Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
Parallel Translations
-
Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
-
Or those.xviii. apon which the toure in Syloe fell and slewe the thinke ye that they were synners above all men that dwell in Ierusalem?
-
Or thinke you that those eighteene, vpon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slewe them, were sinners aboue all men that dwel in Hierusalem?
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Luke 13:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nehemiah 3:15 Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah repaired the spring gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king’s garden, even to the stairs that go down from David’s city.
- Job 1:19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
- Matthew 18:24 When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, in the place, or river: for Siloam…
To wit, in the place, or river: for Siloam was a small river, from whence the conduits of the city came, whereof John 9:7 and Isa. 8:6, and therefore it was a tower or castle, built upon the conduit side, which fell down suddenly, and killed some.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in…
4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Ver. 4. The tower of Siloam] A tower, belike, upon the wall of Jerusalem, which stood by the fish pool of Siloam, mentioned Joh 9:17.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Another instance our Saviour gives of persons that fell…
Another instance our Saviour gives of persons that fell by a sudden death, even eighteen that were slain by the fall of a tower in Jerusalem. He takes occasion from thence to caution the Jews, that they did not rigidly censure the sufferers, or conclude that those have wrought the most sin, who are brought to most shame. Oh, how ready are we to judge of men’s eternal condition, by their present visitation; and to conclude them the greatest offenders, upon whom God inflicts the most visible punishments! Our Saviour forbids this, and advises every one to look at home, telling the whole body of the Jews, that if they did not repent, they should all likewise perish, and that two ways:
1. By as certain a punishment as these did.
Read full note →
2. Ye shall likewise perish, by the same kind of punishment; you shall perish by the ruin of your whole city, as they did by the downfall of that tower, if a timely and sincere repentance does not intervene.
Learn hence, that we must judge of persons by their conversation towards God, and not by God’s dispensation towards them; all things here fall alike to all. A sudden death, yea, a violent death, as it comes upon many men, so it may come upon the best of men, as well as others: think not, says Christ, that those eighteen were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem, because they sufferd such things, I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Teaching us, that repentance is the only way and means to prevent punishment here, and perishing hereafter: Except ye repent, ye shall perish.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Or those eighteen,.... Men; the Persic version reads, "those…
Or those eighteen,.... Men; the Persic version reads, "those twelve"; but all copies, and other versions, agree in this number:
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them; there was a pool near Jerusalem, called the Pool of Siloam, Joh 9:7 near, or over which, was a tower built, which fell down and killed eighteen men; very likely as they were purifying themselves in the pool, and so was a case very much like the other, and might be a very late one: and this Christ the rather observes, and puts them in mind of, that they might see that not Galileans only, whom they had in great contempt, but even inhabitants of Jerusalem, died violent deaths, and came to untimely ends; and yet, as not in the former case, so neither in this was it to be concluded from hence, that they were sinners of a greater size, or their state worse than that of other men:
Read full note →
think ye that they were sinners; or debtors; for as sins are called debts, Mat 6:12 so sinners are called debtors:
above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? there might be, and doubtless there were, as great, or greater sinners, in that holy city, and among such that made great pretensions to religion and holiness, as they were.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. The tower in Siloam] This tower was…
Verse 4. The tower in Siloam] This tower was probably built over one of the porticoes near the pool, which is mentioned Joh 9:7. See also Ne 3:15.
Debtors, οφειλεται, a Jewish phrase for sinners. Persons professing to be under the law are bound by the law to be obedient to all its precepts; those who obey not are reckoned debtors to the law, or rather to that Divine justice from which the law came. A different word is used when speaking of the Galileans: they are termed αμαρτωλοι, as this word is often used to signify heathens; See Clarke on Lu 7:37; it is probably used here in nearly a similar sense. "Do ye who live in Jerusalem, and who consider your selves peculiarly attached to the law, and under the strongest obligations to obey it - do ye think that those Galileans were more heathenish than the rest of the Galileans, because they suffered such things? No. It was not on this account that they perished: both these cases exhibit a specimen of the manner in which ye shall all perish, if ye do not speedily repent, and turn to God."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Luk 13:4. Or those eighteen, &c. — The case…
Luk 13:4. Or those eighteen, &c. — The case here referred to seems to have occurred lately, and may seem, in some respects, more to the purpose than the former, as there was no human interposition attending the death of these men; so that their destruction appeared to be more immediately from Providence than that of the Galileans, whom Pilate had massacred: on whom the tower in Siloam fell — From the fountain of Siloam, which was without the walls of Jerusalem, a little stream flowed into the city, (Isa 8:6,) which was received in a kind of basin, thought by some to be the same with the pool of Bethesda. Being near the temple, it is no wonder that many frequented it for purification. And the calamity here spoken of, occasioned by the fall of a neighbouring tower, had probably happened at some late feast; and some of Christ’s hearers might then have been at Jerusalem.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Or those eighteen - Jesus himself adds another similar…
Or those eighteen - Jesus himself adds another similar case, to warn them - a case which had probably occurred not long before, and which it is likely they judged in the same manner.
Upon whom the tower in Siloam fell - The name Siloah or Siloam is found only three times in the Bible as applied to water - once in Isa 8:6, who speaks of it as running water; once as a pool near to the king’s garden in Neh 3:15; and once as a pool, in the account of the Saviour’s healing the man born blind, in Joh 9:7-11. Josephus mentions the fountain of Siloam frequently as situated at the mouth of the Valley of Tyropoeon, or the Valley of Cheesemongers, where the fountain long indicated as that fountain is still found. It is on the south side of Mount Moriah, and between that and the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The water at present flows out of a small artificial basin under the cliff, and is received into a large reservoir 53 feet in length by 18 feet in breadth. The small upper basin or fountain excavated in the rock is merely the entrance, or rather the termination of a long and narrow subterranean passage beyond, by which the water comes from the Fountain of the Virgin. For what purpose the “tower” here referred to was erected is not known; nor is it known at what time the event here referred to occurred. It is probable that it was not far from the time when the Saviour made use of the illustration, for the manner in which he refers to it implies that it was fresh in the recollection of those to whom he spoke.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Or those eighteen, &c. The Almighty permitted these people…
Or those eighteen, &c. The Almighty permitted these people to be thus chastised, that the others might be filled with fear and apprehension at the sight of another’s dangers, and thus become the heirs of the kingdom of heaven. But then you will say, is another punished that I may become better? No; he is punished for his own crimes; but his punishment becomes to those that witness it the means of salvation. (St. John Chrysostom, Concio. 3. de Lazaro.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain tower in Siloam--probably one of the towers of the…
tower in Siloam--probably one of the towers of the city wall, near the pool of Siloam. Of its fall nothing is known.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Or those eighteen—A more striking instance, as being…
4. Or those eighteen—A more striking instance, as being more purely providential. Of course history makes no mention of so ordinary an accident as the fall of a tower.
The tower of Siloam—Siloam is a fountain south-east of Jerusalem, for a full account of which see Joh_9:7. This tower seems to have stood near the fountain, or perhaps in the locality which received its name from the fountain.
Read full note →
Dwelt in Jerusalem—And this brings it home to those informants themselves. Not the poor Galileans alone, but the proud inhabitants of the mountain-girt capital even, must repent or perish.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam…
4. those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell] It is an ingenious, but of course uncertain conjecture of Ewald, that the death of these workmen was connected with the notion of retribution because they were engaged in building part of the aqueduct to the Pool of Siloam, for the construction of which Pilate had seized some of the sacred Corban-money (Mar_7:11; Jos. B. J. 11. 9, § 4);
Siloam] The pool (Joh_9:7; Isa_8:6), near the village of Silwan, at the entrance of the Tyropoeon valley, which runs into the valley of Jehoshaphat between Sion and Moriah.
Read full note →
that they were sinners] Rather, that they themselves were debtors.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Upon whom the tower in Siloam fell.—Here, again,…
(4) Upon whom the tower in Siloam fell.—Here, again, we have a reference to an incident not recorded elsewhere. It was clearly one that had impressed the minds of men with horror, as a special judgment. At or near to Siloam, the modern Birket-Silwan, is a swimming-pool, or tank (Joh_9:7), where the valley of Tyropœon opens into that of the Kedron. It was supplied through artificial conduits, and appears to have been one of a series of pools so fed. It is not unlikely, connected as Siloam thus was with the water-system of the city, that the tower in question was part of the works which Pilate had planned, and partly executed, for the construction of an aqueduct, and for which he appropriated part of the Corban or sacred treasure of the Temple, and if so, the popular excitement which this measure caused (see Note on Mat_27:2) might well lead men to look on its fall as an instance of a divine judgment on what they regarded as an act of sacrilege.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam…
Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? "You remember," goes on the Master, "the catastrophe of the fall of the tower in Siloam; the poor sufferers who were crushed there were not specially wicked men." The Lord used these occasions, we see, for something more than the great national lesson. Men are too ready, now as then, to give way to the unloving error of looking at individual misfortune as the consequence of individual crime. Such human uncharitable judgments the Lord bitterly condemns. Ewald"s conjecture in connection with this Siloam accident is ingenious. He supposes that the rigid Jews looked on the catastrophe as a retribution because the workmen who perished were paid by Pilate out of the sacred corban money (see Josephus, "Bell. Jud:," 2:9:4). The works were no doubt in connection with the aqueduct to the Pool of Siloam.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 4, 5. Those eighteen, on whom the tower of…
4, 5. Those eighteen, on whom the tower of Siloam fell. Nothing is known of the incident. The lesson is the same as before. These did not perish because they were greater sinners. All must repent or perish. Siloam was a suburb of Jerusalem, south of the city.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Or those
Or those
This is Jesus' second example of people who suffered. AT: "Or consider those" or "Think about those"
Read full note →
eighteen people
"18 people" (See: Numbers)
Siloam
This is the name of an area in Jerusalem. (See: How to Translate Names)
do you think they were worse sinners ... Jerusalem? No, I say
"does this prove that they were more sinful ... Jerusalem? No, I say." Jesus uses this question to challenge the understanding of the people. AT: "you think that they were more sinful ... Jerusalem, but I say that they were not" or "I say that you should not think that they were more sinful ... Jerusalem" (See: Rhetorical Question)
they were worse sinners
The crowd assumed that they died in this terrible way because they were especially sinful. This could be explicitly stated. AT: "they died because they were worse sinners" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
other men
"other people." The word here is the general term for a person. (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)
No, I say
Here "I say" emphasizes "No." It may be helpful to state Jesus' point clearly. AT: "They certainly did not die because they were more sinful" or "You are wrong to think that their suffering proves that they were more sinful" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
perish
die
translationWords
Jerusalem
repent
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 13:4 when the tower in Siloam fell: This incident…
13:4 when the tower in Siloam fell: This incident is also unknown apart from this reference. The pool of Siloam was a reservoir in the southeastern corner of Jerusalem, so the tower might have been part of the southern wall of Jerusalem.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.