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Luke 20 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULB does this with the poetry in 20:17, 42-43, which are words from the Old Testament.
Special concepts in this chapter
Using questions to trap people
When Jesus asked the Pharisees who gave John the authority to baptize (Luke 20:4), they could not answer because any answer they gave would give someone a reason to say that they were wrong (Luke 20:5-6). They thought that they would be able to say that Jesus was wrong when they asked him if people should pay taxes to Caesar (Luke 20:22), but Jesus gave them an answer that they had not thought of.
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Paradox
A paradox is a true statement that appears to describe something impossible. 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).