Lukas 7:37

7:37 Then ¹  when a woman of that town, who was a sinner, learned that Jesus ²  was dining ³  at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar ⁴  of perfumed oil. ⁵ 

Lukas 15:2

15:2 But ⁶  the Pharisees ⁷  and the experts in the law ⁸  were complaining, ⁹  “This man welcomes ¹⁰  sinners and eats with them.”

Lukas 15:28-30

15:28 But the older son ¹¹  became angry ¹²  and refused ¹³  to go in. His father came out and appealed to him, 15:29 but he answered ¹⁴  his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave ¹⁵  for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet ¹⁶  you never gave me even a goat ¹⁷  so that I could celebrate with my friends! 15:30 But when this son of yours ¹⁸  came back, who has devoured ¹⁹  your assets with prostitutes, ²⁰  you killed the fattened calf ²¹  for him!’

Lukas 18:9-11

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

18:9 Jesus ²²  also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down ²³  on everyone else. 18:10 “Two men went up ²⁴  to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee ²⁵  and the other a tax collector. ²⁶  18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ²⁷  ‘God, I thank ²⁸  you that I am not like other people: ²⁹  extortionists, ³⁰  unrighteous people, ³¹  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ³² 

[7:37]  ¹ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[7:37]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:37]  ³ tn Grk “was reclining at table.”

[7:37]  ⁴ sn A jar made of alabaster stone was normally used for very precious substances like perfumes. It normally had a long neck which was sealed and had to be broken off so the contents could be used.

[7:37]  ⁵ tn Μύρον (muron) was usually made of myrrh (from which the English word is derived) but here it is used in the sense of ointment or perfumed oil (L&N 6.205). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 38 and in v. 46.

[7:37]  sn Nard or spikenard is a fragrant oil from the root and spike of the nard plant of northern India. This perfumed oil, if made of something like nard, would have been extremely expensive, costing up to a year’s pay for an average laborer.

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[15:2]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[15:2]  ⁸ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Or “grumbling”; Grk “were complaining, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “accepts,” “receives.” This is not the first time this issue has been raised: Luke 5:27-32; 7:37-50.

[15:28]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the older son, v. 25) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:28]  ¹² tn The aorist verb ὠργίσθη (wrgisqh) has been translated as an ingressive aorist, reflecting entry into a state or condition.

[15:28]  ¹³ sn Ironically the attitude of the older son has left him outside and without joy.

[15:29]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “but he answered.”

[15:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or simply, “have served,” but in the emotional context of the older son’s outburst the translation given is closer to the point.

[15:29]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to bring out the contrast indicated by the context.

[15:29]  ¹⁷ sn You never gave me even a goat. The older son’s complaint was that the generous treatment of the younger son was not fair: “I can’t get even a little celebration with a basic food staple like a goat!”

[15:30]  ¹⁸ sn Note the younger son is not “my brother” but this son of yours (an expression with a distinctly pejorative nuance).

[15:30]  ¹⁹ sn This is another graphic description. The younger son’s consumption had been like a glutton. He had both figuratively and literally devoured the assets which were given to him.

[15:30]  ²⁰ sn The charge concerning the prostitutes is unproven, but essentially the older brother accuses the father of committing an injustice by rewarding his younger son’s unrighteous behavior.

[15:30]  ²¹ sn See note on the phrase “fattened calf” in v. 23.

[18:9]  ²² tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ²³ tn Grk “and despised.” This is a second parable with an explanatory introduction.

[18:10]  ²⁴ sn The temple is on a hill in Jerusalem, so one would go up to enter its precincts.

[18:10]  ²⁵ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[18:10]  ²⁶ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[18:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

[18:11]  ²⁸ sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ²⁹ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

[18:11]  ³⁰ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ³¹ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ³² sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.