LUKE 6:24 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:17–49: Jesus taught people how to be his disciples

In this section, Jesus spoke about how his true disciples should think and act. He spoke about this immediately after he had chosen twelve of his disciples to be his apostles. Jesus said many things about this topic in his speech, so that people have often called this particular speech of Jesus a “sermon.”

In this sermon, Jesus asked those who heard him to be different from other people in the world and to think differently. He encouraged his disciples to obey his authority and live as people of God. They should be generous and merciful even to their enemies, as God is generous to everyone. Jesus assured his disciples that they would be blessed and rewarded for their obedience and for suffering for him. He concluded his speech by telling parables to motivate his disciples to obey his teaching.

Another possible heading for this section is:

The Sermon on the Plain (NET)

Some English versions divide 6:17–49 into several sections. Here is one way that might be done:

6:17–26 Blessings and woes

6:27–36 Love your enemies

6:37–42 Do not judge

6:43–45 A tree and its fruit

6:46–49 Two foundations

The sermon in 6:17–49 is similar to the sermon commonly referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew chapters 5–7.

Paragraph 6:24–26

This paragraph contains four “woes.” Each woe is a general statement against those who are satisfied with their life here and do not seek God. Each “woe” contrasts with an earlier “blessed.” For example, 6:20b says:

Blessed are you who are poor

and 6:24a says:

But woe to you who are rich

As in the statements about being blessed, Jesus addressed the people as “you^(plur).” He was making general statements. He did not mean that everyone was rich, well fed, or laughing. Use a form that is natural in your language for general statements that are true. For example:

Woe to you^(sing) who

Woe to him

Woe to they/people who

Woe to those who

If possible, use the same pronoun as the one you used for the statement about being blessed.

6:24a–b

Verse 6:24a–b contrasts with 6:20b–c. The contrast is as follows: Those who are poor are “blessed” because they are part of God’s kingdom. Those who are rich are in trouble because they are not part of God’s kingdom.

Try to make this clear in your translation by using terms or expressions that correspond to the terms you used in 6:20.

6:24a

But woe to you who are rich,

¶ “But how bad/terrible it will be for you^(plur) who are rich,
¶ “But you^(plur) wealthy people will have great distress/trouble,

But: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as But marks the contrast between the four blessings in 6:20–23 and the four woes in 6:24–26.

woe to you: The Greek word that the BSB translates as woe describes a state or situation of intense distress. It expresses a sense of God’s coming judgment. Therefore, it is a warning and a call to people to change the way they are living. These “woes” state the distress that these people can expect in the future.

You may have a natural way to express this in your language. It may be a single word (or short expression) that communicates sadness, grief, or sorrow. Words like “woe” or “alas” in English do this. Some other ways you could translate this phrase are:

how horrible it will be for those (GW)

But you…are in for trouble (CEV)

What sorrows await you (NLT96)

These “woes” are not a curse formula. They are not asking God to curse these people.

who are rich: The Greek word that the BSB translates as rich refers to people who have wealth. They usually have everything they need and even much more than they need. The word rich may also refer to people who have great privilege and status. People who are rich may be arrogant and depend on their wealth rather than God.

6:24b

for you have already received your comfort.

for/because you^(plur) are receiving in full now all the comfort that you will receive.
because you are receiving in this life all the good things you will ever get.

for: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as for introduces the reason why the rich are in trouble. They are in trouble because they have already received comfort in this life.

you have already received your comfort: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as you have already received is literally “you are receiving in full.” Jesus meant that rich people receive on this earth all the ease and pleasure that they will ever get. God will not give them anything more to comfort them beyond what they get in this life. This implies that they will not experience the eternal blessings of the kingdom of God. Some other ways to translate this are:

you are receiving your comfort in full (NASB)

you are receiving in this life all the comfort you will ever receive

because you have had your easy life (NCV)

comfort: The Greek word that the BSB translates as comfort is literally “encouragement.” The rich already have the help or encouragement they need in this world. This is what they are getting in return for adopting worldly values. However, when they face God’s judgment, there will be no help for them. They have not made God’s values a part of their life.

Another way to translate this is:

easy life (CEV)

happiness (NLT)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

οὐαὶ ὑμῖν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Πλήν οὐαί ὑμῖν τοῖς πλουσίοις ὅτι ἀπέχετε τήν παράκλησιν ὑμῶν)

The phrase woe to you is the opposite of “blessed are you.” It indicates that bad things are going to happen to the people being addressed, because they have displeased God. Alternate translation: [how terrible it is for you] or [trouble will come to you]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

τοῖς πλουσίοις

¬the rich

Jesus is using the adjective rich as a noun in order to indicate a group of people. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [people who are rich]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀπέχετε τὴν παράκλησιν ὑμῶν

˱you_all˲_˓are˒_receiving_fully (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Πλήν οὐαί ὑμῖν τοῖς πλουσίοις ὅτι ἀπέχετε τήν παράκλησιν ὑμῶν)

Jesus is drawing a series of contrasts between what the poor and the rich have now and what they will have later. So the implication is that while the rich have enjoyed ease and prosperity in this life, if they become complacent in those things, they will not enjoy it afterwards. Alternate translation: [you have already received in this life anything that will make you comfortable]

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.