The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke13:1–5

A Call to Repentance

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Luke 13:1–5 — A Call to Repentance. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

en tō autō kairō de tines Parēsan apangellontes autō peri tōn Galilaiōn hōn to haima Pilatos emixen meta autōn tōn thysiōn

Word by word21 · parsed
ἐνenAtG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
αὐτῷautōthatG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καιρῷkairōtimeG2540
√ καιρός — an occasion, iNounDative Masculine Singular
kairos: season, occasion The word that closed chapter 12 (“How can you not know how to interpret this present time?” Luke 12:56). The report about the Galileans arrives as an unwitting test case of that very discernment.
δέdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessome [of those]G5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
ΠαρῆσανParēsanpresentG3918
√ πάρειμι — to be near, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
pareimi: to be present, to have come (imperfect) Cambridge's “There arrived” makes the speakers a delegation with a purpose; Benson, Barnes and Gill suspect a snare, or at least a judgment already formed. The text records only that they came and reported.
ἀπαγγέλλοντεςapangellontestoldG518
√ ἀπαγγέλλω — to announceVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
apangellō: to announce, report Present participle: they were in the act of telling. The word is the ordinary verb of bringing news.
αὐτῷautō[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ΓαλιλαίωνGalilaiōnGalileansG1057
√ Γαλιλαῖος — Galilean or belonging to GalileaNounGenitive Masculine Plural
Galilaios: Galilean (10 verses) Jesus and most of the Twelve were Galileans (Luke 23:6; Acts 2:7). Gill suggests the report may even have been a jab at Jesus' own Galilean following; Cambridge notes Galileans regularly attended the Jerusalem feasts (John 4:45).
ὧνhōnwhoseG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Masculine Plural
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
αἷμαhaimabloodG129
√ αἷμα — blood, literally (of men or animals), figuratively (the juice of grapes) or specially (the atoning blood of Christ)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
haima: blood In the temple setting the word carries its full sacrificial weight: the blood of the victims is what the altar was for. That human blood was mingled with it made the incident, in Cambridge's words, “peculiarly horrible to Jewish imaginations.”
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Pilatos: Pilate The Roman prefect, the same man who will hand Jesus over at Passover (Luke 23). Ellicott, Barnes and Cambridge all note the incident is not recorded by Josephus, though Josephus records similar brutalities under Pilate.
ἔμιξενemixenhad mixedG3396
√ μίγνυμι — to mixVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
mignymi: to mix (4 verses) A rare verb. Its other NT uses are wine mixed with gall at the cross (Matthew 27:34), hail and fire mixed with blood in the first trumpet (Revelation 8:7), and a sea of glass mixed with fire (Revelation 15:2). The shared word is recorded; no allusion is claimed.
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
θυσιῶνthysiōnsacrificesG2378
√ θυσία — sacrifice (the act or the victim, literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
thysia: sacrifice The victims were killed in the very act of approaching God by the appointed means. That detail is what made the tragedy look like a verdict to the bystanders, and it is what Jesus refuses to read as one.
2

To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai apokritheis eipen autois Dokeite hoti houtoi hoi Galilaioi egenonto para hamartōloi pantas tous Galilaious hoti peponthasin tauta

Word by word18 · parsed
καὶkai[To this]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheisHe repliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
apokrinomai: to answer (aorist passive participle) Jesus answers not the political question (was Pilate right?) but the unspoken theological one. Gill: “Neither approving, nor condemning Pilate's action.”
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΔοκεῖτεDokeiteDo you thinkG1380
√ δοκέω — compare the base of G1166 (δεικνύω)) of the same meaningVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
dokeō: to think, suppose, seem Present tense: “Do you suppose?” He names their working assumption out loud. The same verb returns in v. 4, framing both incidents with the identical probe.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὗτοιhoutoitheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ΓαλιλαῖοιGalilaioiGalileansG1057
√ Γαλιλαῖος — Galilean or belonging to GalileaNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐγένοντοegenontowereG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
ginomai: to become (aorist middle) Cambridge's “became, proved themselves to be” sharpens the error: the bystanders treat calamity as a revealing event that exposes hidden guilt. The disciples make the same move at John 9:2, and Job's friends before them.
παρὰpara[worse]G3844
√ παρά — properly, nearPreposition
ἁμαρτωλοὶhamartōloisinnersG268
√ ἁμαρτωλός — sinful, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
hamartōlos: sinful, sinner A distinctly Lukan word (the tax collector's “God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” Luke 18:13; the grumbling over “sinners,” Luke 15:1 to 2). Here the hearers want to place the dead Galileans in that category; by v. 3 Jesus has placed everyone there.
πάνταςpantasthan allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
pas: all “Beyond all the Galileans.” This pas is answered in v. 3 by pantes: not “all the other Galileans” but “you all.”
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ΓαλιλαίουςGalilaious[other] GalileansG1057
√ Γαλιλαῖος — Galilean or belonging to GalileaNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
πεπόνθασινpeponthasinthey sufferedG3958
√ πάσχω — to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful)VerbPerfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
paschō: to suffer (perfect) The same verb Luke uses for Christ's passion (“the Christ must suffer,” Luke 24:26, 46; Luke 9:22). The one who forbids reading suffering as proof of special guilt will himself suffer as one counted with transgressors (Luke 22:37).
ταῦταtautathis wayG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
3

No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ouchi legō hymin all’ ean mē metanoēte pantes apoleisthe homoiōs

Word by word10 · parsed
οὐχίouchiNoG3780
√ οὐχί — not indeedAdverb
ouchi: no indeed The emphatic negative form: a flat refusal of the bystanders' inference.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἀλλ’all’ButG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
ἐὰνeanunlessG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
ean mē: unless A real condition: the outcome is not fixed but hangs on repentance.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
μετανοῆτεmetanoēteyou repentG3340
√ μετανοέω — to think differently or afterwards, iVerbPresent Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
metanoeō: to change one's mind, repent A keynote of Luke and Acts: joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7, 10), repentance for the forgiveness of sins proclaimed in Christ's name (Luke 24:47), “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). Gill specifies the repentance as including turning from “the disbelief of the Messiah”; the text itself leaves the object unspecified, which universalizes it.
πάντεςpantesvvvG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
pas: all The pivot of the passage. In v. 2 the hearers set the dead apart from “all the Galileans”; Jesus answers that “all” of them stand under the same sentence.
ἀπολεῖσθεapoleistheyou too will all perishG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Middle2nd Person Plural
apollymi: destroy fully; middle: perish, be lost The verb of ruin and of lostness alike. Cambridge reads the first meaning as prophetic of Jerusalem's fall; JFB insists the words point further, to a perdition “future, personal, remediless.” Luke's own usage supports both: the national catastrophe (Luke 19:43 to 44) and the lost who may still be found (Luke 15:24; 19:10).
ὁμοίωςhomoiōs. . .G3668
√ ὁμοίως — similarlyAdverb
homoiōs: similarly Differs from v. 5's hōsautōs in the base text; Cambridge reports that manuscripts vary between the two words in v. 5 and finds no clear difference of meaning.
4

Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ē ekeinoi hoi deka oktō hous kai apekteinen ho pyrgos en tō Silōam epesen eph’ autous dokeite hoti autoi egenonto para opheiletai pantas tous anthrōpous tous katoikountas Ierousalēm

Word by word28 · parsed
ἢēOrG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
ἐκεῖνοιekeinoithoseG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δέκα‿dekaeighteenG1176
√ δέκα — tenAdjective
deka oktō: eighteen A precise number, suggesting a known recent event. Gill reports that the Persic version reads “twelve,” while all copies and other versions agree on eighteen.
οκτὼoktō. . .G3638
√ ὀκτώ — "eight"Adjective
οὓςhouswhoG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπέκτεινενapekteinenwere killedG615
√ ἀποκτείνω — to kill outrightVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apokteinō: to kill outright Active verb with the tower as subject. Benson draws the point: with no human agent, the deaths looked even “more immediately from Providence” than the Galileans' did, making it the stronger test case.
ὁho[when] theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
πύργοςpyrgostowerG4444
√ πύργος — a tower or castleNounNominative Masculine Singular
pyrgos: tower (4 verses) A rare word. Luke's only other use is the tower-builder who must count the cost (Luke 14:28); Matthew 21:33 and Mark 12:1 use it of the watchtower in the vineyard parable. Henry: “Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men's destruction.”
ἐνenofG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΣιλωὰμSilōamSiloamG4611
√ Σιλωάμ — Siloam (iNounDative Masculine Singular
Silōam: Siloam (3 verses) Elsewhere only at John 9:7 and 9:11, the pool where the man born blind washes and sees, in the very chapter where Jesus refuses to trace that man's blindness to his own or his parents' sin (John 9:2 to 3). The location of the tower itself is unknown; JFB: “Of its fall nothing is known.”
ἔπεσενepesencollapsedG4098
√ πίπτω — to fall (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
piptō: to fall The plain verb of collapse. Gill sees the falling tower as “a pledge and emblem” of the ruins of Jerusalem (v. 5 voices).
ἐφ’eph’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
δοκεῖτεdokeiteDo you thinkG1380
√ δοκέω — compare the base of G1166 (δεικνύω)) of the same meaningVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐγένοντοegenontowereG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
παρὰparamoreG3844
√ παρά — properly, nearPreposition
ὀφειλέταιopheiletaisinfulG3781
√ ὀφειλέτης — an ower, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
opheiletēs: debtor, one who owes Guilt as debt: Matthew's Lord's Prayer asks forgiveness of “debts” as we forgive our “debtors” (Matthew 6:12, the same noun), and Luke's form joins sins with everyone “indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). The shift from hamartōloi (v. 2) to opheiletai makes the question one of account: did these eighteen owe more? Jesus' answer is that all owe.
πάνταςpantas[than] allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπουςanthrōpous[others]G444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounAccusative Masculine Plural
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
κατοικοῦνταςkatoikountaslivingG2730
√ κατοικέω — to house permanently, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
katoikeō: to dwell permanently Settled inhabitants, as opposed to the visiting Galileans of v. 1. The two incidents cover provincial pilgrims and the capital's own residents, so no group can exempt itself.
ἸερουσαλήμIerousalēmin JerusalemG2419
√ Ἱερουσαλήμ — Hierusalem (iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
Ierousalēm: Jerusalem The city toward which Luke's journey narrative is moving (Luke 9:51; 13:22, 33 to 34). Within this same chapter Jesus laments over it (13:34 to 35).
5

No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ouchi legō hymin all’ ean mē metanoēte pantes apoleisthe hōsautōs

Word by word10 · parsed
οὐχίouchiNoG3780
√ οὐχί — not indeedAdverb
ouchi: no indeed The same emphatic refusal, now applied to the case with no human agent at all.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἀλλ’all’ButG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
ἐὰνeanunlessG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
μετανοῆτεmetanoēteyou repentG3340
√ μετανοέω — to think differently or afterwards, iVerbPresent Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
metanoeō: repent (present subjunctive) Repeated word for word. The doubling turns a reply into a refrain, the shape of prophetic warning. The parable of the fig tree that follows (Luke 13:6 to 9) supplies the reason the sentence has not yet fallen: a season of patience granted for fruit.
πάντεςpantesvvvG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀπολεῖσθεapoleistheyou too will all perishG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Middle2nd Person Plural
apollymi: perish (future middle) Barnes reads it beyond this life (“This is not a world of retribution”); Gill and Pulpit see the fall of Jerusalem, “within forty years,” as its first fulfillment. Both readings are attested in the brief; the text does not restrict itself to one.
ὡσαύτωςhōsautōs. . .G5615
√ ὡσαύτως — as thus, iAdverb
hōsautōs: just so, in the same way If Cambridge's slight sharpening is right, the second refrain is the stronger: not merely “as surely,” but “in the very same way,” which is why Gill and Cambridge point to people literally buried under falling ruins in AD 70 (citing Josephus).

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The report: blood at the altar — Luke 13:1

Some arrive (Παρῆσαν, which Cambridge renders “There arrived”) with news: Galileans killed at sacrifice, their αἷμα mixed (ἔμιξεν) with their θυσιῶν. Ellicott, Barnes, Henry and Gill all observe that no other historian records it; Ellicott judges it “quite in harmony with Pilate’s character,” and Cambridge and Pulpit cite Josephus for comparable Passover massacres. Why it was told is uncertain. Benson, Barnes and Gill raise the possibility of a political snare; Cambridge, reading backward from Jesus' answer, concludes they presented the dead “as supposed victims of divine anger.” The identification of the victims with followers of Judas of Galilee (Benson, JFB, Gill) is a conjecture, which JFB notes was doubted by De Wette, Meyer and Alford.

ii. The first question: did suffering prove them sinners? — Luke 13:2 to 3

Jesus names the hidden assumption with Δοκεῖτε: “Do you suppose?” Cambridge points out that the verb is ἐγένοντο, “became, proved themselves to be,” and that the error was “deeply engrained,” though the Book of Job had been “expressly levelled” against it. Gill: “God's judgments are a great deep.” Then the reversal. The pantas of the question (“beyond all the Galileans”) becomes the πάντες of the verdict: “unless you repent, all of you will perish likewise.” Barnes calls it a reproof “more delicate and yet more severe” than any other. Cambridge reads the first meaning as prophetic of Jerusalem's fall; JFB insists the words point beyond it to a perdition “future, personal, remediless.” Ellicott cautions that “likewise” should hardly be taken literally of every impenitent hearer.

iii. The second question: the tower and the debt — Luke 13:4 to 5

Jesus now supplies his own example, one with no human villain. The tower (πύργος) is the subject of the verb: it “killed” them (ἀπέκτεινεν). Benson notes that this made the deaths look “more immediately from Providence” than the Galileans'. The word for guilt changes from “sinners” to ὀφειλέται, “debtors” (Cambridge, Gill), and the victims are settled residents (κατοικοῦντας) of Jerusalem itself, so neither provincial nor citizen may exempt himself. Cambridge records Ewald's “ingenious, but of course uncertain” conjecture linking the tower to Pilate's aqueduct and the Corban money. The refrain returns, now with ὡσαύτως, possibly “rather stronger” (Cambridge). Gill makes the fallen tower “a pledge and emblem” of the city's ruin; Pulpit: “Within forty years all this happened.” Barnes lifts the lesson to its widest frame: “This is not a world of retribution.” Henry: “Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men's destruction.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Tested against Scripture alone, the passage seems to make three claims and to refuse a fourth. First, calamity in this world is not a reliable index of a person's comparative guilt: Jesus says “No” twice, and John 9:3, Job, and Psalm 73 (which Barnes cites) say the same. Second, the guilt the bystanders hoped to locate in others is universal: the “all” of v. 2 becomes the “all” of vv. 3 and 5, and the word shifts to “debtors,” the vocabulary of the Lord's Prayer. Third, the only fitting response to another's ruin is one's own repentance, a present and continuing turning (metanoēte), and the time for it is a granted season, as the barren fig tree that follows (Luke 13:6 to 9) makes plain. What the passage refuses is the bystander's seat: it gives no one a vantage from which to sort the dead into the more and less deserving. Whether “likewise” points chiefly to Jerusalem's fall in AD 70 or to final judgment, the text supports both and narrows to neither; this reading holds both and offers that judgment to be tested by Luke 19:41 to 44, Luke 21:20 to 24, and Romans 2:1 to 11.

The ruins of others are not a verdict on them but a summons to us.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Siloam: the same place, the same refusal verbal / quotation: confirmed

The place-name Σιλωάμ occurs in only three NT verses: here and at John 9:7 and 9:11. In John 9 the disciples ask the very question Luke 13 forbids, “who sinned, this man or his parents?” (John 9:2), and Jesus refuses the equation of affliction and guilt there as here (John 9:3). In Luke, Siloam is where eighteen men died; in John, it is where a blind man washed and saw. Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva, Benson and Cambridge all cross-reference John 9:7 at this verse. The shared lexeme is recorded; the thematic parallel is real, though no literary dependence between the two Gospels is claimed.

John 9:7 · John 9:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4611 Σιλωάμ (in 3 vv), a rare proper name; verbal identity of place, not a quotation. John 9:11 also shares G611 (231 vv) and G1565 (237 vv), which are common and add nothing.

Towers that fall and towers that must be finished structural / thematic: confirmed

πύργος occurs in only four NT verses. Luke's only other use is in the next chapter: the man who builds a tower without counting the cost and cannot finish it (Luke 14:28 to 30). Matthew 21:33 and Mark 12:1 use it of the watchtower the owner builds in the vineyard before sending his son. Henry's line, “Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men's destruction,” fits all three: human structures do not secure the builder. This is a recorded shared word within a loose motif of building and ruin; no intended allusion between these passages is claimed.

Luke 14:28 · Matthew 21:33 · Mark 12:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4444 πύργος (in 4 vv); rare, but the contexts are distinct and no allusion is asserted, so tiered thematic rather than verbal

Galileans, Pilate and Herod structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke alone records both this incident and the enmity, then friendship, between Pilate and Herod Antipas, which turns on the question of whether Jesus is “a Galilean” (Luke 23:6 to 12). Ellicott, Barnes and Cambridge each suggest the slaughter of Herod's Galilean subjects may have been one cause of that enmity. The verbal overlap (Galilean, Pilate) is recorded; the causal link is commentator conjecture, which Ellicott himself qualifies as “probably.”

Luke 23:6 · Luke 23:12

basis: Verifier: Luke 23:6 shares G1057 Γαλιλαῖος (in 10 vv) and G4091 Πιλᾶτος (in 53 vv); the narrative link is real, the historical cause of the Pilate and Herod enmity is conjectural

Were the victims followers of Judas of Galilee? flagged: verify source

Benson, JFB, Gill and Ellicott connect the slain Galileans with the movement of “Judas of Galilee” mentioned by Gamaliel in Acts 5:37, who “perished” (apōleto, G622, the same verb as Luke 13:3 and 5). JFB itself reports that this identification is doubted by De Wette, Meyer and Alford, and Gill notes some even made them Samaritans. Nothing in Luke 13 names the victims' cause. The verbal overlap is real; the historical identification is unproven.

Acts 5:37

basis: Verifier: shared G1057 Γαλιλαῖος (in 10 vv) and G622 ἀπόλλυμι (in 84 vv); the historical identification rests on commentator conjecture and is contested (per JFB)

Job's friends and the error Jesus forbids structural / thematic: confirmed

Barnes points to “the Book of Job, and the reasonings of his three ‘friends,’” and Cambridge says Job had been “expressly levelled at the uncharitable error of assuming that individual misfortune could only be the consequence of individual crime.” Eliphaz's question (“Who, being innocent, has ever perished?” Job 4:7) states the very premise Jesus rejects, and the LORD's verdict on the friends (Job 42:7) rejects it as well. Barnes adds Psalm 73, where the wicked prosper. This is a cross-Testament link: Hebrew and Greek cannot share Strong's numbers, so it is tiered by shared argument, not wording.

Job 4:7 · Job 42:7 · Psalm 73:3

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek and Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme possible; link is the shared argument about calamity and guilt, explicitly drawn by Barnes and Cambridge

Judging others, and the kindness that leads to repentance structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge says Jesus' words “bear the wider significance of the warning in Romans 2:1-11.” Paul's argument has the same shape: whoever judges another condemns himself (Romans 2:1), and God's forbearance is meant to lead to repentance (metanoia, Romans 2:4). The fig-tree parable that immediately follows (Luke 13:6 to 9) dramatizes the same delay granted for repentance.

Romans 2:1 · Romans 2:4 · Luke 13:6-9

basis: Shared motif (judging others; forbearance for repentance), cited by Cambridge; no quotation claimed

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Galilean whom Pilate killed at Passover novel

⚙ Within ten chapters, Luke shows another Galilean (Luke 23:6) handed over by the same Pilate at Passover, and his blood is the sacrifice. Jesus forbids the bystanders to read the Galileans' violent death as proof of special guilt; at the cross onlookers make exactly that inference about him (“He saved others; let him save himself,” Luke 23:35), and he is “numbered with the transgressors” (Luke 22:37). The verb for the Galileans' suffering, paschō, is Luke's verb for the Messiah's passion (Luke 24:26). Hebrews says he entered “by his own blood” (Hebrews 9:12). The textual facts are Luke's; the figural pairing of the two Galilean deaths under Pilate is this tool's reading and is not attested in the brief's commentators.

Luke 23:6 · Luke 22:37 · Luke 24:26 · Hebrews 9:12

The prophet who warns, weeps, and seeks the perishing ancient/widely-held

The one who says “you will all perish” is the same one who weeps over Jerusalem and foretells its siege (Luke 19:41 to 44; 23:28 to 31), and who came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), using the same verb apollymi for those he saves. Benson, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit read the warning as fulfilled in Jerusalem's fall; JFB extends it to final perdition; Henry joins it to the gospel call (“The same Jesus that bids us repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”). The risen Christ commands that repentance for the forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in his name (Luke 24:47): the warning of Luke 13 is answered by the provision of Luke 24. That Jesus speaks here as the prophet of Jerusalem's judgment and the Savior of the lost is the widely-held reading.

Luke 19:10 · Luke 19:41-44 · Luke 24:47

Siloam, which means Sent novel

⚙ John glosses Siloam as “Sent” (John 9:7), in a Gospel that repeatedly calls Jesus the one the Father sent; John himself seems to invite the wordplay, though no commentator in this brief draws it. Setting Luke 13:4 beside it is this tool's own suggestion: the place where a tower fell on the unrepentant becomes, in John, the place where the blind are washed at the word of the Sent One. Offered as novel and to be tested; nothing in Luke 13 itself makes the connection.

John 9:7

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Verses 3 and 5 in the base text differ in their final adverb: homoiōs (v. 3) and hōsautōs (v. 5). Cambridge reports that readings in v. 5 vary between the two. Gill reports that the Persic version reads “twelve” for “eighteen” in v. 4, against all other copies and versions. The interlinear's word order for v. 1 (en tō autō kairō de tines parēsan) is reproduced as given; BSB glosses pantes in vv. 3 and 5 as absorbed (“vvv”) into “you too will all perish.”

History. Neither incident is recorded outside Luke (Ellicott, Barnes, Henry, Gill, JFB). The identification of the Galileans with followers of Judas of Galilee, the Samaritan alternative, and Ewald's link between the tower and Pilate's aqueduct are all conjectures, labeled as such by the commentators themselves. Josephus references in the commentators are reproduced as they give them and have not been independently checked here.

Sources. The brief's JFB entry for 13:1 contains, after its first paragraph, material that reads like Matthew Poole's annotations (“Ver. 1-5 … I find no other account given by any”); it was not quoted. Poole's own entries for vv. 2 to 5 are cross-references only and contribute no text. Geneva's “just punishment” wording in v. 1 is noted against the text's refusal to call these deaths specially deserved.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)