Luke 20
He is questioned about his authority, throws down the parable of the tenants, is tested on tax and resurrection, and turns to ask about David’s son.
Preaching the good news renders the gospel-verb of 4:18.
By what authority — the same question as Mark 11:28.
One thing — the Greek says “one word”, meaning one question.
From heaven is a way of saying “from God” without naming God.
The writer lets the reader hear them work it out.
Will stone us to death — this book alone says the people would stone them; Mark 11:32 says only that they feared the crowd.
They did not know — the refusal is reported, not quoted.
Neither do I tell you — the answer refuses the question, as theirs did.
To the people — this book has the parable told to the crowd, not to the leaders; Mark 12:1 has it aimed at them.
Empty (κενός, kenos) — the same word as Mark 12:3.
Why this rendering
Luke.20.10 Observation
Syntactic observation
The sending differs across the three books. Matthew 21:34-36 sends the slaves in groups (τοὺς δούλους, then ἄλλους δούλους πλείονας, more other slaves), and the tenants beat one, kill another and stone another. Mark 12:2-5 sends one, another, another, and then many, some of whom are killed. Luke 20:10-12 sends exactly three, one at a time, and none is killed: the first is beaten, the second beaten and dishonoured, the third wounded and thrown out. Death falls only on the son. The words hold the three apart: ἀτιμάζω, to dishonour, stands three times in the four Gospels — Mark 12:4, Luke 20:11, John 8:49 — and τραυματίζω, to wound, is a hapax in the four Gospels. Who pronounces the verdict differs too: at Matt 21:41 the hearers say he will destroy those wretches, while at Mark 12:9 and Luke 20:16 Jesus says it. And Luke alone gives the hearers a reply — Μὴ γένοιτο, may it not be. The ἐντρέπω of v.13, to respect, stands five times in the four Gospels: Matt 21:37, Mark 12:6 and Luke 20:13 are all this parable, and the other two are Luke 18:2 and 18:4, the judge who does not respect man — as recorded at Luke 18, Luke holds both. The συλλογίζομαι of v.5, to reason together, and the καταλιθάζω of v.6, to stone to death, are each a hapax in the four Gospels.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The number and manner of the sending is where the three books part, and that none of Luke's slaves dies is the end of that parting. And Μὴ γένοιτο is a line Luke alone has, so it is kept. All thirteen versions examined keep the three slaves and the Μὴ γένοιτο — here the versions too follow their base text.
Basis It is one parable, and the divergence catches a reader who reads the three side by side.
Rejected The divergence is the datum — that no slave dies in Luke alone is a fact confirmed by the counts, and evening it out erases it. Setting the three side by side is what this edition is for, so what shows when they are set side by side is not erased.
He went on to send renders a Semitic turn — “he added to send”, which this book uses twice.
Wounded (τραυματίζω, traumatizō) — the word behind “trauma”, used in the four Gospels only here and at Acts. This book has three slaves and stops; Mark 12:5 runs on to many.
Perhaps (ἴσως, isōs) — only this book puts a “perhaps” in the owner's mouth, and the word is used once in the four Gospels.
This is the heir — the tenants name the son by his claim.
Throwing him outside … they killed him — this book throws out first, as Matthew 21:39 does; Mark 12:8 kills first.
May it not be renders μὴ γένοιτο (mē genoito), a Greek turn of horror — only this book has the hearers say it.
Looking straight at them (ἐμβλέπω, emblepō) — this book gives the look.
Winnow him renders λικμάω (likmaō), to scatter chaff on the wind — a farming word, and this edition keeps it.
Why this rendering
Luke.20.18 Observation
Syntactic observation
This verse is nearly identical in wording to Matthew 21:44 — but the two stand differently in the base text: SBLGNT prints Matthew 21:44 with a variant mark around the whole verse, and prints Luke 20:18 with no mark at all. That is, the editors do not doubt that the sentence stands in Luke and do doubt that it stands in Matthew. The counts mirror it exactly: συνθλάομαι, to be broken to pieces, and λικμάω, to winnow, each stand twice in the four Gospels, and both twice are these two places (Matt 21:44, Luke 20:18). So each word is once in Matthew and once in Luke, and the Matthew half sits inside a variant mark. λικμάω is the word for winnowing grain so the chaff blows away, narrower in grain than grind to powder. The quotation in the verse before (v.17) is the same in all three — Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, the stone the builders rejected — except that Matt 21:42 and Mark 12:11 carry on with this was from the Lord and it is marvellous in our eyes, while Luke stops there.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The word stands at two places and the two are each other's parallel, so the renderings must match to be weighed. And grind to powder leans only toward crushing, losing the blowing away of chaff. Only four versions keep the scattering — 개역한글, ASV and NASB (scatter him like dust), and WEB (crush to dust); the other nine go only to crushing. Not one uses winnow.
Basis Both halves are about a stone, so one crushing key reads more easily.
Rejected They are different words — συνθλάομαι is being broken, λικμάω is winnowing. Unifying hides that the base text chose two. That winnow is unfamiliar in Korean and English is true, and is recorded as a loss.
Lost in translation
λικμάω names winnowing threshed grain so the chaff blows off. English winnow carries that grain but is unfamiliar to a reader today. And a stone that winnows a person is smooth in no language — nor in the Greek. Smoothing it loses the grain, so the strangeness is carried.
Against them — the writer says the hearing landed, though the parable was told to the people.
Planted men renders ἐγκάθετοι (enkathetoi), used once in the four Gospels — men set in place beforehand. Only this book has them.
Do not take a face keeps the Semitic turn for showing no partiality. Upon truth keeps the Greek preposition.
Tribute renders φόρος (phoros) — this book's own word, and not the Latin kensos of Mark 12:14. This edition keeps the two apart.
Why this rendering
Luke.20.22 Observation
Syntactic observation
The tax is named differently. Matthew 22:17 has κῆνσον, a census-tax, as does Mark 12:14; Luke 20:22 has φόρον. And φόρος stands twice in the four Gospels, both times in Luke, the other being 23:2, where before Pilate they charge him with forbidding to give φόρος to Caesar. So Luke has matched the word of the question here to the word of the charge there, and Matthew and Mark have no such pair. κῆνσος comes from the Latin census and is already fixed as a transliteration in this edition (Mark 12:14; Matt 17:25; 22:17, 19). ἐπιγραφή, an inscription, shows the same build: it stands five times — once in Matthew (22:20), twice in Mark (12:16, the denarius; 15:26, the charge on the cross) and twice in Luke (20:24, the denarius; 23:38, the charge on the cross). Mark and Luke each use the word once of a coin and once of a cross; Matthew uses it only of the coin. The words of v.20 stand nowhere else: ἐγκάθετος, a planted man; ὑποκρίνομαι, to play a part; and πανουργία, craftiness, are each a hapax in the four Gospels, as is the τοίνυν of v.25. The you do not regard a face of v.21 is nearly Mark 12:14, but the verbs differ — Mark οὐ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπων, Luke οὐ λαμβάνεις πρόσωπον.
Rendering options · 2
Basis This word is where the books part, and that it comes twice within Luke is the build. One rendering for both loses the parting and the joining at once. Setting Matt 22:17 beside Luke 20:22, only four of the thirteen keep the two words apart — NASB (poll-tax / taxes), ESV (taxes / tribute), NET (taxes / tribute tax), NIV2011 (imperial tax / taxes). The other nine render both alike.
Basis It is one scene, and which tax it is does not matter to a reader.
Rejected Which tax it is mattered to Matthew and Mark — they chose a word out of Latin. Luke chose a Greek word and uses it again at 23:2. Unifying erases both choices.
Craftiness (πανουργία, panourgia) is a readiness to do anything.
Denarius — the coin is kept as sound; it was a day's wage.
Pay back (ἀποδίδωμι, apodidōmi) is to give back what is owed.
They fell silent — this book ends the exchange in silence, not in wonder alone.
Who speak against there being a resurrection — this book's own wording.
Raise up seed is a Semitic turn kept word for word.
Seven brothers — the case is built as a puzzle.
And the second — the Greek is this bare, and this edition keeps it bare.
Likewise the seven — the writer sums the rest rather than listing them.
Afterward the woman also died — the whole of her part in the puzzle.
Of which of them does she become the wife — the Greek is in the present tense.
Marry and are married off — the Greek uses two different verbs here and a third at verse 35, and English does not tell all of them apart. Recorded as a loss.
Why this rendering
Luke.20.34 Observation
Syntactic observation
Luke uses two different verbs in consecutive verses — v.34 γαμίσκονται (γαμίσκω) and v.35 γαμίζονται (γαμίζω). γαμίσκω is a hapax in the four Gospels; γαμίζω stands five times (Matt 22:30, 24:38; Mark 12:25; Luke 17:27, 20:35). So Matthew and Mark use only γαμίζω here, while Luke changes the word within one verse. And Luke's answer is far longer. Matthew 22:30 and Mark 12:25 end at in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels (ὡς ἄγγελοι) in heaven. Luke 20:35-36 puts before that those counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead (καταξιωθέντες, a hapax in the four Gospels), and adds after it they can no longer die and they are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. And instead of like angels he uses the single word ἰσάγγελοι, equal-to-angels, also a hapax in the four Gospels. The grounding at v.37 parts as well: Mark 12:26 and Luke 20:37 both cite ἐπὶ τοῦ βάτου, at the bush, and Matthew 22:31 has no such phrase. μηνύω, to disclose, stands twice, the other being John 11:57. In introducing the Sadducees at v.27 Luke uses ἀντιλέγοντες, those who speak against — a verb three times in Luke (2:34, 20:27, 21:15) and once in John.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The base text uses two words in succession. And ἰσάγγελοι is where Luke makes one word of what Matthew and Mark say in two, so the rendering keeps that shape. The versions divide: five keep equal in ἰσάγγελοι (개역한글, ASV, KJV, ESV, NET) and eight unfold it as like angels. But not one of the thirteen splits the two verbs of vv.34 and 35 — all render both as given in marriage. Here this edition stands alone.
Basis The two verses say one thing, and equal-to-angels is awkward in Korean and English.
Rejected The two verses do not say one thing — v.34 is the sons of this age and v.35 those counted worthy of that one, and the change of word falls exactly on that boundary. The same for ἰσάγγελοι: turning Luke's one word back into two makes it indistinguishable from Matthew and Mark.
Lost in translation
The Greek joins ἴσος, equal, to ἄγγελος in one word. English must unfold it into equal to angels — a compound could be coined but would not read. So the fact that Luke said it in one word does not cross over; the rendering only barely distinguishes it from Matthew and Mark.
Counted worthy to attain that age — only this book adds this clause, and the verbs change from verse 34.
Equal to angels renders ἰσάγγελοι (isangeloi) — one word in Greek, used once in the four Gospels; English must use a phrase. Recorded as a loss.
At the bush names the place in the scroll — a way of citing before chapters existed.
To him all are alive — only this book has the last clause.
You have spoken well — only this book has the scribes approve.
No longer dared — the questioning ends here in this book.
How do they say — this book puts the question in the third person.
In the book of Psalms — only this book names the book. The Lord said to my Lord — the same English word stands for two different words in the Greek.
A footstool for your feet — this book keeps the noun where Mark 12:36 has a verb.
How is he his son — the question is left unanswered.
While all the people were listening — the warning about the scribes is public.
Chief seats … chief couches — two different words, one for the synagogue bench and one for the place at table.
Pretext (πρόφασις, prophasis) is something put forward as a cover — and the next scene is a widow at the treasury.
Why this rendering
Luke.20.47 Observation
Syntactic observation
These two verses (46-47) run nearly with Mark 12:38-40, and overlap Matthew 23 only in scattered pieces. But Matthew has no they devour the houses of widows — that line stands only at Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. κατεσθίω, to devour, stands seven times in the four Gospels: once in Matthew (13:4, birds eating seed), twice in Mark (4:4; 12:40), three times in Luke (8:5; 15:30, the brother who devoured the living; 20:47) and once in John (2:17). So within Luke the verb attaches to the younger brother and to the scribes alike. πρόφασις, a pretext, stands three times — Mark 12:40, Luke 20:47, John 15:22. χήρα, widow, stands twelve times, none in Matthew, three in Mark and nine in Luke, and the very next passage (21:1-4) is the poor widow's two lepta, so widows come twice in a row. The seat-names each come twice in this book: πρωτοκαθεδρία, the chief seat in synagogues, at Luke 11:43 and 20:46; πρωτοκλισία, the chief couch at feasts, at Luke 14:7-8 and 20:46. στολή, a long robe, stands at Mark 12:38, Mark 16:5, Luke 15:22 (the best robe put on the younger son) and Luke 20:46 — so within this book one word clothes the son and the scribes alike.
Rendering options · 2
Basis What this edition does is show where else a word stands within the book. Rendering it as fleece or prey upon cuts the link to 15:30, and that link changes where this verse is read from.
Basis Devour houses does not picture well in Korean or English.
Rejected It pictures no better in Greek — and that strangeness is the same strangeness as at 15:30, where the brother devoured his father's living. A sense rendering makes the two places into different sayings.