Luke 17:8

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

and will not rather tell him, 'Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink'?

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Greek New Testament

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δειπνήσω

deipnéō

G1172

“to sup”

Verb, Aorist, Active, Subjunctive, 1st person, Singular

Appears 4× in the Greek New Testament
First appears here

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G1173

TDNT: 02:34,1

1. to sup

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

22: words
17: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is δειπνήσω to sup G1172 — appearing just 4 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Greek New Testament here:

δειπνήσω to sup G1172

Shared distinctive vocabulary

δειπνήσω to sup G1172 occurs in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

Words recur within this verse:

φάγω to eat G5315 ×2
πίω to drink G4095 ×2
καὶ and G2532 ×4

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Luke 17:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most assuredly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them.
Genesis 43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Luke 17:8 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Luk 17:8. Εὥς) until, even up to the time that, and as long.

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

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Luk 17:8 . ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ : ἀλλὰ implies the negation of the previous supposition. ἕως φάγω , etc., “till I have eaten,” etc., A.V [134] ; or, while I eat and drink.

[134] Authorised Version.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Gird thyself, and serve me.—Better, minister to me. The words receive a fresh significance if we connect them with Luk_12:37, of which they are, as it were, the complement. There the Master promises that He will gird Himself, and minister to His disciples. Here He tells them that He too requires a service. They must give Him the meat and the drink of seeing that His Father’s will is done on earth (Joh_4:32; Joh_4:34), and then they too shall be sharers in His joy. Yet another aspect of the same truths is found in the later promise of the Lord of the Churches to the servant who watches for His coming, “I will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev_3:20).

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

John Gill's Exposition

Doth he thank that servant,.... As if he had done him a favour, and what he was not obliged to;

because he did the things that were commanded him? for, as a servant, he ought to do them, and in so doing does but his duty: he may indeed be commended for it, but not thanked:

I trow not; or "I think not"; it do not seem so to me, as if he would, or, as though it was proper and necessary he should. The Ethiopic version leaves out this last clause.

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

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

Ver. 8. Gird thyself and serve me] It implies, first, readiness; secondly, nimbleness, handiness, and handsomeness. A loose, discinct, and diffluent mind is unfit to serve God. The deacons cried of old in the Church meetings, Oremus, attendamus, Let us pray, let us attend to prayer, &c.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I may sup - Make ready my supper.

Gird thyself - See the notes at Luk 12:37.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

8. Gird thyself—Draw thy girdle tight around thy loose garments, so that thou canst easily perform the service.

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

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

8. ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσω. Here the τί becomes equivalent to a relative, para quod comedam. Comp. Mat 10:19, δοθήσεται ὑμῖν … τί λαλήσετε, quod dicatis. Winer, p. 210.

ἕως φάγω. ‘Till I have eaten’ (which I am going certainly to do; hence no ἂν is needed).

φάγεσαι. The Hellenistic Greek φάγομαι is used as a future, as Greek authors use ἔδομαι, Jas 5:3; Rev 17:16.

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.

Alford’s Greek Testament

Henry Alford

8.] ἕως φ. κ. π., till I shall have eaten and drunken: see ch. 12:37, where a different assurance seems to be given. But our Lord is here speaking of what we in our state of service are to expect; there, of what in our state of manumission (‘mensæ servos adhibere manumissionis erat species.’ Grotius, citing from Ulpian) and adoption, the wonders of His grace will confer on us. Here the question is of right; there, of favour.

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

International Critical Commentary

8. Ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσω … διακόνει . Change from aor. to pres. “Prepare once for all … continue to serve.” With τί δειπνήσω comp. Mat 10:19: in class. Grk. we should have ὄ τι, as in Act 9:6.

The forms φάγεσαι and πίεσαι are analogous to ὀδυνᾶσαι (16:25) and δύνασαι (Mat 5:36). They belong to the popular Greek of the time, but are not quite constant; Mar 9:22 we have δύνῃ. See Veitch, s.v.; Win. 15 pp. 109, 110; WH. 2. p. 304. Both πάγεσαι and πίεσαι are found Rth 2:9, Rth 2:14; Eze 12:18

With ἔχει ξάριν comp. 1Ti 1:12; 2Ti 1:3; Heb 12:28: the expression is classical. The οὐ δοκῶ of A D, Vulg. etc. is an insertion.

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

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Luke, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 22 words (17 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is deipnéō (“to sup”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to sup” (deipnéō) contribute to the verse as a whole?
This is the first place “to sup” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Luke 22:20, which shares the word «to sup», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to eat” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Compare how Bengel's Gnomon and Expositor's Greek Testament read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 28 words in this verse.
“to eat” occurs 2× in this single verse.
17 distinct Greek lemmas span 22 words in this verse.