Lukas 22:31-34

22:31 “Simon, ¹  Simon, pay attention! ²  Satan has demanded to have you all, ³  to sift you like wheat, ⁴  22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ⁵  that your faith may not fail. ⁶  When ⁷  you have turned back, ⁸  strengthen ⁹  your brothers.” 22:33 But Peter ¹⁰  said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” ¹¹  22:34 Jesus replied, ¹²  “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow ¹³  today until you have denied ¹⁴  three times that you know me.”

Lukas 22:54-62

Jesus’ Condemnation and Peter’s Denials

22:54 Then ¹⁵  they arrested ¹⁶  Jesus, ¹⁷  led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. ¹⁸  But Peter was following at a distance. 22:55 When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 22:56 Then a slave girl, ¹⁹  seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!” 22:57 But Peter ²⁰  denied it: “Woman, ²¹  I don’t know ²²  him!” 22:58 Then ²³  a little later someone else ²⁴  saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, ²⁵  I am not!” 22:59 And after about an hour still another insisted, ²⁶  “Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean.” ²⁷  22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” At that moment, ²⁸  while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. ²⁹  22:61 Then ³⁰  the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, ³¹  how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 22:62 And he went outside and wept bitterly. ³² 

[22:31]  ¹ tc The majority of mss (א A D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï as well as several versional witnesses) begin this verse with an introductory comment, “and the Lord said,” indicating a change in the subject of discussion. But this is apparently a reading motivated by the need for clarity. Some of the best witnesses, along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ B L T 1241 2542^c sy^s co), do not contain these words. The abrupt shift is the more difficult reading and thus more likely to be original.

[22:31]  ² tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).

[22:31]  ³ sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.

[22:31]  ⁴ sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.

[22:32]  ⁵ sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ⁶ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ⁷ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ⁸ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ⁹ sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[22:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:33]  ¹¹ sn The confidence Peter has in private (Lord, I am ready…) will wilt under the pressure of the public eye.

[22:34]  ¹² tn Grk “he said”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:34]  ¹³ sn That is, Peter’s denials will happen before the sun rises.

[22:34]  ¹⁴ sn Once again, Jesus is quite aware that Peter will deny him. Peter, however, is too nonchalant about the possibility of stumbling.

[22:54]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:54]  ¹⁶ tn Or “seized” (L&N 37.109).

[22:54]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:54]  ¹⁸ sn Putting all the gospel accounts together, there is a brief encounter with Annas (brought him into the high priest’s house, here and John 18:13, where Annas is named); the meeting led by Caiaphas (Matt 26:57-68 = Mark 14:53-65; and then a Sanhedrin meeting (Matt 27:1; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71). These latter two meetings might be connected and apparently went into the morning.

[22:56]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[22:57]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he denied it, saying.” The referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[22:57]  ²¹ sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.

[22:57]  ²² sn The expression “I do not know him” had an idiomatic use in Jewish ban formulas in the synagogue and could mean, “I have nothing to do with him.”

[22:58]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:58]  ²⁴ sn In Mark 14:69, the same slave girl made the charge. So apparently Peter was being identified by a variety of people.

[22:58]  ²⁵ tn Here and in v. 60 “Man” is used as a neutral form of address to a stranger.

[22:59]  ²⁶ tn Grk “insisted, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[22:59]  ²⁷ sn According to Mark 14:70 it was Peter’s accent that gave him away as a Galilean.

[22:60]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And immediately.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:60]  ²⁹ tn A real rooster crowing is probably in view here (rather than the Roman trumpet call known as gallicinium), in part due to the fact that Mark 14:72 mentions the rooster crowing twice. See the discussion at Matt 26:74.

[22:61]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:61]  ³¹ tn “The word of the Lord” is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; here and in Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said. Because of its technical nature the expression has been retained in the translation in preference to a smoother rendering like “remembered what the Lord had said” (cf. TEV, NLT).

[22:62]  ³² sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.