St Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the merciful Samaritan
10:25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
10:27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”
10:28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
10:29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead.
10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
10:32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
10:33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion.
10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
10:35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’
10:36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
10:37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
[25] Καὶ ἰδοὺ νομικός τις ἀνέστη ἐκπειράζων αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων· διδάσκαλε, τί ποιήσας ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω;
[26] ὁ δὲ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τί γέγραπται; πῶς ἀναγινώσκεις;
[27] ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου, καὶ τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν·
[28] εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ· ὀρθῶς ἀπεκρίθης· τοῦτο ποίει καὶ ζήσῃ.
[29] ὁ δὲ θέλων δικαιοῦν ἑαυτὸν εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν· καὶ τίς ἐστί μου πλησίον;
[30] ὑπολαβὼν δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν· ἄνθρωπός τις κατέβαινεν ἀπὸ ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ εἰς ῾Ιεριχώ, καὶ λῃσταῖς περιέπεσεν· οἳ καὶ ἐκδύσαντες αὐτὸν καὶ πληγὰς ἐπιθέντες ἀπῆλθον ἀφέντες ἡμιθανῆ τυγχάνοντα.
[31] κατὰ συγκυρίαν δὲ ἱερεύς τις κατέβαινεν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἀντιπαρῆλθεν.
[32] ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Λευΐτης γενόμενος κατὰ τὸν τόπον, ἐλθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν ἀντιπαρῆλθε.
[33] Σαμαρείτης δέ τις ὁδεύων ἦλθε κατ᾿ αὐτόν, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἐσπλαγχνίσθη,
[34] καὶ προσελθὼν κατέδησε τὰ τραύματα αὐτοῦ ἐπιχέων ἔλαιον καὶ οἶνον, ἐπιβιβάσας δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον κτῆνος ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς πανδοχεῖον καὶ ἐπεμελήθη αὐτοῦ·
[35] καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν αὔριον ἐξελθών, ἐκβαλὼν δύο δηνάρια ἔδωκε τῷ πανδοχεῖ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἐπιμελήθητι αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὅ τι ἂν προσδαπανήσῃς, ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ ἐπανέρχεσθαίμε ἀποδώσω σοι.
[36] τίς οὖν τούτων τῶν τριῶν πλησίον δοκεῖ σοι γεγονέναι τοῦ ἐμπεσόντος εἰς τοὺς λῃστάς;
[37] ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. εἶπεν οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· πορεύου καὶ σὺ ποίει ὁμοίως.
Comments
Jesus commands the legal expert (v.37, σὺ ποίει ὁμοίως, ‘You do likewise’) to be like the Samaritan, who is a paradigm of the compassionate neighbour (ὁ πλησίον, ‘he who is near’, cf. v. 36). This would not have sounded odd to a Greek, for Zeus Xenios protected strangers, suppliants, and beggars (Odyssey 9. 296 ff., 6. 207 ff., etc.). To maltreat a xenos, i.e. an outsider from another Greek city or country, was an offence against Zeus. The fourth century BC orator and politician Demosthenes shows that for Athenian jurors ‘unexpected misfortune and victimisation’ were grounds for pity ( Dem. xxvii. 68, see Sir Kenneth Dover, Greek popular morality in the time of Plato and Aristotle, 1974, 1994, p.199). In classical Athens the moral concept of philanthropia was a combination of honesty, self-sacrifice, and compassion (ibid., 201 ff.), but was not treated as a ‘conspicuous virtue’ by Plato and Aristotle. In the parable it is fundamental.
[25]ἐκπειράζων: prob. causal, ‘because he wanted to test him’, ἐκπειράζω, c. acc. pers., ‘I put to a test to find out somebody’s quality’, an LXX vb (Muraoka s.v.). The prefix ἐκ- suggests completeness and intensity. Thus: ‘wanting to put him to a big test’.
τί ποιήσας: lit., ‘After doing what?’, the aor. part. ποιήσας is temporal but also implies manner, ‘By doing what?’.
[26] ἀναγινώσκεις: the cmpd vb ἀναγινώσκω, ‘I read’, lit. means ‘I know (γινώσκω) again (ἀνα-)’, cf. Engl. ‘re-cognise’. The vb implies reading letters aloud and recognising the meaning of the emergent words and sentences. Reading was not silent, with exceptions. (This is a vast subject in ancient Greek.)
[27] ἀποκριθεὶς: as noted in previous comments, the vb ἀποκρίνομαι, ‘I answer’, properly implies that the person answering is giving a considered reply. ἀπο- connotes a distillation. Cf. ἀπεκρίθης (v. 27).
ἐξ ὅλης: the prep. phrase ἐξ ὅλης (‘with all’) + a noun is repeated with variation four times. Such repetition (epanaphora), of course, lends emphasis, here to the idea of intensity and extreme degree (‘with ALL of your heart’, etc.).
[28] τοῦτο ποίει καὶ ζήσῃ: ‘Do this and you will live’ neatly corresponds to the opening question of v. 25, τί ποιήσας ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω, ‘By doing what/ after doing what shall I inherit life eternal?’
[30] ἄνθρωπός τις: ‘some man’; the characters in the parable are all generic; lack of specific identity is usual in an oral tale (cf. the incipit of fairy tales ‘Once upon a time…’). This man will demonstrate φιλ-ανθρωπία, philanthropia.
[33] ἐσπλαγχνίσθη: σπλαγχνίζομαι, ‘I pity, I have pity’, a NT vb; cl. Gk uses ἐλέω & οἰκτίρω of compassion. σπλάγχνα, neuter pl., the ‘innards, entrails’ (heart, lungs, etc.) in cl. & later Gk, and fig., ‘the seat of feelings’ in cl. Gk & LXX (LSJ s.v. σπλάγχνον, ΙΙ), and pity, esp. in LXX.
[34] ἐπεμελήθη αὐτοῦ: ἐπιμελέομαι, ‘take care of’, c. gen., freq. in cl. prose, also LXX. Cf. v. 35. ἐπιμελήθητι αὐτοῦ, ‘Take care of him, look after him!’
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 