Luke 11:7

Luk 11:7. Κέκλεισται, has been shut) with a bolt (long since): such as is removed with greater difficulty.—μετʼ ἐμοῦ, with me) It is the duty of parents to guard their children, especially at night.—οὐ δύναμαι, I cannot) namely, without great inconvenience and trouble.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 11:7 . μή μοι , etc.: similar phrase in Luk 18:5 . Cf. Mat 26:10 , Mar 14:6 . Here = don’t bother me! κέκλεισται , has been barred for the night, a thing done and not to be undone for a trifling cause. εἰς τὴν κοίτην : they have gone to bed and are now sleeping in bed, and he does not want to risk waking them ( ἵνα μὴ ἀφυπνίσῃ αὐτά , Euthym.). οὐ δύναμαι : οὐ θέλω would have been nearer the truth.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Trouble me not--the trouble making him insensible both to the urgency of the case and the claims of friendship.

I cannot--without exertion which he would not make.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. My children are with me in bed] Or, I and my children are in bed; this is Bishop PEARCE'S translation, and seems to some preferable to the common one. See a like form of speech in 1Co 16:11, and in Eph 3:18. However, we may conceive that he had his little children, ταπαιδια, in bed with him; and this heightened the difficulty of yielding to his neighbour's request.

But if he persevere knocking. (At si ille perseveraverit pulsans.) This sentence is added to the beginning of Lu 11:8, by the Armenian, Vulgate, four copies of the Itala, Ambrose, Augustin, and Bede. On these authorities (as I find it in no Greek MS.) I cannot insert it as a part of the original text; but it is necessarily implied; for, as Bishop Pearce justly observes, unless the man in the parable be represented as continuing to solicit his friend, he could not possibly be said to use importunity: once only to ask is not to be importunate.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) Trouble me not.—As afterwards in the parable of the Unjust Judge, so here, the illustrative matter cannot be pressed into an interpretation. It seems, indeed, to have been purposely so stated that it could only suggest an à fortiori argument. Thus man might answer, but so does not God. If prayer prevails over apathy and impatience, how much more will it prevail when we pray to One who knows our necessities before we ask Him? The picture drawn is obviously from a poor man’s house, children and parents sleeping in the same room, the younger children (the Greek word is a diminutive) in the same bed. The word here, however, differs from the other two commonly translated “bed” (e.g., Mat_9:2; Mat_9:6; Mar_2:4; Mar_2:9), and probably means the divan or raised platform, which often filled nearly half a room in a Jewish or Eastern house.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Trouble me not] The answer is rough and discouraging. He does not say ‘friend.’ His phrase implies irritation. The details are of course not to be pressed. The parable is merely an illustration a fortiori.

is now shut] Literally, “has been already shut” with the implication ‘shut for the night, and I do not mean to open it.’

I cannot] Only a modified form for ‘I will not.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I say unto you,.... This is the accommodation of the parable; to these words are premised, in the Vulgate Latin version, the following, "if he continue knocking":

though he will not rise and give him, because he is a friend; though mere friendship will not influence and engage him to rise from his bed, at such an unseasonable time, and fulfil the request of his friend;

yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth: as he asks for, or more, if necessary: the design of this parable, is the same with that of the widow and the unjust judge, in Luk 18:1 which is to show the force of importunity, where friendship, as here, and the fear of God, and regard of men, which were wanting there, have no influence; and so to encourage to constancy and perseverance in prayer, with earnestness; taking no denial at the hand of God, but still continuing to make pressing instances.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

Ver. 7. Trouble me not] The carnally secure, cast into Jezebel’s bed, unworthily answer Christ on this sort, when he stands at the door and knocks by the hammer of his word and the motions of his Spirit, which they slight and withstand.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. He from within—To the soul that has hitherto neglected prayer, God is behind a vail; is shut up; is gone to sleep. But, in that case, woe when he awaketh!

Trouble me not—He is short and sharp. He echoes not the honeyed word friend. Thus, in this parable, as in that of the unjust judge, the little obstinacy of man is made to illustrate the wise severity of God. The finite is the faint emblem of the Infinite; the defective of the perfect.

See note on Luk_18:2.

Door is now shut—And doubtless bolted with a huge Oriental wooden lock. See on Matthew 16.

My children are with me in bed—Says Dr. Thomson, “the whole family, parents, children, and servants, sleep in the same room, with slight change of garments or none at

all.” I cannot rise and give thee—These are wayward human reasons; yet symbols of the divine sternness. For with the froward God will shew himself froward. Psa_18:26.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. κἀκεῖνος. The construction is an anakoluthon, as though the sentence had begun with ἐάν, as is shewn by the εἴπῃ in Luk 11:5 for which Lachmann reads ἐρεῖ following AD. There is a similar anacoluthon (due to the words in oratio directa) in Mat 7:9.

μή μοι κόπους πάρεχε. The answer is rough and discouraging. He does not say ‘friend.’ His phrase implies irritation. The details are of course not to be pressed. The parable is merely an illustration à fortiori.

κέκλεισται. Literally, ‘has been already shut’ with the implication ‘shut for the night, and I do not mean to open it.’

τὰ παιδία μου. My little children. The whole parable is exquisitely simple and graphic.

εἰς τὴν κοίτην. They have come into bed, and are now asleep in it. (Comp. εἰς οἶκόν ἐστι Mar 2:1.)

οὐ δύναμαι. Only a modified form for ‘I will not.’

ἀναστάς. The trouble of getting up is more than I can bear.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7.] We have an interesting fragment of domestic life here given us. The door is ‘barred,’ not only ‘shut;’ there is the trouble of unbarring it; the father and children are in bed (εἰς τ. κ. εἰσ. ellipt. for ‘have gone εἰς τ. κ., and are ἐν τῇ κ.:’ see reff.); (observe how in all the parables which place the Father, or the Husband, before us, the Mother, or the Bride does not appear;) and he cannot (i.e. will not, cannot from being overcome by reluctance) rise and give to him.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Μή μοι κόπους πάρεχε. It is the trouble that he minds, not the parting with the bread. When he has once got up (ἀναστάς, ver. 8), he gives him as much as he wants. For κόπους παρέχειν comp. Mat 26:10; Mar 14:6; Gal 6:17; and for κόπος see Lft. Epp. p. 26.

μετʼ ἐμοῦ εἰς κοίτην εἰσίν. Prep. of motion after verb of rest; comp. Mk. [2:1], 10:10; Act 8:40; and plur. verb after neut. plur., the persons being animate; comp. Mat 10:21; Mar 3:11, Mar 5:13. Win. 50:4, b, pp. 516, 518, 58:3m β, p. 646.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My children are with me in bed. "A whole family - parents, children, and servants - sleep in the same room" (Thomson, " Land and Book "). Tynd. my servants are with me in the chamber.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.