Lukas 7:32

7:32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ¹ 

‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ² 

we wailed in mourning, ³  yet you did not weep.’

Lukas 12:3

12:3 So then ⁴  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ⁵  in private rooms ⁶  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ⁷ 

Lukas 16:24

16:24 So ⁸  he called out, ⁹  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ¹⁰  to dip the tip of his finger ¹¹  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ¹²  in this fire.’ ¹³ 

[7:32]  ¹ tn Grk “They are like children sitting…and calling out…who say.”

[7:32]  ² sn ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance…’ The children of this generation were making the complaint (see vv. 33-34) that others were not playing the game according to the way they played the music. John and Jesus did not follow “their tune.” Jesus’ complaint was that this generation wanted things their way, not God’s.

[7:32]  ³ tn The verb ἐθρηνήσαμεν (eqrhnhsamen) refers to the loud wailing and lamenting used to mourn the dead in public in 1st century Jewish culture.

[12:3]  ⁴ tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.

[12:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ⁶ sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[12:3]  ⁷ tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.

[16:24]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

[16:24]  ⁹ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

[16:24]  ¹⁰ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

[16:24]  ¹¹ sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

[16:24]  ¹² tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

[16:24]  ¹³ sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.