Luke 20:5
Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.) Luke 20:5 appears in the Greek New Testament. The text above is from the Tischendorf 8th edition. Each word links to its Strong’s number and a concise gloss. Click any word for its full Thayer’s Greek Lexicon entry.
They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?'
- 1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Greek New Testament
- 1 first appearance in the Greek New Testament
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Compare translations 3
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
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World English Bible Public Domain
They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?'
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King James Version Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Then they reasoned with each other, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘For what did you not believe him?’
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Show all 19 translations
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
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World English Bible Public Domain
They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?'
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Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
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Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
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King James Version Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
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American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why did ye not believe him?
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Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why did ye not believe him?
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Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
And they reasoned within themselues, saying, If we shall say, From heauen, he will say, Why then beleeued ye him not?
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Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
But they thought within themselves, saying: If we shall say, From heaven: he will say: Why then did you not believe him?
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Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying -- `If we may say, From heaven, he will say, Wherefore, then, did ye not believe him?
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Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we may say, From Heaven, He will say, Why, then, did you not believe him?
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Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Then they reasoned with each other, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘For what did you not believe him?’
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Darby Bible Public Domain
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say, Why have ye not believed him?
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World Messianic Bible Public Domain
They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’
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Webster's Bible Public Domain
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
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Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
They talked about it among themselves: “If we say it was from heaven, he'll ask, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?’
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Bible in Basic English Public Domain
And they said among themselves, If we say, From heaven; he will say, Why did you not have faith in him?
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Text-Critical English NT CC BY 4.0
So they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘ Why did you not believe him?’
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Tyndale New Testament (1534) Public Domain
And they thought with in them selves sayinge: yf we shall saye from heaven: he will saye: why then beleved ye him not?
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
Word by word
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- Appears 1× in the Greek New Testament
- First appears here
- Part of Speech
- Verb
- Tense
- Aorist
- Voice
- Middle deponent
- Mood
- Indicative
- Person
- 3rd person
- Number
- Plural
Full Thayer's Definition
- οἱ ho G3588 “the” Article, Nominative, Plural, Masculine
- δὲ dé G1161 “but” Conjunction
- συνελογίσαντο syllogízomai G4817 “to reckon up” Verb, Aorist, Middle deponent, Indicative, 3rd person, Plural
- πρὸς prós G4314 “to” Preposition
- ἑαυτοὺς heautoû G1438 “himself” Reflexive pronoun, 3rd person, Accusative, Plural, Masculine
- λέγοντες légō G3004 “to say” Verb, Present, Active, Participle, Nominative, Plural, Masculine
- ὅτι hóti G3754 “that” Conjunction
- ἐὰν eán G1437 “if” Conditional
- εἴπωμεν légō G3004 “to say” Verb, Aorist, Active, Subjunctive, 1st person, Plural
- ἐξ ek G1537 “from” Preposition
- οὐρανοῦ ouranós G3772 “heaven” Noun, Genitive, Singular, Masculine
- ἐρεῖ eréō G2046 “to speak” Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular
- διατί diatí G1302 “through” Particle, Interrogative
- οὐκ ou G3756 “not” Particle, Negative
- ἐπιστεύσατε pisteúō G4100 “to believe” Verb, Aorist, Active, Indicative, 2nd person, Plural
- αὐτῷ autós G846 “he” Personal pronoun, Dative, Singular, Masculine
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 →
- 16
- words
- 15
- distinct lemmas
- Gospels
- section
Notable vocabulary
1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Greek New Testament:
- συνελογίσαντο to reckon up G4817
First appearance in Scripture
This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Greek New Testament here:
- συνελογίσαντο to reckon up G4817
Shared distinctive vocabulary
διατί through G1302 occurs in 23 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:
Repetition
A word recurs within this verse:
- λέγοντες to say G3004 ×2
Cross-references
7Topical passages linked to Luke 20:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
- John 1:15–18 John testified about him. He cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.'"
- John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.'
- John 1:34 I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."
- John 3:26 They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."
- John 3:36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
- John 5:33–35 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
- Acts 13:25 As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
Where the printed editions differ
1 variantPlaces in this verse where the major printed Greek editions disagree on the wording in a way that affects the translation — a comparison of editions, not a manuscript-by-manuscript collation. The editions are the modern critical texts (Nestlé-Aland 28/27, SBL, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House) and the traditional texts behind the KJV (the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine/Majority text). It is not a claim about which reading is original.
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Extra text
οὖν
“therefore”
In TR Not in NA28NA27TynSBLWHTregByzοὖν (oun) 'therefore' is only in traditional manuscripts (TR)
Textual data: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible TAGNT) · CC BY 4.0.
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 16 words (15 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is syllogízomai (“to reckon up”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Discussion questions
- How does “to reckon up” (syllogízomai) shape what this verse is saying?
- This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Greek New Testament. What might the rare word draw attention to?
- The word “to reckon up” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
- Matthew 9:11 shares the word «through» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
- “to say” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
- 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?
- Reading how Expositor's Greek Testament and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?
Things to notice
- 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Greek New Testament.
- 1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
- These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
- “to say” occurs 2× in this single verse.
- 15 distinct Greek lemmas span 16 words in this verse.
Commentary
Notes on Luke 20:5 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 →
Expositor's Greek Testament
ed. W. Robertson Nicoll
The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne
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.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
unfoldingWord translationNotes
Door43 World Missions Community
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges
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.
International Critical Commentary
International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament
Marvin R. Vincent
Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.