KJV: And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
YLT: And he spake a simile to them, 'Is blind able to lead blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?
Darby: And he spoke also a parable to them: Can a blind man lead a blind man? shall not both fall into the ditch?
ASV: And he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?
| Εἶπεν | He spoke |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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| καὶ | also |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: καί Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but. |
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| παραβολὴν | a parable |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: παραβολή Sense: a placing of one thing by the side of another, juxtaposition, as of ships in battle. |
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| αὐτοῖς | to them |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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| δύναται | is able |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular Root: δύναμαι Sense: to be able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom. |
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| τυφλὸς | a blind [man] |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: τυφλός Sense: blind. |
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| τυφλὸν | a blind [man] |
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Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: τυφλός Sense: blind. |
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| ὁδηγεῖν | to lead |
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Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active Root: ὁδηγέω Sense: to be a guide, lead on one’s way, to guide. |
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| ἀμφότεροι | both |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: ἀμφότεροι Sense: both of two, both the one and the other. |
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| εἰς | into |
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Parse: Preposition Root: εἰς Sense: into, unto, to, towards, for, among. |
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| βόθυνον | a pit |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: βόθρος Sense: a pit, ditch. |
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| ἐμπεσοῦνται | will fall |
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Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Plural Root: ἐμπίπτω Sense: to fall into. |
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Greek Commentary for Luke 6:39
Plummer thinks that the second half of the sermon begins here as indicated by Luke‘s insertion of “And he spake Jesus repeated these sayings on various occasions as every teacher does his characteristic ideas. So Luke 6:40; Matthew 10:24, Luke 6:45; Matthew 12:34. [source]
The use of μητι mēti in the question shows that a negative answer is expected.Guide (οδηγειν hodēgein). Common verb from οδηγος hodēgos (guide) and this from οδος hodos (way) and ηγεομαι hēgeomai to lead or guide.Shall they not both fall? Ουχι Ouchi a sharpened negative from ουκ ouk in a question expecting the answer Yes. Future middle indicative of the common verb εμπιπτω empiptō a pit Late word for older βοτρος bothros f0). [source]
Common verb from οδηγος hodēgos (guide) and this from οδος hodos (way) and ηγεομαι hēgeomai to lead or guide. [source]
Ουχι Ouchi a sharpened negative from ουκ ouk in a question expecting the answer Yes. Future middle indicative of the common verb εμπιπτω empiptō a pit Late word for older βοτρος bothros f0). [source]
The interrogative particle expects a negative reply. Surely the blind cannot, etc. [source]
Better, guide, as Rev., since the word combines the ideas of leading and instructing. [source]
Another interrogative particle, this time expecting an affirmative answer. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 6:39
From παρά , beside, and βάλλω , to throw. A parable is a form of teaching in which one thing is thrown beside another. Hence its radical idea is comparison. Sir John Cheke renders biword, and the same idea is conveyed by the German Beispiela pattern or example; beibeside, and the old high German speldiscourse or narration. The word is used with a wide range in scripture, but always involves the idea of comparison:1.Of brief sayings, having an oracular or proverbial character. Thus Peter (Matthew 15:15), referring to the words “If the blind lead the blind,” etc., says, “declare unto us thisparable. ” Compare Luke 6:39. So of the patched garment (Luke 5:36), and the guest who assumes the highest place at the feast (Luke 14:7, Luke 14:11). Compare, also, Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:28.2.Of a proverb. The word for proverb ( παροιμία ) has the same idea at the root as parable. It is παρά , beside, οἶμος , a way or road. Either a trite, wayside saying (Trench), or a path by the side of the high road (Godet). See Luke 4:23; 1 Samuel 24:13. 3.Of a song or poem, in which an example is set up by way of comparison. See Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 4.Of a word or discourse which is enigmatical or obscure until the meaning is developed by application or comparison. It occurs along with the words αἴνιγμα , enigma, and πρόβλημα , a problem, something put forth or proposed ( πρό , in front βάλλω , to throw ). See Psalm 49:4 (Sept. 48:4); Psalm 78:2 (Sept. 77:2); Proverbs 1:6, where we have παραβολὴν , parable; σκοτεινὸν λόγον , dark saying; and αἰνίγματα , enigmas. Used also of the sayings of Balaam (Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18; Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15).In this sense Christ uses parables symbolically to expound the mysteries of the kingdom of God; as utterances which conceal from one class what they reveal to another (Matthew 13:11-17), and in which familiar facts of the earthly life are used figuratively to expound truths of the higher life. The un-spiritual do not link these facts of the natural life with those of the supernatural, which are not discerned by them (1 Corinthians 2:14), and therefore they need an interpreter of the relation between the two. Such symbols assume the existence of a law common to the natural and spiritual worlds under which the symbol and the thing symbolized alike work; so that the one does not merely resemble the other superficially, but stands in actual coherence and harmony with it. Christ formulates such a law in connection with the parables of the Talents and the Sower. “To him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away.” That is a law of morals and religion, as of business and agriculture. One must have in order to make. Interest requires capital. Fruit requires not only seed but soil. Spiritual fruitfulness requires an honest and good heart. Similarly, the law of growth as set forth in the parable of the Mustard Seed, is a law common to nature and to the kingdom of God. The great forces in both kingdoms are germinal, enwrapped in small seeds which unfold from within by an inherent power of growth.5. A parable is also an example or type; furnishing a model or a warning; as the Good Samaritan, the Rich Fool, the Pharisee and the Publican. The element of comparison enters here as between the particular incident imagined or recounted, and all cases of a similar kind.The term parable, however, as employed in ordinary Christian phraseology, is limited to those utterances of Christ which are marked by a complete figurative history or narrative. It is thus defined by Goebel (“Parables of Jesus”). “A narrative moving within the sphere of physical or human life, not professing to describe an event which actually took place, but expressly imagined for the purpose of representing, in pictorial figure, a truth belonging to the sphere of religion, and therefore referring to the relation of man or mankind to God.” In form the New Testament parables resemble the fable. The distinction between them does not turn on the respective use of rational and irrational beings speaking and acting. There are fables where the actors are human. Nor does the fable always deal with the impossible, since there are fables in which an animal, for instance, does nothing contrary to its nature. The distinction lies in the religious character of the New Testament parable as contrasted with the secular character of the fable. While the parable exhibits the relations of man to God, the fable teaches lessons of worldly policy or natural morality and utility. “The parable is predominantly symbolic; the fable, for the most part, typical, and therefore presents its teaching only in the form of example, for which reason it chooses animals by preference, not as symbolic, but as typical figures; never symbolic in the sense in which the parable mostly is, because the higher invisible world, of which the parable sees and exhibits the symbol in the visible world of nature and man, lies far from it. Hence the parable can never work with fantastic figures like speaking animals, trees,” etc. (Goebel, condensed). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The parable differs from the allegory in that there is in the latter “an interpenetration of the thing signified and the thing signifying; the qualities and properties of the first being attributed to the last,” and the two being thus blended instead of being kept distinct and parallel. See, for example, the allegory of the Vine and the Branches (John 15) where Christ at once identifies himself with the figure' “I am the true vine.” Thus the allegory, unlike the parable, carries its own interpretation with it. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Parable and proverb are often used interchangeably in the;New Testament; the fundamental conception being, as we have seen, the same in both, the same Hebrew word representing both, and both being enigmatical. They differ rather in extent than in essence; the parable being a proverb expanded and carried into detail, and being necessarily figurative, which the proverb is not; though the range of the proverb is wider, since the parable expands only one particular case of a proverb. (See Trench, “Notes on the Parables,” Introd.) [source]
See discussion on Matthew 13. Here the word has a special application to a crisp proverb which involves a comparison. The word physician is the point of comparison. Luke the physician alone gives this saying of Jesus. The proverb means that the physician was expected to take his own medicine and to heal himself. The word παραβολη parabolē in the N.T. is confined to the Synoptic Gospels except Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 11:19. This use for a proverb occurs also in Luke 5:36; Luke 6:39. This proverb in various forms appears not only among the Jews, but in Euripides and Aeschylus among the Greeks, and in Cicero‘s Letters. Hobart quotes the same idea from Galen, and the Chinese used to demand it of their physicians. The point of the parable seems to be that the people were expecting him to make good his claim to the Messiahship by doing here in Nazareth what they had heard of his doing in Capernaum and elsewhere. “Establish your claims by direct evidence” (Easton). This same appeal (Vincent) was addressed to Christ on the Cross (Matthew 27:40, Matthew 27:42). There is a tone of sarcasm towards Jesus in both cases.Heard done (ηκουσαμεν γενομενα ēkousamen genomena). The use of this second aorist middle participle γενομενα genomena after ηκουσαμεν ēkousamen is a neat Greek idiom. It is punctiliar action in indirect discourse after this verb of sensation or emotion (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 1040-42, 1122-24).Do also here Ingressive aorist active imperative. Do it here in thy own country and town and do it now. Jesus applies the proverb to himself as an interpretation of their real attitude towards himself. [source]
See on lead, Luke 6:39. [source]
The negative μητι mēti expects the answer No. The evidence was indisputable that these Gentiles were converted and so were entitled to be baptized. See the similar idiom in Luke 6:39. Note the article with “water.” Here the baptism of the Holy Spirit had preceded the baptism of water (Acts 1:5; Acts 11:16). “The greater had been bestowed; could the lesser be withheld?” (Knowling). [source]
See on Luke 6:39. [source]