Luke 13:2

ἁμαρτωλοὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς Γαλιλαίους ἐγένοντο. For παρὰ in comparisons see Luke 3:13; Hebrews 1:9; Hebrews 3:3. The “were” of the A. V[275] is literally, ‘became,’ i.e. ‘stamped themselves as,’ ‘proved themselves to be.’ We trace a similar mistaken ‘supposition’ in the question of the disciples about the blind man (John 9:2). It was indeed deeply engrained in the Jewish mind, although the Book of Job had been expressly levelled at the uncharitable error of assuming that individual misfortune could only be the consequence of individual crime. Such is sometimes the case (Genesis 42:21; Judges 1:7), but although all human sorrow has its ultimate cause in human sin it is wrong to assume in individual cases the connexion of calamity with crime.

[275] A. V. Authorised Version.

ταῦτα πεπόνθασιν. ‘Have suffered these things.’