Luke 23:34

Context

The Gospel of Luke places this prayer immediately after the scene in which Jesus is crucified with two malefactors at the place called Calvary (the Skull). The prayer is followed by the scene in which the soldiers cast lots to divide his garments (Psalm 22:18). Among the "Seven Last Words," the traditional collection of the sayings from the cross drawn from the four Gospels, it is usually counted as the first.

Interpretation

• Those to be forgiven: Interpreters differ on whom "them" in the prayer refers to. One view identifies them as the Roman soldiers who actually nailed Jesus to the cross; another holds that the prayer also includes the Jewish leaders and the crowd who handed him over; still another extends it to all humanity as responsible for his death.
• "They know not": This phrase is understood to mean that ignorance does not erase sin, but that such ignorance leaves room to ask for forgiveness. It is also read alongside Peter's words to the people of Jerusalem, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it" (Acts 3:17).
• Love of enemies in practice: The scene is seen as Jesus himself practicing what he taught in the Sermon on the Plain: "pray for them which despitefully use you" (Luke 6:28). Stephen's offering of the same prayer at his martyrdom (Acts 7:60) is also read as following this example.

Controversies and Issues

The prayer is absent from some important early manuscripts (including papyrus evidence and Codex Vaticanus), and in Codex Sinaiticus it is reported to have been present originally and later erased. For this reason, some modern translations mark it with brackets or a marginal note. Nevertheless, many scholars support its authenticity on the grounds that the prayer appears in many manuscripts and was known to the early Church Fathers, and that the theme of forgiveness fits well with the overall movement of Luke and Acts. Some also suggest that a later scribe, uncomfortable with forgiveness extended to the Jews, may have deleted it. In either case, there is broad agreement that the prayer belongs to the Lukan tradition.

In the Korean Church

The verse is used in Holy Week services, especially as the first text in Good Friday meditations on the Seven Last Words. In Korean church history, the story of Pastor Son Yang-won, who adopted as his son the man who had killed his sons, is frequently preached alongside this verse.

Related Passages

• Acts 7:60
• Luke 6:27-28
• Isaiah 53:12
• Acts 3:17