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Luke 20 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations prefer to set apart quotations of the Old Testament. The ULB and many other English translations indent the lines of 20:17, 42-43, which are quotations from the Old Testament.
Special concepts in this chapter
Trap
This chapter contains two questions designed to catch someone admitting something they do not wish to say. Jesus asks a question of the Pharisees that traps them by forcing them to either admit they believe John the Baptist was a prophet or anger the Jews by denying this. The leaders tried to trap Jesus by asking him about paying taxes to the Roman government. Answering yes would anger the Jews and answering no would anger the Romans. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Paradox
A paradox is a statement that seems to be absurd and to contradict itself, but really does not. In this chapter, Jesus quotes a psalm that records David calling his son "lord," that is, "master." However, to the Jews, ancestors were greater than their descendants. In this passage, Jesus is trying to lead his hearers to the true understanding that the Messiah will himself be divine, and that he himself is the Messiah. (Luke 20:41-44).