LUKE 17:3 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 17:1–10: Jesus taught his disciples about sin, faith, and duty

At the end of chapter 16, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. He concluded his parable about Lazarus and the rich man. Here in 17:1–10, he spoke to his disciples and taught them about several issues.Scholars have different opinions about whether the teachings in this section are thematically related to Jesus’ teachings in chapter 16. Some scholars say that the teachings in the two chapters are not connected. Other scholars do see a broad connection. Green says, “Especially due to its location adjacent to prior accounts of Jesus’ interaction with Pharisees, this pericope recapitulates Jesus’ message to his followers: They are not to be like the Pharisees!” (p. 611). Liefeld says that “it is also possible to see a logical connection between the end of chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17, if we understand ‘the things that cause people to sin’ to be the sins of the Pharisees, such as those mentioned in 16:14.” Scholars also disagree about whether the paragraphs in this section are related to each other. About this, Liefeld says that “there is a common unifying theme of attitudes in the Christian community” (p. 994). Morris also mentions this possible connection: “The connecting link here may be the attitude of the religious leaders. They were in danger of using their wealth wrongly, and they were also in danger of leading their lesser brethren astray—temptations that would confront his disciples as well as people like the Pharisees” (p. 279). Nolland (p. 835) says, “Luke seems to have cobbled a unity together here of three separate blocks of tradition (verses 1–2, 3–4, 5–6). The catchword link “into/in the sea” from verse 2 to verse 6 helps to give a formal unity to the piece, and it is likely that he intends the blocks so juxtaposed, to mutually qualify the meaning of one another.” He also says, “As he opens this new section (17:1–19) Luke has brought together three blocks of tradition to form a unit about the adequacy, despite all human frailty, of even the most meager of kingdom faiths for the radical challenge of Jesus’ teaching” (p. 839).

English versions divide these verses into sections in different ways. For example:

Most versions put 17:1–10 together in one section and have one heading. (The Notes follow these versions.)
Some versions divide 17:1–10 into three sections with a heading for each one. For example, the GNT has:

17:1–4	Sin
17:5–6	Faith
17:7–10	A servant’s duty

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Jesus taught his disciples to not cause others to sin, to forgive others, and to serve him humbly

Teachings about Forgiveness and Faith (NLT)

Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service (NET)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 18:6–7 and 18:15 and in Mark 9:42. However, Jesus may have spoken these passages in a different context from the one in this section.

17:3a

Watch yourselves.

So watch what you do! (GNT)
Be sure that you^(plur) do not cause anyone to disobey/deny God.
Therefore be careful how you^(plur) live/behave.

Versions such as the CEV, GNT, GW, NIV, and NLT supply the word “So” at the beginning of this verse. In Greek there is no conjunction. There are two ways to connect 17:3a to the context:

It connects to 17:1–2. It implies that the disciples should be careful so that they do not cause one of these little ones to sin. Some English versions have a paragraph break between 17:3a and 17:3b to indicate this connection.See the BSB, NIV, GNT, CEV, REB, GW, NCV, and NLT.
It connects to 17:3b–4. It implies that the disciples should be careful how they live and how they treat people.

Both connections are implied, but (a) is more prominent. If you need to make the connection more explicit, you can choose option (a). For example, as noted above, the NIV has “So” here to connect 17:3a to 17:1–2 as its conclusion. Connect 17:3a to the context in a natural way in your language.

Watch yourselves: The expression Watch yourselves is a warning. It means “be careful how you^(plur) behave/act.”A minority view is that Jesus meant that his disciples should watch each other. Some other ways to translate this are:

be careful what you do (CEV)

be on your guard (REB)

Paragraph 17:3b–4

In this paragraph, Jesus taught his followers that they must always forgive people who repent for sinning against them. This may be one way to avoid causing “one of these little ones” to sin (17:1–2).

17:3b

If your brother sins, rebuke him;

¶ “If your^(sing) fellow believer sins, correct him.
¶ “If another person who believes in me does wrong to you^(sing), tell him that he has done wrong.
¶ “Reprove/rebuke^(sing) your fellow believer when he has sinned against you,

If your brother: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as your brother refers to any believer in Jesus, whether male or female.

In some languages, the word brother may cause readers to think that Jesus referred only to family members or to males. If that is true in your language, you may need to translate this word with a different term. For example:

your fellow believer

a person who believes in me

another believer (NLT)

your: The pronoun your is singular, but Jesus was speaking to all of his disciples. Jesus often used a singular form when he was speaking to a group. It indicates that he wanted each individual to listen carefully and obey him.

In some languages it may be confusing to use a singular form here. Use whatever form is natural in your language for this situation.

sins: The verb sins refers here to sinning against another person, as in 17:4. It means to speak, act, or think toward the person in a way that God does not approve. Sinning against someone can also include neglecting to do what God wants concerning that person.

Try to translate sins with a general term that can include sinning against a person in any way. Here are some problems to avoid:

The term should not imply that a person sins only when he does serious crimes like murdering or stealing. He also sins when he gossips or treats someone unfairly.
The term should not include accidents or mistakes that are not against God’s will.

If possible, use the same term that you use for sinning against God.

Some other ways to translate sins in this context are:

does wrong/bad to

treats badly

17:3c

and if he repents, forgive him.

If he changes his thinking/heart and is sorry, forgive^(sing) him.
If he regrets the wrong that he has done to you^(sing), pardon him.
and pardon him when he tells you^(sing) that he is sorry for what he has done to you^(sing).

if he repents: The Greek word that the BSB translates as repents means for a person “to change his mind, heart, or will.” In the Bible, it refers specifically to a person’s changing his mind and heart about sin. When a person repents, he is sorry for his past sins. He decides to stop sinning.

In this context of someone sinning against another person, the words he repents indicate that he regrets the wrong that he did to that person. He changes his attitude and behavior. Some ways to translate “repent” in this context are:

If he changes his thinking/mind/heart

If he rejects his sin

If he says that he will not do that sin again

Some languages may have an idiom for this type of change. For example:

If he turns from the sin

forgive him: Here the Greek word that the BSB translates as forgive means “pardon.” When someone pardons a person who has sinned against him, he decides not to punish the person or seek revenge against him. He also decides that he will not continue to be angry or resentful toward the person.

Some possible ways to translate forgive him are:

pardon him/her

release/free him from the sin/punishment

forget his wrongdoing

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς Ἐάν ἁμάρτῃ ὁ ἀδελφός σοῦ ἐπιτίμησον αὐτῷ καί ἐάν μετανοήσῃ ἄφες αὐτῷ)

Since Jesus is teaching about how important it is not to sin and not to encourage others to sin, the implication is that this statement means that he wants his disciples to help one another not to sin. Alternate translation: [Help one another not to sin]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / you

προσέχετε

The implied “you” in this imperative is plural, since Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / youcrowd

σου & ἐπιτίμησον & ἄφες

The word your and the implied “you” in the imperatives rebuke and forgive are singular, since Jesus is addressing an individual situation, even though he is speaking to a group. If these singular forms would not be natural in your language for someone who was speaking to a group of people, you could use plural forms in your translation.

Note 4 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical

ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ἐπιτίμησον αὐτῷ

Jesus is describing a hypothetical situation in order to tell his disciples what they should do if it takes place. Alternate translation: [Suppose a fellow believer were to sin. Then you should rebuke him]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὁ ἀδελφός σου

the brother (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς Ἐάν ἁμάρτῃ ὁ ἀδελφός σοῦ ἐπιτίμησον αὐτῷ καί ἐάν μετανοήσῃ ἄφες αὐτῷ)

Jesus is using the term brother to mean someone who shares the same faith. Alternate translation: [a fellow believer]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

ὁ ἀδελφός σου

Although the term brother is masculine, Jesus is using the word in a generic sense that includes both men and women. Alternate translation: [a fellow believer]

ἐπιτίμησον αὐτῷ

give_rebuke ˱to˲_him

Alternate translation: [correct him] or [tell him strongly that what he did was wrong]

Note 7 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical

καὶ ἐὰν μετανοήσῃ, ἄφες αὐτῷ

Jesus is describing another hypothetical situation in order to tell his disciples what they should do if it takes place. It may be helpful to begin a new sentence here. Alternate translation: [And suppose that believer were to repent. Then you should forgive him]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.