Clarke's Bible Commentary - Luke 17:34
Verse 34. - 36. On the subject of these verses see Matt. xxiv. 40, 41. The 36th verse is, without doubt, an interpolation; see the margin. It was probably borrowed from Matt. xxiv. 40. The whole verse is wanting in-ABEGHKLQS, more than fifty others, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, and many of the fathers: Griesbach has left it out of the text. Well might our translators say in the margin, This 36th verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies. Griesbach thinks it might have been omitted on account of the similar ending, (see the preceding verse,) or that it was borrowed from Matt. xxiv. 40.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 34. I tell you, in that night , etc.] Of affliction and calamity, that shall be upon the Jewish nation, and which is before called that day, ( Luke 17:31) and therefore is not to be understood literally of the night: there shall be two [men] in one bed ; this is said agreeably to the time, the night before mentioned, that being the time to be in bed, at rest and asleep; for they that sleep, sleep in the night; and still suggests the security the people of the Jews would be in, at the time of their destruction. The word men is not in the text, it is only, there shall be two in one bed; and may as well be understood of a man and his wife, since it is not so usual for two men to lie in one bed; and this the rather more strongly expresses the distinguishing providence of God in saving one, and suffering the other to be taken and lost: the words may be rendered, there shall be two upon one couch: that is, sitting together at supper, which was also in the night season: it was the custom of the ancients to sit upon beds, or couches, at meals; and they had a bed, or couch, which held two persons only, and was called Biclinium f560 : and so this likewise intimates, that the destruction of the Jews would be at a time when they were thoughtless of it, and were eating and drinking, as in the days of Noah and of Lot, ( Luke 17:27,28). The one shall be taken ; by the Roman soldiers: and the other shall be left ; being, by one providence or another preserved; which is mentioned, to show the distinction God will make in his providence, and to encourage believers to trust in it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 20-37 - The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divin grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what stat the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Her is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man i revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roma armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as i here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judg the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in lik manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, an remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who ar marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
λεγω 3004 5719 V-PAI-1S υμιν 5213 P-2DP ταυτη 3778 D-DSF τη 3588 T-DSF νυκτι 3571 N-DSF εσονται 2071 5704 V-FXI-3P δυο 1417 A-NUI επι 1909 PREP κλινης 2825 N-GSF μιας 1520 A-GSF ο 3588 T-NSM εις 1520 A-NSM παραληφθησεται 3880 5701 V-FPI-3S και 2532 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM ετερος 2087 A-NSM αφεθησεται 863 5701 V-FPI-3S
Robertson's NT Word Studies
17:34 {In that night} (tautei tei nukti). More vivid still, "on this night," when Christ comes.
