
We ate before you — the claim is to acquaintance, not to obedience.
Workers of unrighteousness — this book says unrighteousness; Matthew 7:23 says lawlessness.
The weeping and the grinding of teeth — both carry the article in Greek.
From north and south — only this book adds the second pair; Matthew 8:11 has east and west alone.
Last … first — the saying that closes the answer to verse 23.
Some Pharisees came — only this book has Pharisees warn him.
That fox — the only such word in the four Gospels, and it is said of a ruler. I am completed renders τελειόομαι (teleioomai), the verb of John 19:28.
Why this rendering
Luke.13.32 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἀλώπηξ, fox, stands three times in the four Gospels — Matt 8:20, Luke 9:58, Luke 13:32. The first two are the same saying, foxes have holes but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. So calling Herod a fox is Luke's alone, and within this book the word stands at 9:58 and here — the animal that has a hole and the man called by the animal's name held together by one word. τελειοῦμαι is τελειόω, present passive (or middle), first person. The verb stands seven times in the four Gospels and not once in Matthew or Mark — twice in Luke (2:43, 13:32) and five times in John (4:34, 5:36, 17:4, 17:23, 19:28). And this book used a different verb one chapter earlier: 12:50 has ἕως ὅτου τελεσθῇ (τελέω), 13:32 has τελειοῦμαι (τελειόω). They stand next to each other and are not the same word. τελέω occurs seven times in Matthew, four in Luke, twice in John, and never in Mark. John 19:28 carries both in one verse — τετέλεσται (τελέω) … ἵνα τελειωθῇ (τελειόω). The time phrase also comes twice with only its end changed: v.32 σήμερον καὶ αὔριον καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ, today and tomorrow and the third; v.33 σήμερον καὶ αὔριον καὶ τῇ ἐχομένῃ, today and tomorrow and the day following. The first two words hold; only the third moves. That ἀλώπεκι is feminine is a fact about the Greek noun, which is always feminine, and says nothing about Herod.
Rendering options · 2
Basis It is present passive with himself as subject; the text does not say who completes or what is completed. That openness is not closed. And the count — never in Matthew or Mark, five times in John — can only be weighed if the word is kept.
Basis What being perfected means is unclear in Korean and English.
Rejected The Greek is just as unclear. A sense rendering erases that this verb overlaps only with John, makes John 19:28 — which sets τελέω and τελειόω side by side in one verse — impossible to weigh, and hides that 12:50's τελεσθῇ and 13:32's τελειοῦμαι are different words: rendered alike, they become one.
Lost in translation
English must pick a pair like completed and finished, and any natural pair lets one of them overlap somewhere else; the two English words are also not as close as the Greek pair, which share a root. The split shows only to a reader who sets 12:50 and 13:32 side by side.
It cannot be that a prophet perish outside Jerusalem — the line is bitter, and this edition does not soften it.
Her own brood — this book says brood; Matthew 23:37 says chicks. The lament stands in both books, in different places.
Why this rendering
Luke.13.34 Observation
Syntactic observation
Nearly the same saying as Matthew 23:37-39, and three things differ. First the word: Matthew has τὰ νοσσία, her chicks, plural; Luke τὴν νοσσιάν, her brood or nest, singular. Each is a hapax in the four Gospels — νοσσίον only at Matt 23:37, νοσσιά only at Luke 13:34. So of the three words that make the image, ὄρνις (hen) and πτέρυξ (wings) stand identically in both places and only the middle one parts. Matthew gathers the chicks one by one; Luke gathers a brood. Matthew also gives the hen a verb of her own (ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία); Luke has no such verb. Second, the clause that follows: Matthew 23:38 has ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος, your house is left to you desolate — and Luke 13:35 has no ἔρημος. Simply, your house is left to you. Third, the last line: Matthew 23:39 has οὐ μή με ἴδητε ἀπ’ ἄρτι ἕως ἂν εἴπητε, you will not see me from now on until you say; Luke 13:35 has no from now on and instead inserts one more span of time, ἕως ἥξει ὅτε εἴπητε, until it comes, when you say. And the placement differs: Matthew speaks it in the temple after entering Jerusalem; Luke speaks it while still on the way (13:22, making his journey toward Jerusalem).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Each word occurs once and the two places are each other's parallel; rendering them alike destroys the only place in the four Gospels where the split can be seen. ἔρημος is not in Luke in the base text, so it is not supplied — the rule against filling in what is absent applies directly.
Basis The two places are the same saying, so a reader recognises the parallel more easily.
Rejected It is not the same saying but nearly the same, and the datum here is that nearly; matching leaves nothing. And desolate is Matthew 23:38's word, not Luke's — supplying it puts into the text what the base text does not have.
Lost in translation
English can split chicks and brood, so the difference does cross over. But in no language is it visible unless the two verses are set side by side — the words survive, the contrast survives only in the edition.
Your house is left to you — this book does not add “desolate”; Matthew 23:38 does, in most manuscripts.