Exegesis:

kai eipen pros autous ‘and he said to them,’ or, ‘he also said to them,’ preferably the former.

tis ex humōn … kai poreusetai … kai eipē … kakeinos … eipē ‘who of you will have…, and go … and say … and he will say.’ The clause starts as an interrogative clause in the indicative of the future (hexei, poreusetai) but the question is never brought to an end, nor is a direct answer given. Instead mood and tense shift to eipē (aorist subjunctive, twice), as if ean ‘if’ preceded and the two clauses were conditional. To these conditional clauses v. 8 might be considered to be the main clause.

tis ex humōn hexei philon kai poreusetai pros auton ‘which of you will have a friend and go to him,’ or, with change of subject, ‘and he (i.e. the friend) will go to him,’ preferably the former. tis ex humōn usually introduces questions to which the obvious answer is, ‘nobody’ (cf. 12.25; 14.28; 15.4; 17.7). Also the future tense points to a self-answering question.

mesonuktiou ‘at midnight,’ ‘in the middle of the night.’ mesonuktion.

chrēson moi treis artous ‘lend me three loaves.’

kichrēmi ‘to lend,’ i.e. ‘to allow the use of.’

(V. 6) epeidē here adverbial particle, ‘for’ (cf. on 7.1).

philos mou ‘a friend of mine,’ undetermined as shown by the absence of the article.

paregeneto ex hodou pros me ‘has come to me from a journey.’ For paraginomai cf. on 7.4. ex hodou means that he interrupts his journey.

ouk echō ho parathēsō autō lit. ‘I do not have (anything) which I may set before him,’ i.e. ‘I have nothing to set before him.’ For paratithēmi cf. on 9.16.

(V. 7) kakeinos esōthen apokritheis eipē ‘and (if) he, or, that one, replies from inside.’ kakeinos is contraction of kai and the demonstrative pronoun ekeinos.

esōthen (also vv. 39f) ‘from inside,’ ‘from within.’

mē moi kopous pareche lit. ‘do not cause me troubles,’ hence ‘do not bother me.’

kopos (also 18.5) ‘trouble,’ ‘difficulty.’

ēdē hē thura kekleistai ‘already the door has been locked.’ The perfect tense denotes a situation which is the result of the act of shutting. thura also 13.24f. kleiō, cf. on 4.25.

ta paidia mou met’ emou eis tēn koitēn eisin lit. ‘my children are with me in bed’ i.e. ‘my children and I have gone to bed.’ eis is here equivalent to en.

koitē ‘bed.’

ou dunamai anastas dounai soi ‘I cannot get up and give you.’ anastas dounai represents one event, hence anastas is also rendered as an infinitive. dounai is used without object, but a reference to treis artous ‘three breads’ may be understood with it.

Translation:

To imitate the irregular structure of these verses is usually undesirable. If it has to be straightened out some of the possibilities are the following. (1) The use of one interrogative sentence all through the three verses (cf. e.g. Translator’s New Testament, Marathi), or divided over two sentences, e.g. ‘which of you … would go … and say, “… (v. 6) …”; (v. 7) and would he answer then, “…”?’ Such a rendering may require that the anticipated answer be added, i.e. ‘no one (would have so bad a friend),’ ‘no (real) friend would answer thus.’ (2) A shift to one or two affirmative clauses or sentences, introduced by ‘if,’ ‘suppose (that),’ cf. e.g. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Good News Translation; also Tzeltal, which introduces the conditional clause by ‘is there anyone who does this?’ (3) A combination of a suppositional sentence in vv. 5-6 with a rhetorical question in v. 7, to which v. 8 forms the reply, cf. e.g. ‘For-example, you have a friend … you go and call, “… (v. 6) …”. (v. 7) Would it be possible that he replied, “…”?’ (cf. Balinese, Leyden, Tae’ 1933).

Which of you who has a friend will go to him, often better in the second person, cf. e.g. “suppose you have a friend and … you go to him…” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘would you go to a friend of yours….’

For friend see on 7.6. Shona 1966 uses a term denoting a ritual friend to whom one would turn in an emergency in vv. 5bc, 8, but another one in v. 6. The use of the former term puts the refusal in a very bad light; similarly in East Nyanja and Yao, which throughout the four verses use a term implying acceptance of reciprocal obligation. In v. 5c, however, where “friend” is used as a form of address, the usual rendering often has to be possessed (e.g. in Ekari), or is idiomatically unacceptable and, therefore, has to be replaced, e.g. by ‘brother’ (Tzeltal), ‘elder-brother’ (Balinese, which also uses ‘elder’ and ‘younger brother’ as substitutes for the pronouns of the first and second person in v. 7), ‘nephew’ (Javanese), or to be omitted (Batak Toba).

For lend see on 6.34, sub (1), and cf. ‘exchange’ (Tzeltal). In some cultures, however, it is regarded highly improper to hint at restitution, so that a phrase like ‘please, give me,’ or, ‘I ask you for,’ is the normal thing to say.

Three loaves, or, more generically ‘some food’; and see on 4.3.

(V. 6) Has arrived, or a more specific word or phrase used in case of an unexpected, short visit, e.g. ‘has-dropped-in-with me’ (Javanese); cf. also “has just come to (or, turned up at) my house” (An American Translation, New English Bible).

On a journey, or, ‘from his travels,’ “who is travelling through” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘travelling around’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

Set before him is sometimes rendered by, ‘to give him as a meal,’ or a causative form of the verb rendering ‘eat.’

(V. 7) He will answer from within, shifting to another subject, as indicated by ‘answer’ and ‘from within.’ Yet further specification of the pronoun has been found necessary, e.g. ‘the other one’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘that friend-of-his’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘that person’ (cf. the Greek). Such specification is superfluous, however, if v. 5 has been shifted to the second person.

Do not bother me. The verb is slightly stronger than “to trouble” in 7.6; Tzeltal says, ‘don’t come and disturb my sleep.’

The door is now shut, or, ‘I have shut the door’ (Shona 1966); elsewhere one has to say, ‘the doorway is blocked’ (East Nyanja, Yao), ‘the fence of the entrance has been shut’ (Tae’), ‘my house is already closed’ (Tzeltal, where huts have no doors but planks are set up and tied in the doorway); cf. also The Four Gospels – a New Translation‘s “I locked up long ago”.

Are with me in bed, or, ‘are with me in the (bed) room (Sundanese), or, in the place where we sleep’; or, ‘are lying down with me’ (cf. Trukese, Marathi, Batak Toba), similarly in Tzeltal, which takes ‘I’ as subject, cf. also ‘I and the children have gone to bed’ (Shona 1966). For bed see on 8.16.

Anything, or, ‘what (or, the things) you want/ask’ (cf. New English Bible), ‘them’ (i.e. the loaves), ‘it’ (i.e. the bread/food).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.