For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
Parallel translations
- KJV When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
- BSB Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary while you are on your way to the magistrate. Otherwise, he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison.
- NKJV When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
- NASB For when you are going with your accuser to appear before the magistrate, on the way, make an effort to settle with him, so that he does not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
- NLT When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When headed to court with an accuser, settle on the way before judgment falls. Wise urgency in reconciliation pictures the need to make peace with God now.
Overview
Using a legal scenario, Jesus urges practical wisdom: settle disputes before they reach the judge and lead to imprisonment. Spiritually, this is an appeal to be reconciled to God urgently, before the day of judgment arrives. The verse warns that the time to seek mercy is now, while opportunity remains, pointing to the reconciliation found only in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Matt 5:23–26“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
- Prov 25:8–9Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?
- Job 23:7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
- Luke 13:24–28“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.
- Isa 55:6Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
- Ps 32:6For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
- Prov 6:1–5My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
- Ps 50:22“Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
- Luke 14:31–32Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
- Matt 18:30He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.
- Heb 3:7–13Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,
- Job 22:21“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
- 1 Sam 25:18–35Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two bottles of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
- Gen 32:3–28Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
- 2 Cor 6:2for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
- Job 36:17–18“But you are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you.
- 1 Pet 3:19in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,
- Rev 20:7And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:58 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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