Luke 18:9-14
A Pharisee and tax collector pray
18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’
18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
[9] Εἶπε δὲ καὶ πρός τινας τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι εἰσὶ δίκαιοι, καὶ ἐξουθενοῦντας τοὺς λοιπούς, τὴν παραβολὴν ταύτην·
[10] ἄνθρωποι δύο ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι, ὁ εἷς Φαρισαῖος καὶ ὁ ἕτερος τελώνης.
[11] ὁ Φαρισαῖος σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ταῦτα προσηύχετο· ὁ Θεός, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγες, ἄδικοι, μοιχοί, ἢ καὶ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης·
[12] νηστεύω δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου, ἀποδεκατῶ πάντα ὅσα κτῶμαι.
[13] καὶ ὁ τελώνης μακρόθεν ἑστὼς οὐκ ἤθελεν οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐπᾶραι, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτυπτεν εἰς τὸ στῆθος αὐτοῦ λέγων· ὁ Θεός, ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ.
[14] λέγω ὑμῖν, κατέβη οὗτος δεδικαιωμένος εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ ἢ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος· ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.
Comments
Both characters in the parable typically stand as they pray. The two forms of the participle ‘standing’ that refer to their posture are equivalent in meaning. The adv. ‘from afar’ (μακρόθεν), used of the publican’s self-distancing, may however suggest that the Pharisee seeks the limelight, whlist the publican avoids it. (J. B. Green, in his The Gospel of Luke, 1997, pp. 648-9 proposes, less plausibly in my view, that both men stand apart from the others.) The nuances of the demon. pron. οὗτος (‘this’) in v. 11 are also worth considering.
[9] πρός τινας τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς: here, πρός + acc., ‘to’; πεποιθότας, acc. pl. masc., part., 2nd pf. with a present meaning; πέποιθα ἐπὶ + dat. usu. pers., ‘confidently trust in’, an LXX idiom (Muraoka s.v. πείθω, 1b). Thus: ‘to or, in reference to, certain persons with sure confidence in themselves’.
ἐξουθενοῦντας τοὺς λοιπούς: ἐξουθενέω, koine form of ἐξουδενέω, ΄I treat with contempt’— a strongly emotive vb.
[11] σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ταῦτα προσηύχετο·: part., aor. pass., ἵσταμαι, ‘stand’; here, ‘standing’ (lit., ‘having been placed’). πρὸς ἑαυτὸν: ‘to himself’, referring to his praying, not his standing. πρός + acc. reflexive pronoun can express in cl. Gk a self-reflexive or internal action, e.g., I say, think, or sing ‘to myself’ (LSJ s.v. πρός, C.5), as here. Personal prayer would have been audible.
ὁ Θεός: a trivial point— the nom. with the definite article is used here in lieu of the voc., as also in the tax collector’s prayer in v. 13. In cl. Gk, the nom. can in a few cases be employed instead of the voc., but without the definite article. (On the nom. as voc. in calls/summonses, see Cambridge Grammar Cl. Gk, 2019, p. 381n1.)
ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων: article + λοιπός + dependent gen., as here, is cl. Gk & LXX syntax (e.g., Thuc. 7.72, Le 23:22, etc.); οἱ λοιποὶ, ‘the remaining, the rest’ has an ‘elitist edge’, as L.T. Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, 1991, p. 271 astutely notes. The phrase picks up τοὺς λοιπούς in v. 9. Jesus’ characterisation of certain persons as supercilious is borne out by the very phrasing of the Pharisee’s prayer.
οὗτος ὁ τελώνης: ‘this (here) tax collector’. The demonst. pron. οὗτος is either deictic (i.e., implies that the speaker is pointing at the tax collector) or carries a derogatory force, or is both deictic and derogatory. Cf. v. 13, μακρόθεν ἑστὼς, ‘standing afar’.
[13] μακρόθεν ἑστὼς: pf. part. with pres. meaning from ἵστημι, intr., ‘I stand’. ‘Standing’—far from whom or what? Perhaps his distance implies that, unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector is avoiding the public view. Perhaps he has now moved away from the Pharisee and others. St Cyril of Alexandria (late 4th and early 5th century) comments that, out of remorse for his sins, the tax collector ‘was afraid of being seen even by God’ (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Commentary on the Gospel of St Luke, tr. R. Payne Smith, 1983, p. 482).
[14] ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται: the paradox is cast as a chiasmus (i.e., a criss-crossing pair of parallel statements) that expresses antithesis and reversal: A B ~ B′ Α′.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 