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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 11 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53
OET (OET-LV) Therefore if you_all being evil, have_known good gifts to_be_giving to_the children of_you_all, for_how_much more the father who is of heaven will_be_giving the_ holy _spirit to_the ones requesting him?
OET (OET-RV) So if you all know how to give good things to your children despite your being evil, how much more the father in heaven will give the holy spirit to those who ask him.”
There are four paragraphs in this section. In each paragraph, Jesus taught his disciples something about prayer.
Some other headings for this section are:
Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer (NIV)
Jesus Teaches About Prayer (NCV)
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 6:9–13 and 7:7–11.
In the preceding paragraph Jesus encouraged his disciples to ask God for things. He assured them that God would answer their requests. In this paragraph 11:11–13 Jesus illustrated the truth of what he had just said by giving two examples. Both examples showed that a human father would never give his son something harmful if the son asked for something good to eat. He then concluded by stating that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. See the note on 11:13 for more information about this conclusion.
In the Greek, as in the BSB, this verse is one long and complicated sentence. It includes several steps in a logical argument with one main conclusion:
People are evil.
However, people know how to give good gifts to their children.
(Implied) God is good.
Therefore, God most certainly knows how to give good gifts to his children.
Consider how people make this type of argument in your culture.
So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children,
Therefore, if/since you(plur) evil/bad people know how to give good things to your children,
Even though you(plur) are wicked people, you know to give good gifts to your children when they ask you for something.
You(plur) know to give good gifts to your children even though you are evil/sinful.
So: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as So is a logical connector. It introduces the conclusion to this paragraph. Some other ways to introduce this conclusion are:
then (NIV)
Therefore
If you make 11:13a a separate sentence (see General Comment on 11:13a below), it is possible to place this conjunction in 11:13b. For example:
13aEven though you’re evil, you know how to give good things to your children. 13bSo how much more… (GW)
In other languages, a specific conjunction may not be necessary to introduce this verse as a conclusion. For example:
As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children… (CEV)
if you…know how to give good gifts to your children: This phrase is literally “If you…know to give good gifts to your children.” The BSB has added the word how to make it natural English.
This conditional (“if”) clause implies that the people knew how to give good gifts to their children, and, in fact, gave them good gifts regularly. There is no doubt about this. Some other ways to translate this clause are:
Translate the “If” as “Because.” For example:
Because you know to give good gifts to your children
Translate the clause without a word like “if.” For example:
you know how to give good things to your children (GNT)
Translate this clause in a way that is most natural in your language.
who are evil: The clause who are evil means “in spite of the fact that you are evil.” Jesus was not condemning his disciples here. He was simply stating that all people are sinful. Another way to translate this is:
Even though you are bad… (NCV)
evil: The word that the BSB translates as evil also means “bad,” “sinful,” or “wicked.”
In some languages it may be helpful to make this into a separate sentence. For example:
As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. (GNT)
Some other ways to translate this are:
If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children… (NLT96)
You are sinful, but you know how to give good things to your children.
how much more will your Father in heaven
you(plur) can be absolutely sure that your(plur) Father in heaven
So what about your(plur) heavenly Father God? He is even more willing to
Your(plur) Father in heaven is good. So he knows more than you how
how much more will your Father in heaven: Here a contrast is made between the nature of man and the nature of God: man is sinful and (it is implied that) God is good. The first part of the contrast (that man is sinful) was stated explicitly in 11:13a. If it is necessary to make the second half of the contrast explicit in your language, you may say:
how much more will your Father in heaven who is good…
But your heavenly father is good. It is even more certain that…
how much more: The phrase how much more compares two things. It compares God’s willingness/readiness and man’s willingness to give good gifts. (The comparison is not between the sizes of the gifts.) If man gives good gifts, God will even more certainly give good gifts.
Some other ways to translate this are:
But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. (CEV)
What about your heavenly Father? He is even more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
It is absolutely certain that your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
your Father in heaven: The phrase your Father in heaven refers to God. Here heaven refers to the place where God lives.
See heaven, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
will give the Holy Spirit to the people who ask him!”
give/send the Holy Spirit to people who ask him for his Spirit!”
to give good gifts. He will give/send the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him: This means that God will give the best of all gifts to those who ask him. He will give them his own Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the best gift because God gives everything that is good through his Spirit.
give the Holy Spirit: Since the Holy Spirit is a being and not a thing, in some languages it may be better to use a verb such as “send” instead of give.
Holy Spirit: The term Holy Spirit also occurs in 10:21a. See the note there for information about translating this term.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-condition-fact
εἰ & ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὑπάρχοντες, οἴδατε
if & you_all (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἰ Οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροί ὑπάρχοντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθά διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ Πατήρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν)
Jesus is speaking as if this were a hypothetical possibility, but he means that it is actually true. If your language does not state something as a condition if it is certain or true, and if your readers might think that what Jesus is saying is not certain, then you could translate his words as an affirmative statement. Alternate translation: [since you who are evil know]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ Πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, δώσει Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν?
˱for˲_how_much more the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἰ Οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροί ὑπάρχοντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθά διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ Πατήρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν)
Jesus is using the question form to teach his disciples. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate his words as a statement or exclamation. Alternate translation: [your Heavenly Father will even more certainly give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!]
11:13 give the Holy Spirit: Matthew’s parallel (Matt 7:11) reads “give good gifts.” The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift for believers, providing guidance, power, and the seal of salvation. Luke gives special prominence to the work of the Holy Spirit in Luke and Acts.
OET (OET-LV) Therefore if you_all being evil, have_known good gifts to_be_giving to_the children of_you_all, for_how_much more the father who is of heaven will_be_giving the_ holy _spirit to_the ones requesting him?
OET (OET-RV) So if you all know how to give good things to your children despite your being evil, how much more the father in heaven will give the holy spirit to those who ask him.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.