International Institute of Jesus Christ
Luke 21
Translated straight from the SBLGNT, with the grounds of every decision on the page.
Why this rendering
Luke.21.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
The parallel is Mark 12:41-44, and **three things differ.** First, **Luke does not explain the coin.** Mark 12:42 has λεπτὰ δύο, **ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης**, two lepta, which is a kodrantes, converting the value for his reader; Luke 21:2 stops at λεπτὰ δύο. The counts hold it: λεπτόν stands three times in the corpus — **Mark 12:42, Luke 12:59, Luke 21:2** — and κοδράντης twice — **Matt 5:26, Mark 12:42**. So Mark 12:42 is the only place both coins stand in one verse, and **Luke uses the lepton and never the kodrantes at all.** Second, **the word for the widow changes within one verse's distance.** v.2 has χήραν **πενιχράν**, a needy widow; v.3 ἡ χήρα ἡ **πτωχή**, this poor widow. πενιχρός is a **corpus hapax**, and Mark uses πτωχή at both places. Third, **the oath-word differs**: Mark 12:43 has **Ἀμὴν** λέγω ὑμῖν, Luke 21:3 **Ἀληθῶς** λέγω ὑμῖν — the split recorded at Luke 12:44 returning here. Fourth, the noun for lack differs too: Mark ὑστερήσεως, Luke **ὑστερήματος**. βίος, living, stands in both, and it is the word the father divided and the brother devoured at Luke 15:12 and 15:30. γαζοφυλάκιον, the treasury, stands five times — three in Mark, one in Luke, one in John — and **never in Matthew.**
Rendering options · 2
Basis The base text uses two words; matching them erases that πενιχρός stands once in the corpus and erases where Luke parts from Mark. The coin gloss is not in Luke's base text and is not supplied (DECISIONS C1) — supplying it would credit Luke with what Mark did. The versions divide by halves: **not one of the thirteen supplies the kodrantes**, agreeing with this edition, and **not one splits πενιχρά from πτωχή** either (all render both as poor). On the second half this edition stands alone.
Basis It is one widow, and the reader does not know what a lepton is worth.
Rejected That the base text uses two words for one widow is the datum. And converting the value is **what Mark did for his readers** and Luke did not — a place where it shows whom each book writes for, and that is not erased.
Why this rendering
Luke.21.5 Observation
Syntactic observation
The exclamation over the temple differs between the books. Mark 13:1 has one disciple say **ποταποὶ λίθοι καὶ ποταπαὶ οἰκοδομαί**, what stones and what buildings; Luke 21:5 has some say it was **λίθοις καλοῖς καὶ ἀναθήμασιν κεκόσμηται**, adorned with beautiful stones and **votive offerings**. So Mark sees **buildings** and Luke sees **offerings**. ἀναθήμασιν stands only here — MorphGNT lemmatises it as ἀνάθεμα, and that lemma too stands once in the corpus. And κοσμέω, to adorn, stands five times — three in Matthew (12:44, 23:29, 25:7) and two in Luke (11:25, 21:5) — and **Luke's other is 11:25**, where the unclean spirit returns to find the house **swept and adorned.** So the only two things called adorned in this book are an empty house and the temple. The text does not state the link. The speaker differs too: in Mark **one disciple**, in Luke **some**. The answer at v.6 runs nearly together in all three, except that Matt 24:2 and Mark 13:2 have here not one stone upon another, while Luke takes up what precedes with **ταῦτα ἃ θεωρεῖτε**, these things that you behold. And **the same phrase has already fallen on the city at Luke 19:44** — see the Luke 19 entry.
Rendering options · 2
Basis That the two books see different things in the temple is the datum. And since adorned stands twice in this book, splitting the renderings keeps the two from calling each other.
Basis Votive offerings are unfamiliar, and since the books record one scene, matching helps.
Rejected That the two books see different things in one scene is the datum. Matching erases it, and erases a word that stands once in the corpus.
Why this rendering
Luke.21.20 Observation
Syntactic observation
**The three books tell you to look at different things at the same point.** Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 say to look for **τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως**, the abomination of desolation, and both add let the reader understand. Luke 21:20 says to look for **κυκλουμένην ὑπὸ στρατοπέδων Ἰερουσαλήμ**, **Jerusalem surrounded by armies**, and has **no** let the reader understand. The counts draw the split exactly: ἐρήμωσις, desolation, stands three times in the corpus — Matt 24:15, Mark 13:14, **Luke 21:20** — so it is in all three books. But βδέλυγμα, abomination, also stands three times — Matt 24:15, Mark 13:14, **Luke 16:15**. That is, **Luke keeps ἐρήμωσις and drops only βδέλυγμα**, using that word elsewhere in his book (16:15, what is exalted among people) — as recorded at Luke 16. What fills the place, στρατόπεδον, an army, is a **corpus hapax**. And Luke adds two clauses of flight at v.21: Matt 24:16 and Mark 13:14 have only let those in Judea flee to the mountains, while Luke adds **let those inside her depart** and **let those in the country not enter her.** ἐκχωρέω, to depart, is also a **corpus hapax**.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The words are not in the base text (DECISIONS C1). And the split is backed by the counts: Luke does not lack βδέλυγμα but **uses it elsewhere.** Its absence here is therefore not accidental, and supplying it would erase that choice. Of thirteen versions examined not one imports the abomination — here the versions too follow their base text.
Basis The three carry one discourse, and helping the reader see the parallel is a service.
Rejected Harmonising erases **exactly what this edition sets out to show**: that the three books point at different things at the same place, and that Luke knew the word and did not use it here.
Why this rendering
Luke.21.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
**This verse is Luke's alone.** Matthew 24 and Mark 13 have nothing answering to it. Three words hold the place: αἰχμαλωτίζω, to be led captive, is a **corpus hapax**; πατέω, to tread, stands twice and both are Luke's, the other being **10:19**, I have given you authority to **tread** on snakes and scorpions. So the only two treadings in this book are the disciples treading and Jerusalem being trodden. And **καιροὶ ἐθνῶν**, times of the nations, is a phrase found at this one place in the corpus. The verse before parts as well: Matt 24:19 and Mark 13:17 have the same woe to those with child and those nursing, while Luke adds **ἀνάγκη μεγάλη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὀργὴ τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ**, great distress upon the land and **wrath upon this people.** The grounding at v.22 is Luke's own too — **ἡμέραι ἐκδικήσεως**, days of vengeance — and ἐκδίκησις stands three times in the corpus and **all three are Luke's** (18:7, 18:8, 21:22): the word from the widow and the judge of Luke 18 returning here.
Rendering options · 2
Basis There are only two treadings in this book and they run opposite ways; splitting the renderings loses that. καιροὶ ἐθνῶν is not unpacked by the text, so the translation does not unpack it.
Basis Trodden sounds weak, and the reader can hardly tell what καιροὶ ἐθνῶν means.
Rejected Strengthening it splits the word from 10:19, where the disciples do not trample snakes. And unfolding καιροὶ ἐθνῶν makes the translation interpret what the text does not. It is left hard and the ground recorded here.
Why this rendering
Luke.21.34 Observation
Syntactic observation
**The close of this discourse is Luke's own.** Matthew 24 runs on into the slave, the ten virgins and the talents, and Mark 13 ends with the doorkeeper; Luke 21:34-36 ends otherwise. And those three verses are made almost wholly of words found at this one place: κραιπάλη, a drinking-hangover; βιωτικός, of daily living; αἰφνίδιος, sudden; παγίς, a snare; ἐπεισέρχομαι, to come upon; and ἐκφεύγω, to escape, are **each a corpus hapax**. ἀγρυπνέω, to keep awake, stands twice — Mark 13:33 and here — and **never in Matthew**, whose word at that point is γρηγορέω; and as recorded at Luke 12, **γρηγορέω stands only once in Luke, at 12:37.** κατισχύω, to prevail, stands three times: Matt 16:18 (the gates of Hades shall not prevail) and twice in Luke (21:36 and **23:23**, their voices prevailed). The last two verses (37-38) are Luke's alone as well: αὐλίζομαι, to lodge for the night, stands twice, the other being Matt 21:17 (he lodged in Bethany), and ὀρθρίζω, to come early in the morning, is a **corpus hapax**. So where the discourse ends Luke records **a repeated round — teaching in the temple by day and lodging on the Mount of Olives by night** — and Matthew and Mark have no such knot.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Two drink-words stand side by side in one verse and **both are corpus hapax** — κραιπάλη and μέθη; blurring them into dissipation or drunkenness hides that the base text used two. And κραιπάλη stands once in the corpus. Only three versions keep the after-drink grain (KJV, ASV, YLT surfeiting — the state **after** excess); the other ten go to carousing, dissipation, or 개역한글's 방탕함, which name the drinking or the revelling itself. And this edition has already used 방탕 for the ἀσώτως of 15:13, so that word is not available here.
Basis It is the familiar pair, and hangover sounds too light in Korean and English.
Rejected That it sounds light is the grain of the word — κραιπάλη is what comes **after** drinking and μέθη what comes **during**. Blurring loses the before and after. And dissipation is already used for the ἀσώτως of 15:13, so it would collide.
Lost in translation
The Greek splits drink into **during** (μέθη) and **after** (κραιπάλη). Korean 취함 and 숙취 carry some of it, as do English drunkenness and hangover. But the way this verse sets the two side by side as **reasons a heart grows heavy** does not cross over, because the two words now carry unequal weight — the hangover sounds light and the drunkenness heavy.