Luke 18 — Liberation and Inclusion Translation

Vélez Johnson, Brandon C.

¹ Then he told them a parable on the necessity of them always praying and not getting worn down: ² “There was a judge in a particular city who didn’t take God seriously^a and was not accountable to^b humanity. ³ There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my opponent.’ ⁴ For a time, he did not intend to do it, but after these repeated petitions, he said to himself, ‘Even though I neither take God seriously nor am held accountable by humanity, ⁵ yet because she keeps bothering me, I will give this widow justice anyway, so she won’t end up breaking me down.’”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says! ⁷ Won’t God certainly enact justice for the^c chosen ones, who cry out to God^d day and night and endure the long wait^e with them? ⁸ I’m telling you, God^f will enact justice for them suddenly.^g However, when the Son of Humanity^h comes, will he find faithfulnessⁱ in the land or not?”

⁹ He also told this parable for some who were convinced about themselves that they were in alignment^j and who regarded everyone else as worthless: ¹⁰ “Two people went up^k to the sacred grounds to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood praying these things about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like everyone else—predatory,^l unjust, violating marriages^m—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector stood at a distance and refused even to look up toward the heavens. Instead, he beat his chest,ⁿ saying, ‘God, allow yourself to be reconciled with me,^o someone who deviates!’^p ¹⁴ Honestly, I’m telling you, that man went down^q to his home made right, rather than the Pharisee^r because everyone who lifts themself up will be humbled, but whoever humbles themself will be lifted up.”

¹⁵ People kept bringing babies for him to hold^s them, but when the students saw it, they scolded them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called for the babies, saying “Let the children come to me and don’t get in their way. After all, God’s Reign is for ones like them. ¹⁷ Honestly, I’m telling you, whoever does not accept God’s Reign like^t a child will never come inside it.”

¹⁸ Someone who was a leader asked Jesus,^u “Good teacher, what should I do so I can inherit life of the coming Age?”^v

¹⁹ “Why do you call me ‘good’?” said Jesus. “No one is good except the one God.^w ²⁰ You know the directives:^x Do not violate a marriage, do not kill,^y do not steal, do not falsely accuse people,^z and value your father and mother.”^aa

²¹ The person said, “I have observed all those things since my youth.”

²² When he heard that, Jesus told him, “There’s still one thing you’re missing: Sell as much as you have—everything—and give it to people experiencing poverty, and you will have what’s valuable in the heavens. Then come and follow me.” ²³ But when he heard that, he was overwhelmed with grief because he was extremely wealthy.

²⁴ When he saw him, Jesus said, “How difficult it is for those who hold resources^bb to make their way into God’s Reign. ²⁵ In fact, it’s easier for a camel to get inside the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to come inside God’s Reign.”

²⁶ The people listening said, “Then who can be liberated!”^cc

²⁷ He said, “Things that are impossible for humans are possible for God.”

²⁸ Then Peter said, “Look, we left our possessions and followed you.”

²⁹ Jesus told them, “Honestly, I’m telling you that there is no one who left house or wife or siblings or parents or children for the sake of God’s Reign ³⁰ who will not receive many times more both now and in the Age to come, the life of that coming Age.”

³¹ Taking the Twelve aside, he told them, “Look, we’re going up to Jerusalem, and everything written by the prophets will be completed by the Son of Humanity. ³² You see, he will be handed over to the foreign authorities^dd and mocked, degraded, and spat on. ³³ They will flog him severely and kill him, yet he will rise up on the third day.” ³⁴ They did not put any of these things together. The meaning was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand what was being said.

³⁵ As Jesus approached Jericho, someone who was blind was sitting by the road requesting alms. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ People told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. ³⁸ So he called out, “Jesus, son of David, have compassion^ee on me!” ³⁹ The people in front of him began scolding him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have compassion on me!” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus stopped and instructed that the person be brought to him.

⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Sir, for me to see again.”

⁴² “See again!” Jesus told him. “Your trust^ff has restored^gg you!”

⁴³ Immediately, he could see again, and he followed along praising God. All the people saw it and gave acclaim to God.

Footnotes

a Traditionally, ‘fear.’ The phobos family of words covers a wide range in Greek, from terror to awe to serious recognition that something consequential is happening. The judge’s failure is not that he lacks the right emotional response to God but that God and what God instructs do not register as a consequential reality for him at all. The broader Pauline usage is the best guide to what ‘take seriously’ captures here: in 1 Corinthians 2:3, Paul describes his own posture approaching the Corinthians with phobos; in 2 Corinthians 7:15, the Corinthians receive Titus with phobos kai tromos during a challenging period of reconciliation. In neither case is the word about subordination or reverence toward a superior; it names the recognition that what is happening matters and warrants full engagement. The judge has none of that recognition toward God, which is what makes his eventual response to the widow so pointed: he can be moved by persistent human pressure even when he cannot be moved by the weightiness of the issue.
b Traditionally, ‘respect.’ The word is entrepomenos, from entrepo, which indicates responsiveness to social shame and obligation, being moved by community pressure to fulfill one’s social responsibilities.
c Literally, ‘his’
d Literally, ‘to him’
e The word here is makrothumeo, which historically was often translated as ‘long-suffering.’ It carries the meaning of enduring hardship or mistreatment for a long time without giving up or losing heart.
f Literally, ‘he’
g There is ongoing scholarly debate about whether the phrase en tachei here, which literally means ‘with speed’ refers to it happening soon or to it happening in a short period of time once it starts. The context seems to indicate a long waiting period followed by a relatively quick shift.
h Reference to Ezekiel—“Son of Man” was how Ezekiel referred to himself—and to Daniel 7:13-27. This is one of the loftiest titles Jesus could have used for himself and likely played a key role in accusations against him of attempting to usurp the royal throne. At the same time, though Daniel 7:13-14 connects the “one like a son of humanity” to a kingship with all peoples serving him and that his kingship shall never be destroyed, continuing to verse 27 is the parallel verse that explains it further, and it asserts that “the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people” as an everlasting kingdom. It also left Jesus with deniability, since he could also claim just to be calling himself a prophet in the tradition of Ezekiel.
i Traditionally, ‘faith.’ The Greek term pistis communicates meanings such as trust, faithfulness, commitment, and allegiance, reflecting an active, relational trust rather than a static belief. This translation emphasizes an ongoing, reciprocal relationship between trusting someone and committed faithfulness that confirms trustworthiness.
j This word is dikaios, traditionally ‘righteous.’ The word is related to ‘just’ or ‘straight’ or ‘aligned’ and it usually refers to being aligned with Torah and justice, the path of the Lord. In this case, it is referring directly to alignment with God or the path traced out by Torah and lived out by Jesus.
k No matter the starting point, going to the temple is always described as ‘going up’ in scripture. It’s not about location on the map or elevation; it’s about it having the highest spiritual and religious significance.
l Or those who are greedy and never satisfied. Or ‘swindlers’ or ‘extortioners.’ Literally, ‘those who are rapacious’ or ‘those who are ravenous.’
m Traditionally, “commit adultery.” That English word has come to be associated with sexual shame, which is not the primary focus of the Greek moicheuo. The term focuses on first-century legal status and the violation of a legal marriage agreement. It applied only to a husband being wronged, who was seen as the holder of the agreement. If two unmarried people had sex, it was not moicheia (the noun form). If a married man had sex with an unmarried woman, it was not moicheia. It was moicheia only when a man was wronged because his wife had been used by another man, that is, when his exclusive rights to his wife had been breached. See the note on Luke 16:18 for discussion on how Jesus reframes it in that context.
n Beating one’s chest was a gesture of grief.
o The Greek hilastheti is traditionally rendered ‘have mercy on me’ or ‘be propitious toward me,’ but its core meaning has to do with appeasement or reconciliation—removing whatever stands between two parties. The English word ‘atonement,’ coined by William Tyndale in the 16th century as a literal compound of ‘at-one-ment,’ was originally meant to capture exactly this sense: the state of being made into one, of being reconciled. It was only later that ‘atonement’ became attached to penal substitutionary frameworks that read hilaskomai through the lens of sacrificial appeasement rather than relational restoration. The tax collector is not asking God to be appeased by a payment; he is asking God to move toward him across the distance his deviations have created.
p Traditionally, ‘sinners.’ “People who deviate” describes people who live in a way characterized by actions that don’t follow the path traced out by Torah and lived out by Jesus. This shift emphasizes actions misaligned with the sacred path rather than an inherent sinful state. The Greek hamartolos, is actually an adjective, not a noun, indicating that deviation is not an identity. Instead, it represents behaviors or conditions that “miss the mark” set by God’s path. ‘People who deviate’ fits with the idea that these could be people with behavioral issues, like tax collectors who routinely exploited the poor and sided with the enemy (Rome) for their own profit. However, it was applied to anyone who did not align with a sense of perfection as defined by Torah, so people who were chronically ill, or not followers of Yahweh, and others would also have been labeled ‘people who deviate’ through no fault of their own, but they still would have been treated as deserving status as second class citizens.
q No matter the ending point, going away from the temple is always described as ‘going down’ in scripture. It’s not about location on the map or elevation; it’s about it having the highest spiritual and religious significance.
r Literally, ‘that one’ or ‘him.’
s Traditionally translated ‘touch,’ this word depicts a stronger sense of attaching oneself to something, grasping onto something, or maintaining a hold on something.
t The Greek hos is traditionally read as comparative: receive the Reign like a child receives things, emphasizing childlike openness or dependence. However, given the immediate narrative context, hos may function demonstratively: receive the Reign like I’m telling you to receive a child, that is, the way Jesus has just modeled receiving one of the children, without gatekeeping or hierarchy. With that in mind, welcoming the children is not an illustration of receiving the Reign but an example of actually doing it. Compare with Matthew 18:5.
u The name is added for clarity.
v The Greek aionion (from aion, “age” or “eon”) is traditionally rendered “eternal” or “everlasting,” and many people hear that as “going to heaven when you die.” That framework, however, owes more to Greek philosophy than to the Jewish understanding Jesus and his questioner carried. The word aion and its Hebrew counterpart olam carry a sense of indefinite duration, something like “lasting a very long time” or “belonging to an age,” without specifying exactly how long. In early Hebrew thought, a person’s “life” was carried forward in covenant relationship, family legacy, and the land, not in a disembodied afterlife. The concept of heaven as a personal destination developed later, under significant Greek influence. The scriptural background includes Deuteronomy 6:1-5 (especially verse 2, “to prolong your days”) and Deuteronomy 30:15-20, where Moses sets life and death in front of Israel and calls them to cling to God as their life and length of days. By the time of Jesus, Jewish apocalyptic literature had taken that older, open-ended sense of aionion and focused it on a specific hope: the Age God was expected to inaugurate, when covenant would be restored, the dead raised, and creation set right. N. T. Wright argues in How God Became King (2012) that “eternal life” causes modern readers to imagine a timeless, spaceless existence utterly foreign to what Jesus meant. Here aionion is rendered “life of the coming Age” to make that eschatological hope visible. The leader’s question is not about what happens when he dies; it is about how to participate in that coming renewal.
w The Greek heis ho theos is literally “the one God,” using the numeral heis (“one”) rather than monos (“alone” or “only”). The rendering “God alone,” common in English translations, captures the exclusivity of the statement but loses the cultural and textual context that makes “one” significant. “The one God” echoes the Shema (“the Lord is one,” Deuteronomy 6:4), which is almost certainly the resonance Jesus intends. Matthew’s parallel (19:17) reads “only one is good,” leaving the ‘one’ intact but omitting ‘God,’ which is in keeping with the Jewish tradition of minimizing direct references to God’s name and titles, and consistent with that Gospel’s general avoidance of the divine name, preferring “Heaven” to “God” throughout (compare “Heavenly Reign” and “God’s Reign” across the two Gospels).
x The man’s question already hints at Deuteronomy 30:18-20, and Jesus’s response reinforces this connection. The Greek word for “life” in the man’s question (zoe) echoes the Septuagint’s rendering of Deuteronomy 30:20, which reads touto he zoe sou kai he makrotes ton hemeron sou, “this is your life and the length of your days.” That phrase makes the connection between “life of the coming Age” and this Deuteronomy backdrop: the man is asking about zoe, and Deuteronomy 30 has already defined zoe as covenantal fidelity, land, and communal flourishing, not personal transaction. Part of the misguided nature of his question is his focus on personal benefit, as he asks about his own path to life, seeming to emphasize individual gain. However, the passage in Deuteronomy speaks to the whole community, emphasizing a shared covenantal call. In essence, the man is asking, “How do I choose life?” with Deuteronomy in mind, but he seems to understand his own question as assuming an individualistic transaction meaning, “How do I secure prosperity from God?” Jesus’s response addresses this by reminding him of the answer already present in Deuteronomy: “Love the LORD your God, obey him, and be loyal to him.” When Jesus says to “observe the directives,” he points back to this covenantal faithfulness. The man then presses for more specifics, so Jesus lists some major directives, interestingly excluding those focused directly on God (such as worshiping only God) and instead highlighting those centered on treating others well. Jesus even includes a directive from Leviticus about loving others. Through these examples, Jesus illustrates that choosing life is about faithfulness that enables the whole community “to live continually” (orech in Hebrew, meaning “length” as in “length of days,” and makrotes in the Greek translation of Deuteronomy, also meaning “length”) in the land.
y The Greek phoneuo is traditionally rendered “murder.” The word does lean toward violent, intentional killing. Its noun form phonos appears in lists of serious vices, and the broader word family carries connotations of slaughter and bloodshed. However, the case for “murder” as the rendering is weaker than it is usually presented. The underlying Hebrew in the sixth commandment (ratsach, Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17) covers a broader range than the English word “murder” implies. Brown, Driver, and Briggs note that ratsach does not carry an inherent distinction between intentional and unintentional killing. The Torah’s own cities-of-refuge legislation (Numbers 35:6-34) uses ratsach for accidental killing alongside deliberate homicide, treating both as requiring communal justice and ritual remedy, which signals that even unintended taking of human life was considered gravely serious. The Septuagint renders ratsach with phoneuo throughout those same passages, meaning phoneuo itself carries that broader range by inheritance. The “murder” rendering has often been used to carve out exemptions for warfare, capital punishment, and state violence, but that argument is circular: it imports the exemptions first and then reads them back into the commandment. Here phoneuo is rendered “kill” to preserve the full weight the word carries.
z Traditionally, ‘bear false witness,’ which is more than just lying but specifically falsely accusing someone of a crime or Torah violation.
aa Citation of Exodus 20:12-16 and Deuteronomy 5:16-20
bb The Greek word chremata covers the full range of material holdings, including land, livestock, grain, money, goods, and enslaved people. In the first-century agrarian economy, the primary form of elite wealth was land, which generated income through tenant farming and debt arrangements. Money was included but was not the dominant form. Both then and now, wealth is made meaningful, and power maintained, through ownership of productive resources and control over the labor that generates them. The same basic dynamic persists today, though the primary vehicle has shifted: large-scale wealth is now held mainly through ownership stakes in companies, with cash as just one piece. The translation ‘resources’ is chosen to preserve this breadth without defaulting to a modern money-focused reading.
cc Traditionally, ‘saved.’ This word carries a meaning of any kind of action to prevent or repair harm. Appropriate translations could be ‘liberated,’ ‘restored,’ ‘rescued,’ ‘healed,’ ‘preserved,’ or ‘protected.’
dd Traditionally, ‘Gentiles.’ The word ethnoi literally means ‘nations’ (like ‘nationalities’ not ‘countries’) or ‘people groups’ and is where the English word ‘ethnicity’ comes from. It is usually—but not always—used in the Bible to refer to people groups other than the one the speaker belongs to, so typically to people groups other than Jews since most speakers/authors are Jewish. In this case, it’s referring to the Roman occupation force.
ee Traditionally, ‘mercy.’ The English word ‘mercy’ is sometimes used to communicate compassion, which is what is in view here. However, ‘mercy’ can also be used to refer to ‘pity’ or ‘relenting from enacting a punishment’ which has nothing to do with this Greek word. It is used of taking care of people. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the “Septuagint,” uses this word to translate the Hebrew word hesed, which means something along the lines of ‘loyal love,’ ‘compassionate faithfulness,’ ‘lovingkindness,’ ‘committed love/kindness.’ It carries a commitment to pursue good for others based in care. The Greek word is eleeo, related to the word for olive oil, which was used as a medicinal ointment in caring for the sick.
ff Traditionally, ‘faith.’ The Greek term pistis communicates meanings such as trust, faithfulness, commitment, and allegiance, reflecting an active, relational trust rather than a static belief. This translation emphasizes an ongoing, reciprocal relationship between trusting someone and committed faithfulness that confirms trustworthiness.
gg Traditionally, ‘saved.’ This word carries a meaning of any kind of action to prevent or repair harm. Appropriate translations could be ‘liberated,’ ‘restored,’ ‘rescued,’ ‘healed,’ ‘preserved,’ or ‘protected.’

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