Luke 10:4-5 Fun

One of the things I am trying to make clear in my novel is that Galilee and Judea in the time of Jesus was a rough place. Jesus warns his followers about this but his warning is lost in translation. The context here is that Jesus is sending out seventy of his followers to prepare places for him to speak.

He first warns them of the dangers of the road in Luke 10:4, but that is lost in translation, and Jesus is made to sound rather unfriendly and even cruel in the bargain:

NIV: Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

The picture here is that they must carry nothing, go barefoot, and be unfriendly. Was Jesus being mean? Of course not. What was he really saying?

Listeners Heard: Don't lift up a purse. Not a food pouch. Not sandals and down the way you should greet nobody by yourselves. 

This verse is a warning against the dangers of the road. The sense of the word translated as "carry" and "take" primarily means to "lift up" or "raise." The sense is not to carry these things visibly.

What about greeting people? The word translated as "greet" also means "to draw to yourself." We know it means this because it is in the middle voice where the verb acts on the person doing it. This problem isn't greeting people, it is attracting attention. We know from the parable of the good Samaritan that roads were unsafe. The idea was to avoid showing what you had and don’t draw attention.

The next verse is also a warning, but translation misses the point, and makes it more like a kumbaya moment. Here is how the NIV translated Luke 10:5.

NIV: When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’

I don’t know what that means, but it sounds nice, doesn’t it? However, it is not really what Jesus said. He said:

Listeners Heard: But into whatever home you enter, first tell [each other], "You keep peace with this household." 

I added the “each other” because, in English, we cannot see that the “keep peace” is a command or request they give each other. This is clear in Greek. The “tell” is plural, to everyone. but what they are to say is: “you keep peace…” singular.

We should avoid trouble on the road, but we don’t want to cause it where we are staying.