“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people.
Parallel translations
- WEB saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
- KJV Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
- BSB “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men.
- NKJV saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
- NASB saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect any person.
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
The parable features a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. He is the picture of callous indifference.
Overview
Jesus introduces an unjust judge with no regard for God or man, the very opposite of a righteous arbiter. This negative example sets up an argument from lesser to greater about God's character. The judge's coldness will make God's eagerness to hear his people shine all the brighter.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 29:7The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.
- Luke 18:4He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
- Ps 8:1–4For the Chief Musician; on an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!
- Mic 3:1–3I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?
- Jer 22:16–17He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh.
- Ezek 22:6–8“‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.
- Exod 18:21–22Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
- Rom 3:14–18“whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
- Job 29:7–17when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
- 2 Chr 19:3–9Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”
- Isa 33:8The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:2 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.