Paragraph 11:23

In this paragraph, Jesus concluded the illustration about the strong man in 11:22. In order to make this clear, you may want to begin this paragraph with a phrase such as:

⌊Jesus continued⌋

11:23a

He who is not with Me is against Me: The clause He who is not with Me is against Me means, “Anyone who is not my friend is my enemy.” In the context of the fight between good and evil (11:14–22), this implies that anyone who is not Jesus’ friend is Satan’s friend. There is no middle or neutral position. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

If you are not on my side, you are against me. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Those people who are not my allies/companions are my opponents/enemies.

11:23b

and he who does not gather with Me scatters: This figure of speech means the same thing as 11:23a: anyone who is not helping Jesus in his work is opposing him.

Jesus did not say what he was gathering. Many scholars think he was comparing himself to a shepherd gathering sheep. Other scholars think he was comparing himself to a farmer gathering crops.

Some ways to translate this are:

• Use the specific example of sheep. For example:

He who does not help me gather ⌊my sheep⌋ is scattering them.

• Use the specific example of crops. For example:

If you don’t gather in the crop with me, you scatter it. (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a more generic word for gather. For example:

anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me (New Living Translation (2004))

• Translate the nonfigurative meaning. This figure of speech means that if someone is not calling people to come to God, like Jesus is, he is actually pushing people away from God. For example:

He who does not help me gather ⌊people for God⌋ is scattering them ⌊so that they go away from God⌋.

Translate this figure of speech in a way that is most natural in your language.

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