Section 18:9–14
Jesus told a parable about praying in a humble way
In this section Jesus told a parable about how to pray with an attitude that God will approve. Jesus told this parable especially for people who thought that they were already righteous and better than other people. The parable shows that God wants people to come before him humbly and ask for his forgiveness.
Some examples of headings for this section are:
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Good News Translation)
-or-
Jesus told a story about two men who prayed
This parable is only found in Luke.
Paragraph 18:9–14
18:9
The Berean Standard Bible has arranged the phrases in this verse in a different order from the Greek text. Other versions follow the Greek order more closely. For example:
9cJesus also told this parable 9ato some who were confident that they were righteous 9band looked down on everyone else. (NET Bible)
Use a natural order in your language.
18:9a
Scholars are not sure exactly when Jesus told the parable in this section. He probably told it within the same time period as the preceding one in 18:1–8, but maybe not immediately afterwards. Some ways to introduce the parable are:
Jesus also told another parable
-or-
Here is another parable that he told (Revised English Bible)
Introduce the parable in a natural way in your language.
To some who trusted in their own righteousness: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as To some who trusted in their own righteousness refers to some of the people listening to Jesus. In some languages it may be more natural to introduce the people before saying what they thought. For example:
Some people were in the crowd listening to Jesus. These people were sure that they were righteous.
trusted in their own righteousness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as righteousness refers to living according to God’s standards. Righteous people consistently do what is right. They also have right attitudes toward God and other people. The people in this context thought that they were righteous. Some ways to translate this phrase are:
sure that they obeyed God’s law
-or-
had great confidence that they lived in the way that is right
-or-
were sure that God approved of them (God’s Word)
In some languages people use an idiom to express this meaning. For example:
sure that they followed a straight path
-or-
prided themselves on being upright (New Jerusalem Bible)
See the General Comment on 18:9a–b for a suggestion about using direct speech here.
18:9b
and viewed others with contempt: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates with the English idiom viewed others with contempt means “despised others.” These proud people thought that they were more righteous than other people. They disapproved of other people, and they thought of them with contempt. Some other ways to translate this are:
regarded others with contempt (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
despised/scorned everyone else
In some languages there is an idiom to express this. For example:
looked down on everybody else (New International Version)
Another example in English is:
had a low opinion of others
General Comment on 18:9a–b
In some languages it may be more natural to translate this verse as more than one sentence. For example:
There were some people who were confident of their own righteousness. They looked down on everybody else. To them…
In some languages it may be more natural to use direct speech here. For example:
Some people were thinking, “I know that I am righteous and much better than other people.”
Use a natural way in your language to express the attitude of these people.
18:9c
He also told this parable: The phrase this parable refers to the parable that Jesus was about to tell in 18:10–14. In some languages you may need to include another verb of speech here. For example:
Jesus told this parable. He said…
parable: For help in translating the term parable see the note at 18:1b–c.
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