3, 5. μετανοῆτε … ὁμοίως … μετανοήσητε … ὡσαύτως. The MSS. vary between these words, which makes it probable that different words were used in each text.

3. ἐὰν μὴ μετανοῆτε. The pres. subj. points to the necessity for a state of repentance. The aor. μετανοήσητε, which is the best reading in Luke 13:5, points to its immediate urgency. The first meaning of the words was doubtless prophetic. As a matter of historic fact, the Jewish nation did not repent, and myriads of them in the siege of Jerusalem perished by a doom closely analogous to that of these unhappy Galilaeans (see Jos. B. J. Luke 13:1; Luke 13:3; Luke 13:7; Luke 13:11-12, and especially 13, VI. passim, VII. 3). And since all life and all history are governed by the same divine laws, the warning is applicable to men and to nations at all periods.

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Old Testament