LUKE 9:58 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky, nests, but the Son of Man does not have a place where he might lay his head.”

UST Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes in the ground to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, do not have a home to sleep in!”

BLB And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere He might lay the head."

AICNT And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have dens and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

OEB ‘Foxes have holes,’ he replied, ‘and wild birds their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

WEBBE Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

WMBB Yeshua said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

NET Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

LSV and Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky places of rest, but the Son of Man has nowhere He may recline the head.”

FBV Jesus told the man, “Foxes have their dens, and wild birds have their nests, but the Son of man doesn't even have a place to rest his head.”

TCNT Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

T4T In order that the man might know what he could expect if he went with Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes in the ground in which to live, and birds have nests, but even though I am the one who came from heaven, I do not have a home where I can sleep!”

LEB And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his[fn] head.”

9:58 *Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun

BBE And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

Moff Jesus said to him,
⇔ "The foxes have their holes,
⇔ wild birds have their nests,
⇔ but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

Wymth "The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

ASV And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

DRA Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

YLT and Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes, and the fowls of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may recline the head.'

Drby And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven roosting-places, but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head.

RV And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
(And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath/has not where to lay his head. )

SLT And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens, and fowls of heaven encampments; but the Son of man has not where he might lay down the head.

Wbstr And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

KJB-1769 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
(And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath/has not where to lay his head. )

KJB-1611 And Iesus said vnto him, Foxes haue holes, and birds of the aire haue nests, but the Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from marking of added words (and possibly capitalisation and punctuation))

Bshps And Iesus sayde vnto hym: Foxes haue holes, and byrdes of the ayre haue nestes: but the sonne of man, hath not where to lay his head.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from marking of added words (and possibly capitalisation and punctuation))

Gnva And Iesus saide vnto him, The foxes haue holes, and the birdes of the heauen nestes, but the Sonne of man hath not whereon to lay his head.
(And Yesus/Yeshua said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven nests, but the Son of man hath/has not whereon to lay his head. )

Cvdl And Iesus sayde vnto him: The foxes haue holes, and the byrdes vnder the heaue haue nestes: but the sonne of man hath not wheron to laye his heade.
(And Yesus/Yeshua said unto him: The foxes have holes, and the birds under the heaven have nests: but the son of man hath/has not wheron to lay his head.)

TNT Iesus sayd vnto him: foxes have holes and bryddes of the ayer have nestes: but the sonne of man hath not where on to laye his heed.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him: foxes have holes and bryddes of the ayer have nests: but the son of man hath/has not where on to lay his heed. )

Wycl And Jhesus seide to hym, Foxis han dennes, and briddis of the eir han nestis, but mannus sone hath not where he reste his heed.
(And Yhesus said to him, Foxis have dens, and birds of the heir have nestis, but man’s son hath/has not where he rest his heed.)

Luth Und JEsus sprach zu ihm: Die Füchse haben Gruben, und die Vögel unter dem Himmel haben Nester, aber des Menschen Sohn hat nicht, da er sein Haupt hinlege.
(And Yesus spoke to/for him: The foxes have pits, and the birds under to_him heaven have Nester, but the people son has not, there he be head hinlege.)

ClVg Dixit illi Jesus: Vulpes foveas habent, et volucres cæli nidos: Filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput reclinet.[fn]
(He/She_said them Yesus: Vulpes foveas they_have, and birds heavens nidos: Son however of_man not/no has where the_head reclinet. )

9.58 Vulpes foveas habent. ID. Vulpes animal fallax, insidiis intentum, rapinas fraudis exercens, etiam inter ipsa hominum hospitia habitans in foveis: ita hæreticus domum fidei non habens alios in suam fraudem trahit et a fide seducit.

9.58 Vulpes foveas they_have. ID. Vulpes animal fallax, insidiis intentum, robberys fraudis exercens, also between herself of_men hospitia living in/into/on foveis: so/thus thesereticus house/home of_faith not/no having others in/into/on his_own fraudem trahit and from with_faith seducit.

UGNT καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις, ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ.
(kai eipen autōi ho Yaʸsous, hai alōpekes fōleous eⱪousin, kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskaʸnōseis, ho de Huios tou Anthrōpou ouk eⱪei pou taʸn kefalaʸn klinaʸ.)

SBL-GNT καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ.
(kai eipen autōi ho Yaʸsous; Hai alōpekes fōleous eⱪousin kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskaʸnōseis, ho de huios tou anthrōpou ouk eⱪei pou taʸn kefalaʸn klinaʸ.)

RP-GNT Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις· ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ.
(Kai eipen autōi ho Yaʸsous, Hai alōpekes fōleous eⱪousin, kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskaʸnōseis; ho de huios tou anthrōpou ouk eⱪei pou taʸn kefalaʸn klinaʸ.)

TC-GNT Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσι, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις· ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν [fn]κλίνῃ.
(Kai eipen autōi ho Yaʸsous, Hai alōpekes fōleous eⱪousi, kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskaʸnōseis; ho de huios tou anthrōpou ouk eⱪei pou taʸn kefalaʸn klinaʸ. )

9:58 κλινη ¦ κλεινη TH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 9:57–62: It is hard to follow Jesus

In the previous section, Luke spoke about the unwillingness of people in a Samaritan village to receive Jesus. In this Section 9:57–62, Luke told about three men who said that they were willing to follow Jesus. However, they did not understand the difficulties involved. Jesus warned each of them that it would not be easy. He told them that they must put the kingdom of God above everything else in their lives.

Some other examples of headings for this section are:

The Difficulty of Following Jesus

Three People Who Wanted To Be Jesus’ Followers

There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 8:19–22.

Paragraph 9:57–58

The previous Section 9:51–56 indicated that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, so “the road” that Luke mentioned in 9:57a may be the road to Jerusalem. However, the setting for the parallel passage in Matthew 8:19–22 is different, so specific details about the location should not be made explicit here.

9:58a

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests,

Jesus answered, “Foxes have holes/dens to sleep in, and wild birds have nests for their homes,
Jesus said to him, “Foxes can sleep in their own holes/burrows, and birds have places where they return to rest/roost,

This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions (ESV, NASB) translate it that way. The NLT translates it as “But” in order to show a contrast, since Jesus’ response implied that the life of a disciple was more difficult than the man may have expected. The BSB has not translated this conjunction, and several other versions (CEV, GNT, NIV, NET) also do not translate it. Connect 9:58a to 9:57b in a way that is natural in your language.

Jesus replied: The phrase that the BSB translates as Jesus replied is literally “And Jesus said to him.” Several English versions translate it that way. Use a natural way in your language to introduce a response like this.

Foxes have dens: The clause Foxes have dens implies that foxes have dens to sleep in. Foxes move around a lot, but they have a definite place they can return to that is their home. In some languages it is helpful to make this explicit. For example:

Foxes have their own dens to sleep in

Foxes: Foxes are wild animals that look like small dogs. They live in holes/burrows or dens in the ground or in natural shelters such as caves. In languages where there is no word for “foxes,” you can:

Use a more general expression. For example:
small wild animals
Use the term in your language for a local animal that lives in a hole or burrow. Choose an animal that is as similar to a fox as possible. For example:
coyote
wild dog
civet cat

Translate this term in the way that is most natural in your language.

birds of the air have nests: The clause birds of the air have nests implies that birds have nests where they raise their young or roosts (resting places) where they regularly sleep. Other ways to translate this are:

birds live/sleep in nests

wild birds have places where they go to rest/roost

birds of the air: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as birds of the air was a common way to refer to wild birds that fly in the air. Another way to translate this is:

birds of the sky (NET)

In some languages it may be more natural to leave some of this information implicit. For example:

wild birds

birds (GNT)

The phrase “birds of the air” also occurs in 8:5c.

nests: The Greek word that the BSB translates as nests can refer to either “nests” or “roosts.” Use a term in your language that refers to a place where birds normally return at night to sleep.

9:58b

but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

but I, the Son of Man, have no place to rest/sleep that I can call/consider home.”
but as for me, the Son of Man, I do not have my own place to sleep.”

but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as but here introduces a contrast with the previous verse part. Foxes and birds had regular places to sleep. In contrast to them, Jesus had no regular home where he and his disciples could sleep at night. People in Nazareth had forced Jesus to leave, and he himself had decided to leave Capernaum. The Samaritans had also refused to welcome him.

the Son of Man: Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man. In some languages it may be necessary to make it clear that Jesus was referring to himself:

I, the Son of Man

The phrase Son of Man also occurs in 9:22a.

has no place to lay His head: The phrase has no place to lay His head means here that Jesus had no permanent house where he and his disciples could sleep at night. He did not mean that he never put his head down or that he never slept anywhere. Other ways to translate this phrase include:

doesn’t have a place to call his own (CEV)

has no regular place to sleep

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / merism

αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεούς ἔχουσιν καί τά πετεινά τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις ὁ δέ Υἱός τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τήν κεφαλήν κλίνῃ)

Jesus is using a figure of speech. By naming a creature that lives on land and a creature that flies in the air, Jesus is referring to all creatures. Alternate translation: [Every creature has a place to live]

Note 2 topic: translate-unknown

αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν

The word foxes describes land animals that are similar to small dogs. The word dens refers to holes that these animals dig in the ground as shelters. If your readers would not be familiar with this animal and its habits, you could describe them in general terms. Alternate translation: [Little animals live in holes in the ground]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo

τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις

In your language, it might seem that this phrase expresses unnecessary extra information. If so, you could abbreviate it. However, you could also use an action clause to keep the sense of sky, to complement the idea of “ground” in the previous phrase. Alternate translation: [birds live in nests] or [birds that fly in the air live in nests]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις

Jesus is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. These words can be supplied from earlier in the sentence. Alternate translation: [birds live in nests] or [birds that fly in the air live in nests]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person

ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου

¬the the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεούς ἔχουσιν καί τά πετεινά τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις ὁ δέ Υἱός τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τήν κεφαλήν κλίνῃ)

Jesus is speaking about himself in the third person. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this in the first person. Alternate translation: [but I, the Son of Man]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου

See how you translated the title Son of Man in [5:24](../05/24.md). Alternate translation: [but I, the Messiah]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ

not ˓is˒_having somewhere (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεούς ἔχουσιν καί τά πετεινά τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις ὁ δέ Υἱός τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τήν κεφαλήν κλίνῃ)

Jesus implies that if this person were to follow him, he too might not have a home. Alternate translation: [does not have a home anywhere, so if you become his disciple, expect that you will not have a home either] or (if you translated in the first person) [do not have a home anywhere, so if you become my disciple, expect that you will not have a home either]

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ

This expression means “does not have anywhere to sleep,” by association with something that a person does in order to sleep, lay down his head. And a place to sleep, by association, means a home, since that is where people sleep. Alternate translation: [does not have a home anywhere] or (if you translated in the first person) [do not have a home anywhere]

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / hyperbole

οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ

Jesus actually did find places to sleep wherever he went to teach and heal, but he says that he has no such place at all to emphasize that he has no permanent home. Alternate translation: [does not have a permanent home] or (if you translated in the first person) [do not have a permanent home]

Parallel LUKE 9:58

Section 9:57–62: It is hard to follow Jesus

Paragraph 9:57–58

9:58a

9:58b