Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”
- KJV And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
- NKJV Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
- NASB And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor harass anyone, and be content with your wages.”
- NLT “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
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
John tells soldiers to stop extorting, never accuse falsely, and be content with their pay. Contentment and honesty are marks of true repentance.
Overview
Soldiers, who could easily abuse their power, are told to renounce intimidation, false accusation, and greed. Like the tax collectors, they are not told to leave their post but to serve justly within it. Contentment with one's wages strikes at the covetousness from which many sins spring, and it points toward the trust in God that the gospel produces.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Heb 13:5–6Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Exod 20:16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Phil 4:11I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.
- Exod 23:1“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
- 1 Tim 6:8–10But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
- Lev 19:11You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.
- Rom 13:9–10The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Luke 19:8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”
- Phil 2:15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- Titus 2:3Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.
- Rev 12:10And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.
- Matt 8:5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him,
- Acts 10:7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.
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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 3:14 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.