Lukas 6:12-16

Choosing the Twelve Apostles

6:12 Now ¹  it was during this time that Jesus ²  went out to the mountain ³  to pray, and he spent all night ⁴  in prayer to God. ⁵  6:13 When ⁶  morning came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ⁷  6:14 Simon ⁸  (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ⁹  6:15 Matthew, Thomas, ¹⁰  James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹¹  6:16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, ¹²  who became a traitor.

Matius 10:2-4

10:2 Now these are the names of the twelve apostles: ¹³  first, Simon ¹⁴  (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother; 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵  Thomas ¹⁶  and Matthew the tax collector; ¹⁷  James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ¹⁸  10:4 Simon the Zealot ¹⁹  and Judas Iscariot, ²⁰  who betrayed him. ²¹ 

Markus 3:13-19

Appointing the Twelve Apostles

3:13 Now ²²  Jesus went up the mountain ²³  and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 3:14 He ²⁴  appointed twelve (whom he named apostles ²⁵ ), ²⁶  so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 3:15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 3:16 He appointed twelve: ²⁷  To Simon ²⁸  he gave the name Peter; 3:17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, ²⁹  he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 3:18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, ³⁰  Matthew, Thomas, ³¹  James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, ³²  Simon the Zealot, ³³  3:19 and Judas Iscariot, ³⁴  who betrayed him. ³⁵ 

[6:12]  ¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that in.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[6:12]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ³ tn Or “to a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὅρος, eis to Joro").

[6:12]  sn The expression to the mountain here may be idiomatic or generic, much like the English “he went to the hospital” (cf. 15:29), or even intentionally reminiscent of Exod 24:12 (LXX), since the genre of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be that of a new Moses giving a new law.

[6:12]  ⁴ sn This is the only time all night prayer is mentioned in the NT.

[6:12]  ⁵ tn This is an objective genitive, so prayer “to God.”

[6:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:13]  ⁷ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only in Matt 10:2, possibly in Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (here plus 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

[6:14]  ⁸ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (Matt 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[6:14]  ⁹ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[6:15]  ¹⁰ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[6:15]  ¹¹ sn The designation Zealot means that Simon was a political nationalist before coming to follow Jesus. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the descriptive term applied to Simon means something like “Simon the patriot” (see L&N 25.77 and especially 11.88).

[6:16]  ¹² sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[10:2]  ¹³ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here, Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

[10:2]  ¹⁴ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[10:3]  ¹⁵ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[10:3]  ¹⁶ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[10:3]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

[10:3]  ¹⁸ tc Witnesses differ on the identification of the last disciple mentioned in v. 3: He is called Λεββαῖος (Lebbaio", “Lebbaeus”) in D, Judas Zelotes in it, and not present in sy^s. The Byzantine text, along with a few others (C^[*^],2 L W Θ Ë¹ 33 Ï), conflates earlier readings by calling him “Lebbaeus, who was called Thaddaeus,” while codex 13 pc conflate by way of transposition (“Thaddaeus, who was called Lebbaeus”). But excellent witnesses of the earliest texttypes (א B ˹³ 892 pc lat co) call him merely Θαδδαῖος (Qaddaio", “Thaddaeus”), a reading which, because of this support, is most likely correct.

[10:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the Cananean,” but according to both BDAG 507 s.v. Καναναῖος and L&N 11.88, this term has no relation at all to the geographical terms for Cana or Canaan, but is derived from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast, zealot” (see Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), possibly because of an earlier affiliation with the party of the Zealots. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the term would refer to his temperament.

[10:4]  ²⁰ sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[10:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “who even betrayed him.”

[3:13]  ²² tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[3:13]  ²³ tn Or “up a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὅρος, eis to Joro").

[3:13]  sn The expression up the mountain here may be idiomatic or generic, much like the English “he went to the hospital” (cf. 15:29), or even intentionally reminiscent of Exod 24:12 (LXX), since the genre of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be that of a new Moses giving a new law.

[3:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And he.”

[3:14]  ²⁵ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here and Mark 6:30, Matt 10:2, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

[3:14]  ²⁶ tc The phrase “whom he named apostles” is lacking in the majority of mss (A C² [D] L ˹ 33 Ï latt sy). Several primary Alexandrian and Caesarean witnesses (א B [C* W] Θ Ë¹³ 28 pc co) include the phrase, so the external evidence is strongly in favor of this reading, especially since Alexandrian witnesses tend to witness to the shorter reading. It is possible that the Alexandrian witnesses have inserted these words to bring the text in line with Luke 6:13 (TCGNT 69), but against this is the internal evidence of Mark’s style: Mark tends toward gratuitous redundancy. Thus the inclusion of this phrase is supported by both internal and external evidence and should be regarded as more likely original than the omission.

[3:16]  ²⁷ tc The phrase “he appointed twelve” is lacking in the majority of manuscripts (A C² D L Θ Ë¹ 33 2427 Ï lat sy bo). Some important witnesses include the phrase (א B C* Δ 565 579 pc), but perhaps the best explanation for the omission of the clause in the majority of witnesses is haplography in combination with homoioarcton: The first word of the clause in question is καί (kai), and the first word after the clause in question is also καί. And the first two letters of the second word, in each instance, are επ (ep). Early scribes most likely jumped accidentally from the first καί to the second, omitting the intervening material. Thus the clause was most likely in the original text. (See 3:14 above for a related textual problem.)

[3:16]  ²⁸ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Matt 10:1-4; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[3:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “to James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James.”

[3:18]  ³⁰ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[3:18]  ³¹ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[3:18]  ³² tc This disciple is called Λεββαῖον (Lebbaion, “Lebbaeus”) in D it; see the discussion of the parallel text in Matt 10:3 where conflation occurs among other witnesses as well.

[3:18]  ³³ tn Grk “the Cananean,” but according to both BDAG 507 s.v. Καναναῖος and L&N 11.88, this term has no relation at all to the geographical terms for Cana or Canaan, but is derived from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast, zealot” (see Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), possibly because of an earlier affiliation with the party of the Zealots. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the term would refer to his temperament.

[3:19]  ³⁴ sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[3:19]  ³⁵ tn Grk “who even betrayed him.”