Luke 13:3

Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5. Λέγω ὑμῖν, I tell you) The Lord puts forth this from His treasures of Divine knowledge.—πάντες, all) Galileans and inhabitants of Jerusalem alike.—ὡσαύτως) This signifies, in the same manner: Ὁμοίως means, in like manner. Ὡσαύτως means something more than ὁμοίως [Engl. Vers. loses this by translating ὡσαύτως, likewise]. The event accordingly corresponded to the prediction: for the Jews were punished by the same nation to which Pilate belonged: and also at the same time, viz. the Passover time, when the offering of sacrifices prevailed: and also with the sword.

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

Luk 13:3 . οὐχί , an emphatic “no,” followed by a solemn “I say to you”. The prophetic mood is on the speaker. He reads in the fate of the few the coming doom of the whole nation. ὁμοίως , in a similar way. ὡσαύτως , the reading in T.R., is stronger = in the same way. Jesus expresses Himself with greater intensity as He proceeds = ye shall perish likewise; nay, in the same way (Luk 13:5 , ὡσαύτως ), your towers and temples falling about your ears.

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

3, 5. μετανοῆτε … ὁμοίως … μετανοήσητε … ὡσαύτως. The MSS. vary between these words, which makes it probable that different words were used in each text.

3. ἐὰν μὴ μετανοῆτε. The pres. subj. points to the necessity for a state of repentance. The aor. μετανοήσητε, which is the best reading in Luk 13:5, points to its immediate urgency. The first meaning of the words was doubtless prophetic. As a matter of historic fact, the Jewish nation did not repent, and myriads of them in the siege of Jerusalem perished by a doom closely analogous to that of these unhappy Galilaeans (see Jos. B. J. Luk 13:1; Luk 13:3; Luk 13:7; Luk 13:11-12, and especially 13, VI. passim, VII. 3). And since all life and all history are governed by the same divine laws, the warning is applicable to men and to nations at all periods.

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.

3. except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish] The first meaning of the words was doubtless prophetic. As a matter of historic fact, the Jewish nation did not repent, and myriads of them in the siege of Jerusalem perished by a doom closely analogous to that of these unhappy Galilaeans (see Jos. B. J. v. 1, 3, 7, 11, 12, and especially 13; vi. passim, vii. 3). And since all life and all history are governed by the same divine laws, the warning is applicable to men and to nations at all periods.

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 tell you, nay, They were not greater sinners than others of their neighbours, nor is it to be concluded from the bloody slaughter that was made of them; others might be much more deserving of such an end than they, who yet escaped it:

but except ye repent; of sin, and particularly of the disbelief of the Messiah:

ye shall likewise perish; or perish, in like manner, as these Galileans did: and so it came to pass in the destruction of Jerusalem, that great numbers of the unbelieving Jews, even three hundred thousand men were destroyed at the feast of passover (c); and that for sedition, as these men very likely were.

(c) Vid. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 11. & l. 7. c. 17. Euseb. l. 3. c. 5.

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

3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Ver. 3. Except ye repent] Aut poenitendum, aut pereundum. Either repent or perish. Men must either turn from sin or burn in hell.

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.

This prediction of our Saviour upon the impenitent was afterwards completely verified; for Josephus informs us, that under the government of Cumanus, 20,000 of them were destroyed about the temple. (Jewish Antiquities, lib. xx, chap. 4.) That upon the admission of the Idumeans into the city, 8,500 of the high priest’s party were slain, insomuch that there was a flood of blood quite round the temple. (The Jewish War, lib. iv, chap. 7.) That in consequence of the threefold faction that happened in Jerusalem before the siege of the Romans, the temple was every where polluted with slaughter; the priests were slain in the exercise of their functions; many who came to worship, fell before their sacrifices; the dead bodies of strangers and natives were promiscuously heaped together, and the altar defiled with their blood. (The Jewish War, lib. vi, chap. 1.) That upon the Romans taking possession of the city and temple, mountains of dead bodies were piled up about the altar; streams of blood ran down the steps of the temple; several were destroyed by the fall of towers, and others suffocated in the ruins of the galleries over the porches. (The Jewish War, lib. vii, chap. 10.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

3. Ye—Not Galileans only, but ye Judeans and Jerusalemites. And this neutralizes the sneer at Jesus as a Galilean.

Likewise perish—This we hold to be addressed to them primarily as individuals, however true it was of the entire nation as such. The likewise does not imply that they will die by a shot from Pilate, or a fall of the tower, or by any violent death; but by death under the wrath of God, which is but the gateway to a death eternal. It was forty years later than the utterance of these words that Jerusalem was destroyed; and but very few then at years of accountability could have suffered its terrible woes. But it is a somewhat singular fact that Jewish writers say that the Emperor Trajan, in the final war with the Jews, mingled the blood of the Jews with their sacrifices!

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

Ye shall all likewise perish - All ye of Galilee and of Jerusalem shall perish in the very same manner. So the Greek word implies. And so they did. There was a remarkable resemblance between the fate of these Galileans and of the main body of the Jewish nation; the flower of which was slain at Jerusalem by the Roman sword, while they were assembled at one of their great festivals. And many thousands of them perished in the temple itself, and were literally buried under its ruins.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

3. I tell you, Nay. He does not deny that they were sinners, but that they were greater sinners than others. Except ye repent. All were so great sinners that only repentance could save them. It was only a generation until the words of the Lord were strikingly fulfilled. The impenitent Jewish nation was destroyed by the Roman sword, as were those Galileans.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

3.] Our Lord perceives this to be their reasoning—they did not express it, as is plain by the δοκεῖτε ὅτι … He does not deny that all the Galilæans were sinners, and deserved God’s judgments, but that these were pre-eminently so. The ὁμοίως (the force of which is lost in the E. V., ‘likewise’) should be rendered in like manner, as indeed the Jewish people did perish by the sword of the Romans.

4,

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

3. πάντες ὁμοίως ἀπολεῖσθε. The suffering of a whole nation is more likely to be produced by the sin of the nation than the suffering of an individual by the sin of the individual. Exempla sunt omnium tormenta paucorum. Jesus condemns neither the Galilæans nor Pilate, but warns all present of what must befall them unless they free themselves from their guilt. It is this approach of judgment upon His whole people which seems to fill Chrises thought, and to oppress Him far more than the approach of His own sufferings. Grotius points out how exact the ὁμοίως is. Vide quam omnia congruerint. Paschatis enim die occisi sunt, magna pare in ipso templo pecudum ritu, ob eandam causam seditionis. But it is unlikely that this massacre took place at the Passover. The rest is right. πολλοὶ … πρὸ τῶν θυμάτων ἔπεσον αἰτοὶ καὶ τὸν Ἕλλησι πᾶσι καὶ βαρβάροις σεβάσμιον βωμὸν κατέσπεισαν ἰδίῳ φόνῳ (B. J. v. 1, 3). See Martensen, Chr. Dogm. § 110.

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