Martha's busy hospitality toward the Lord visiting her house figurally recalls Abraham hastening to serve the three visitors at Mamre, the model scene of hospitality to a divine guest. The link is thematic (welcoming and serving the Lord) and faint, hence figural and contested.

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will […]


"May your name be kept holy" (hallowed be your name) echoes God's promise to sanctify his great name profaned among the nations. The eschatological hallowing of the Name is exactly the petition's force, supplying coherence with the kingdom-come request that follows.

I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.


"They will sanctify my name... and stand in awe of the God of Israel" supplies the human-side counterpart of the hallowing petition. Combined with Ezekiel 36:23 this gives recurrence of the sanctify-the-Name motif in the prophets, the petition's most available source.

But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.


"You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel" is the legal seed of the later prophetic hope and may stand behind the liturgical formula. Faint and diffuse; flagged as low volume.

You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy among the children of Israel. I am Yahweh who makes you holy,


"You, LORD, are our Father" grounds the direct address "Our Father." Isaiah's fatherhood-of-God language is a primary Second-Temple availability for the prayer's opening invocation.

For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, Yahweh, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.


"You are our Father; we are the clay" reinforces the address to God as Father. Coherent with 63:16 but adds little independent volume, so marked low.

But now, Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.


"Your kingdom come" draws on the apocalyptic expectation that the God of heaven will set up an everlasting kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Daniel is the chief Second-Temple source for the coming-kingdom hope the petition voices.

In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.


"The kingdom shall be the LORD's" anticipates the kingdom petition. A diffuse prophetic background rather than a verbal source; low volume.

Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.


"Give us day by day our daily bread" evokes the manna gathered "a day's portion every day," testing daily dependence on God. The day-by-day rationing of Exodus 16 supplies the petition's coherence; Luke's distinctive "day by day" strengthens the link.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.


Agur's plea "feed me with the food that is needful for me" matches the bread petition's modest sufficiency and may inform the rare word epiousios. A strong thematic and lexical candidate for the source of "daily bread."

Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;


"Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray" is the closest Second-Temple parallel to the reciprocal forgiveness clause. The conditional structure (forgive others / be forgiven) coheres tightly with Luke 11:4.

Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done you; And then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.


"Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake" combines forgiveness, deliverance, and the Name in one verse, paralleling the prayer's later petitions. Diffuse and contested, but coherent with the whole prayer.

Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.


"Don't say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come again... when you have it by you'" rebukes the very deferral the sleeping friend voices. A wisdom backdrop to the parable's neighbor-obligation rather than a quotation; low volume.

Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you.


Abraham's persistent intercession with God, importunately pressing request upon request, prefigures the friend's shameless persistence rewarded. Figural rather than verbal; flagged contested.

Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty […]


"Those who seek me diligently will find me" supplies the seek-and-find logic of "keep seeking and you will find." Wisdom's promise of reward to the seeker is the most available source for the ask-seek-knock triad.

I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.


"You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart" is the classic seek-and-find promise undergirding 11:9-10. Its recurrence with Proverbs 8:17 strengthens the case.

You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.


"You shall seek the LORD your God, and you shall find him, if you search after him" is another seek-find promise feeding the same matrix. Adds recurrence but little independent volume; low.

But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.


"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near" parallels the imperative to seek and the promise of access. Diffuse prophetic backdrop, contested.

Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call you on him while he is near:


"Those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing" coheres with the assurance that the Father gives good gifts to those who ask. A faint sapiential-psalmic echo behind 11:13.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.


"If I by the finger of God cast out demons" directly invokes the Egyptian magicians' confession, "This is the finger of God," before Pharaoh. The phrase ties Jesus' exorcisms to the Exodus power that defeats hostile powers and inaugurates God's reign; high volume and exact verbal correspondence.

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God:” and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.


The tablets "written with the finger of God" supply the other major OT use of the idiom, framing the finger as God's direct, unmediated agency. Recurrence of the phrase reinforces the Exodus 8:19 allusion behind 11:20.

Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.


"Shall the prey be taken from the mighty... yet the captives of the mighty shall be taken away" underlies the stronger-one despoiling the armed strong man (11:21-22). The image of plunder reclaimed from a mighty captor is the source of the binding-the-strong-man logic.

Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? But thus says Yahweh, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.


"He shall divide the spoil with the strong" lends the dividing-of-plunder language in 11:22. A faint Servant-song coloring of the strong-man saying; contested and low.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


The enemy who "whets his sword... and makes ready his weapons" is a faint backdrop to the strong man "fully armed" guarding his goods. Diffuse imagery rather than source; low.

If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.


Desolate places haunted by desert demons ("wild beasts... satyrs shall dance there") inform the unclean spirit wandering through "dry places" seeking rest. The waterless-wilderness as demonic habitat is the OT backdrop; faint.

But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there.


Azazel's goat sent "into the wilderness" associates the desert with the locus of impurity/demonic banishment, paralleling the spirit's exile to dry places. Diffuse and contested.

But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness.


The demon Asmodeus fleeing to "the remotest parts of Egypt" (the desert) where he is bound parallels the unclean spirit traversing waterless regions. A Second-Temple availability for desert-as-demonic-haunt; low.

When the demon smelled that smell, it fled into the uppermost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him.


Leah's "the daughters will call me happy" is the OT type of the blessing-cry pronounced over a woman, here transferred to Jesus' mother. A faint formal parallel to the beatitude on the womb; contested.

Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.


"Blessed shall be the fruit of your body" supplies covenant blessing-language on the womb that the woman's exclamation reworks. Diffuse and low volume.

You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.


"The sign of Jonah" explicitly names the prophet swallowed by the great fish, the type for the Son of Man's vindication. The Jonah narrative is the controlling intertext of 11:29-30, named directly.

Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.


"They repented at the preaching of Jonah" recounts the Ninevites' belief and repentance in sackcloth. The Ninevites' repentance is cited as the standard that condemns the unrepentant generation (11:32).

The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.


"The Queen of the South... came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon" cites the Queen of Sheba's visit to test Solomon with hard questions. The narrative is summoned directly as a witness against the generation (11:31).

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning Yahweh’s name, she came to prove him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart. Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hidden from the king which he didn’t tell her. When the queen of Sheba had […]


The Chronicler's parallel account of the queen who came to hear Solomon's wisdom is the doublet source for 11:31. Its recurrence with 1 Kings 10 secures the allusion.

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart. Solomon told her all her questions; and there was not anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her. When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of […]


"There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth" generalizes the nations' coming to Solomon's wisdom that the Queen of the South exemplifies. Supporting background; low.

There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.


"The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inward parts" supplies the inner-lamp imagery for "the lamp of the body is the eye." The wisdom equation of lamp and inner illumination grounds 11:34.

The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts.


"He who has a generous (good) eye will be blessed" lies behind the idiom of the "good eye" (single/generous) vs. the evil eye (stingy). A Semitic idiom backdrop to 11:34; low but coherent.

He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.


The warning against an "evil eye" toward the needy poor supplies the negative pole of the sound/evil eye antithesis. Contested idiomatic background to the dark-body saying.

Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.


"You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will lighten my darkness" pairs lamp and the dispelling of darkness as in 11:35-36. Faint psalmic coloring; low.

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.


"You bypass justice and the love of God" against punctilious tithing echoes "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah's prophetic priority of justice over ritual is the controlling intertext of the first woe (11:42).

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?


"The tithe... of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's" supplies the legal basis the Pharisees scrupulously extend to mint and rue. The tithing command is the practice being weighed against neglected justice in 11:42.

“‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.


"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" reinforces the prophetic preference for justice/mercy over cultic precision behind 11:42. Recurs with Micah 6:8 but is not verbally present in Luke; low.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


"Whoever touches a grave shall be unclean seven days" underlies "you are like hidden graves" whose walkers contract defilement unknowingly. The purity law about corpse-contact through graves is the precise basis of the woe in 11:44.

“Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.


"He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days" supplies the corpse-impurity principle the hidden-grave image exploits. Supports Numbers 19:16; low independent volume.

“He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.


"You build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them" rests on the Chronicler's indictment that they "mocked the messengers of God... and scoffed at his prophets" until wrath rose. The murdered-prophets theme of 11:47-50 is summarized exactly here.

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.


"From the blood of Abel" cites Cain's murder of Abel whose blood "cries to me from the ground." Abel is named as the first martyr, the opening term of the canon-spanning blood-of-the-prophets formula in 11:51.

Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.


"Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary" cites Zechariah son of Jehoiada, stoned "in the court of the house of the LORD," the last martyr in the Hebrew canon's order. Abel-to-Zechariah spans Genesis to Chronicles, naming the whole canon's witness against the generation.

The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his […]


Zechariah's dying cry "The LORD see it, and require it" supplies the requital language "may be required of this generation" in 11:50-51. The verbal echo of blood being "required" strengthens the Zechariah identification.

Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”


God's persistent sending of "all my servants the prophets... yet they did not listen" prefigures Wisdom's "I will send to them prophets" who are killed (11:49). A diffuse Deuteronomistic prophet-rejection pattern; low.

Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: yet they didn’t listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.


"He sent prophets to them to bring them again to the LORD... but they would not listen" parallels Wisdom's sending of prophets who are rejected and slain. Coheres with the Zechariah context of 11:49-51; low.

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.


Personified Wisdom who sends out her maids and issues invitation stands behind "the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets'" (11:49). A faint Wisdom-figure availability for the sending-and-rejection oracle; contested.

Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of […]


"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... you have rejected knowledge" colors the woe over lawyers who "took away the key of knowledge" (11:52). A prophetic backdrop to withheld knowledge; low.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.


Qoheleth's closing maxim that God will bring every hidden work into judgment coheres with Jesus' apocalyptic disclosure that 'nothing is covered up that will not be revealed.' The wisdom-tradition theme of concealment overturned by divine exposure gives moderate Volume and strong Coherence with the warning against Pharisaic hypocrisy.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.


Job's praise that God 'uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings deep shadow to light' supplies the same imagery of hidden things brought into the light. The verbal overlap (darkness/light, revealing) is suggestive but the motif is widespread, so confidence is low.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.


Ben Sira warns the hypocrite that the Lord will reveal his secrets and cast him down in the assembly for not coming in fear of the Lord — a close conceptual parallel to leaven/hypocrisy that will be made manifest. Second-Temple Availability and shared hypocrisy theme support a faint echo.

Exalt not yourself, lest you fall, And bring dishonor upon your soul; And so the Lord will reveal your secrets, And will cast you down in the midst of the congregation; Because you came not to the fear of the Lord, And your heart was full of deceit.


Isaiah's oracle—'do not fear what they fear... the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy, let him be your fear'—is the structural template for Jesus' contrast between fearing human killers and fearing the One who can cast into Gehenna. The transfer of fear from men to God is verbally and thematically precise, giving high Volume and Coherence.

“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized. Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.


The martyr brothers say 'let us not fear him who thinks he kills' but rather dread the danger of eternal torment for transgressing God's law. This Second-Temple martyrology supplies the exact body-vs-soul, kill-but-fear-God logic and a post-mortem judgment, making it strong Availability for Luke's saying.

Let us not fear him who thinks he kills; for great is the trial of soul and danger of eternal torment laid up for those who transgress the commandment of God.


The prophetic reassurance 'do not be afraid of them, for I am with you' coheres with Jesus encouraging fearless witness before hostile authorities. The 'fear not' formula is widespread, so this is a faint coherence echo rather than a targeted allusion.

Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says Yahweh.


'In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?' parallels Jesus' 'don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do.' The flesh-can-do-no-more logic is a plausible echo of psalmic confidence.

In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?


The oath that not one hair of Jonathan's head shall fall to the ground is the idiomatic source for divine protection imagery behind 'the very hairs of your head are all numbered.' The hair idiom is the link, though Luke intensifies it from preservation to enumeration, so confidence is low.

The people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day!” So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn’t die.


God 'gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens that cry' grounds the providence logic that not one sparrow is forgotten before God. The creature-care theme recurs more fully in 12:24, making this a coherent but light echo here.

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.


The Son of Man confessing or denying before 'the angels of God' draws on Daniel's heavenly court where thousands of angels attend and the Son of Man is presented before the Ancient of Days. The Son-of-Man title plus an angelic tribunal gives strong Coherence and apt Availability.

A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


Jesus' self-designation 'Son of Man' acting as eschatological acknowledger before God depends on Daniel's exalted Son of Man who receives dominion. This recurs across Luke's Son-of-Man sayings, satisfying Recurrence even where the verbal contact here is the title and heavenly setting.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


God's promise to Moses, 'I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak,' is the prototype for 'the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.' The divine teaching-of-speech-under-trial motif gives good Coherence and clear Availability.

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”


The Torah's distinction between forgivable inadvertent sin and the high-handed sin that 'reviles the LORD' and is cut off without forgiveness loosely underlies the unforgivable blasphemy against the Spirit. The defiant-sin-without-pardon concept is the link, so a faint echo.

“‘But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes Yahweh. That soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised Yahweh’s word, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off. His iniquity shall be on him.’”


'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?'—the Hebrew's rebuke of Moses—is verbally echoed in Jesus' 'Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?' The near-quotation of the question gives notable Volume, though the speaker roles are inverted, marking it a deliberate echo.

He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely this thing is known.”


'Whoever loves money will not be satisfied with money'—Qoheleth's verdict on the futility of abundance—coheres directly with 'a man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.' The wisdom critique of accumulation supports the warning against covetousness.

He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.


The Torah law of inheritance division among heirs supplies the legal backdrop for the brother's request to divide the inheritance. It is the unstated Availability rather than an allusion Luke develops, hence low confidence.

If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated; then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a […]


Ben Sira describes one who grows rich, says 'I have found rest, now I will enjoy my goods,' yet does not know his death is near and must leave them to others. This is the closest Second-Temple template for the rich fool: the inner monologue of ease, the unexpected death, and the unanswered 'whose will they be,' giving very high Volume and Coherence.

There is that waxes rich by his wariness and pinching, And this is the portion of his reward: When he says, I have found rest, And now will I eat of my goods; Yet he knows not what time will pass, And he will leave them to others, and die.


Qoheleth's refrain that there is nothing better than to eat, drink, and find enjoyment underlies the rich fool's 'take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' Luke ironizes the wisdom counsel by exposing its folly when death intervenes, giving strong thematic Coherence.

There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.


'I commend enjoyment, for man has nothing better under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry' is virtually quoted in the fool's resolve. The verbal triad eat/drink/be merry makes this a direct verbal source, though Luke subverts it.

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.


'He heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it' is closely echoed by God's 'the things you have prepared—whose will they be?' The psalm's lament over the futility of hoarding against death gives strong Coherence and good Volume.

“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.


Jeremiah's proverb that one who gets riches unjustly will leave them in the midst of his days and prove a fool at his end supplies both the 'fool' verdict and the premature loss of wealth. The shared fool-and-forfeited-riches motif gives notable Coherence.

As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.


'What is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?' parallels the question posed to the rich man whose soul is required. The taking of the life of the prosperous-but-godless undergirds the parable's verdict.

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?


The psalm warns not to fear the rich who lay up wealth, for they carry nothing away at death and perish like the beasts. The 'man in his pomp who does not understand' is a near-portrait of the rich fool, giving good Coherence to 'not rich toward God.'

Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself— he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.


Job's disavowal of making gold his hope reflects the parable's contrast between trusting accumulated wealth and being 'rich toward God.' The trust-in-riches-as-folly theme is a coherent but lighter echo.

“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.


Ben Sira's reflections on wealth, sleepless anxiety over riches, and the rare rich man who is blameless complement the parable's critique of storing goods. A faint Second-Temple coherence echo behind the barn-building scheme.

Wakefulness that comes of riches consumes the flesh, And the anxiety thereof puts away sleep. Wakeful anxiety will crave slumber; And in a sore disease sleep will be broken. A rich man toileth in gathering money together; And when he rests, he is filled with his good things. A poor man toileth in lack of substance; And when he rests, he becomes needy. He that loves gold shall not be justified; And he that follows destruction shall himself have his fill of […]


'Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God?' is the direct source of 'Consider the ravens... God feeds them.' The named bird (raven, not a generic fowl) and the divine feeding make this a high-Volume allusion to God's wilderness providence.

Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?


God 'gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens that cry' reinforces the raven providence saying with a second Scripture. The recurrence of the ravens-fed-by-God motif across Job and Psalms strengthens the case (Recurrence).

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.


'All flesh is grass... the grass withers, the flower fades' is the template for the grass which today exists and tomorrow is cast into the oven. The transience-of-grass imagery is verbally close and thematically apt to the 'little faith' contrast, giving high Volume.

The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”


The queen of Sheba's astonishment at Solomon's wealth and splendor stands behind 'even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' The named figure (Solomon) and his proverbial glory give high Volume; the lilies surpass the richest king of Israel's memory.

When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, and his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her. She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom. However I didn’t believe the words, […]


The Chronicler's parallel account of Solomon's overwhelming glory before the queen of Sheba supports the 'Solomon in all his glory' reference. Recurrence of the Solomon-splendor tradition across Kings and Chronicles strengthens Availability.

When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, his cup bearers also, and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her. She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom. However I didn’t […]


'As for man, his days are like grass... the wind passes over it and it is gone' echoes the perishable grass clothed by God yet cast into the oven. The grass-as-human-frailty motif coheres with the call not to be anxious.

As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.


God who causes grass to grow and brings forth food, wine, and bread supplies the providential clothing-and-feeding logic. A general creation-providence echo behind 'God clothes the grass.'

He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.


'Man does not live by bread alone' coheres with 'life is more than food.' The principle that life exceeds material sustenance is a plausible Torah echo underlying the anti-anxiety teaching.

He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.


'Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold' is the closest source for 'make for yourselves... a treasure in the heavens that doesn't fail.' The almsgiving-as-imperishable-treasure logic gives high Volume and Coherence.

Bestow your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High; And it shall profit you more than gold.


'You will be laying up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity' directly follows Tobit's exhortation to give alms. The treasure-stored-by-almsgiving theme is a precise Second-Temple parallel to selling possessions and giving to the needy.

for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity;


Ben Sira's fuller counsel to spend silver on a brother and store up almsgiving in the chambers of the Most High undergirds the whole purse-that-does-not-grow-old image. Recurrence within Sirach's treasure theology strengthens the allusion.

Lose your money for a brother and a friend; And let it not rust under the stone to be lost. Bestow your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High; And it shall profit you more than gold. Shut up alms in your store-chambers; And it shall deliver you out of all affliction:


The kingdom given to the people of the saints of the Most High coheres faintly with 'it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom' for the 'little flock.' The granting of the kingdom to a faithful remnant is a coherent but light echo.

The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.


The Passover command to eat 'with your waist girded, your sandals on your feet... in haste' supplies 'let your waist be dressed,' the posture of readiness for the Lord's deliverance/coming. The girded-loins idiom for eschatological vigilance is a strong, apt allusion.

This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.


'The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple' grounds the sudden, unexpected return of the master for whom the servants watch. The Lord-coming-suddenly motif coheres with both the watchful-servants and the thief-in-the-night sayings.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.


Elijah 'girded up his loins and ran' is a representative instance of the girded-loins idiom for urgent service. It supports the readiness imagery though Exodus 12 is the primary cultic source.

The hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.


The bridegroom-rejoicing imagery of God's eschatological marriage faintly underlies the lord 'returning from the marriage feast.' The wedding-banquet eschatology is a coherent but light echo.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.


Joseph set over Potiphar's whole household, entrusted with everything, is the wisdom prototype of the faithful steward whom the lord sets over his household and, proving faithful, over all he has. The trusted-slave-over-the-house motif gives good Coherence.

Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. From the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake. Yahweh’s blessing was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand. He didn’t concern himself with anything, except for the food which he […]


Ben Sira's instructions about treatment of slaves—the prudent versus the abusive—loosely cohere with the steward who either feeds the household or beats the menservants. A Second-Temple wisdom backdrop to the parable's master/servant ethics.

Fodder, a stick, and burdens, for an ass; Bread, and discipline, and work, for a servant. Set your servant to work, and you shall find rest: Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty. Yoke and thong will bow the neck: And for an evil servant there are racks and tortures. Send him to labor, that he be not idle; For idleness teaches much mischief. Set him to work, as is fit for him; And if he obey not, make his fetters heavy. And be not excessive […]


The Torah's graded culpability—lighter for inadvertent sin, heavier for high-handed sin—undergirds 'beaten with many stripes' versus 'few stripes' according to knowledge of the lord's will. The proportional-punishment-by-knowledge principle gives clear Coherence.

“‘If one person sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs, when he sins unwittingly before Yahweh, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them. “‘But the soul who does anything […]


The Deuteronomic law limiting and proportioning the number of stripes to the offense supplies the legal idiom behind 'many stripes... few stripes.' Availability for the beating imagery, though not developed verbally.

It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more; lest, if he should give more, and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight.


'The son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'—Micah's portrait of social collapse—is virtually quoted in the household divisions of 12:53. The matching kinship triads (father/son, mother/daughter, mother-in-law/daughter-in-law) make this a high-Volume allusion.

For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.


'Who can endure the day of his coming? For he is like a refiner's fire' grounds 'I came to throw fire on the earth.' The eschatological refining-and-purging fire of the coming Lord gives strong Coherence to Jesus' fire-bringing mission.

“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.


'The day comes, burning like an oven... it will set them ablaze' reinforces the kindled fire Jesus casts on the earth. Recurrence of Malachi's fire-of-judgment imagery across chapters 3-4 strengthens the allusion.

“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.


God will 'put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver' divides a remnant by fire and trial. The refining-fire-that-divides motif coheres with both the fire and the division Jesus brings rather than peace.

I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”


Apocalyptic expectation that the end-times bring conflict rather than tranquility loosely supports Jesus' 'not peace but division.' Faint coherence with the tribulation-before-the-end pattern.

Now will I show you the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and when he has grown strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. A mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. When he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his […]


The little cloud rising from the sea heralding heavy rain in Elijah's drought account parallels 'a cloud rising from the west... a shower is coming.' The reading-of-cloud-as-rain-sign offers a faint scriptural precedent for weather discernment.

On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’” In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.


Qoheleth's observation that 'if the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth' and that the wind-watcher fails to act coheres with reading clouds and wind yet failing to read 'this time.' A wisdom echo on weather-signs and discernment.

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.


'Do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?' is the wisdom counsel behind settling with your adversary on the way before the magistrate. The avoid-the-courtroom-by-prior-settlement logic gives clear Coherence and apt Availability.

Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?


The urgent counsel to free yourself at once from a debt-snare, 'like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,' coheres with hastening to be released from one's accuser before imprisonment. A wisdom echo on urgent self-extraction from legal/financial peril.

My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger; You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of […]


The implacable creditor/accuser who will accept no ransom parallels the warning that one will not get out 'until you have paid the very last penny.' A faint coherence echo on inescapable debt-satisfaction.

For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.


Jesus' refrain 'unless you repent, you will all perish' restates Ezekiel's prophetic logic that each person bears responsibility and must 'turn and live' lest he die. High Volume in the shared death/repentance vocabulary; strong Coherence with Luke's repentance theme; the prophet is widely available.

Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh. Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh: therefore turn yourselves, […]


'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and live' supplies the same individualized call to repentance against assumed corporate judgment. Recurrence of Ezekiel's repent-or-perish motif strengthens the echo alongside 18:30-32.

Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?


Eliphaz's 'who ever perished, being innocent?' frames the retributive assumption ('worse sinners... because they suffered') that Jesus overturns. Faint and contested, but coherent with the OT debate over suffering as proof of guilt.

“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?


The 'waters of Shiloah' (Siloam) carry, in Isaiah, judgment imagery for those who reject the gentle stream; the tower 'in Siloam' may faintly evoke the site's prophetic charge. Low Volume and contested; geography may be incidental.

“Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;


The owner of a vineyard who comes seeking fruit and finds none, threatening destruction, directly mirrors Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard, the canonical type for Israel's failure to yield justice. High Volume (vineyard + seeking fruit + judgment), strong Coherence, and prime Availability as the standard prophetic indictment.

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my […]


'There are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree' is Jeremiah's judgment oracle on fruitlessness, pairing the fig tree with the vineyard exactly as Luke does. Strong Volume in the fig-tree/no-fruit collocation and high Coherence with the threat to 'cut it down.'

I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.


'There is no cluster to eat; my soul desires the first-ripe fig' voices the same disappointed search for fruit on the fig tree as an image of a faithless people. Medium Volume; recurrence of the fruitless-fig motif across the prophets supports the echo.

Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.


Israel was found 'like the first fruit on the fig tree,' a hope reversed in 9:16 ('they shall bear no fruit'). The fig tree as figure for Israel's fruitfulness-turned-barren coheres tightly with the parable's verdict.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.


'Ephraim is struck down... they shall bear no fruit' supplies the barrenness-and-judgment outcome that the parable holds in suspense. Coherent with the prophetic fig-tree complex; medium Volume.

Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.”


'Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines' shares the fig-and-vine pairing for a season of barrenness. Faint here because Habakkuk's tone is trust amid loss rather than indictment; offered honestly as a low-confidence resonance.

For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:


'It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree' joins vine and fig under devastation, the same agrarian pair behind Luke's parable. Low Volume and contested, but recurrence of the vine-fig motif gives it some weight.

He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.


The vine brought out of Egypt, now burned and cut down for lack of protection, parallels the threatened destruction of the unfruitful planting. Contested because no fig tree appears, but the vineyard-judgment frame is coherent.

You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars. It sent out its branches to the sea, Its shoots to the River. Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it. Turn […]


The Sabbath controversy turns on the Decalogue command to keep the Sabbath holy, which the synagogue ruler invokes ('six days... ought to work'). High Volume and unmistakable Availability; the dispute is intelligible only against this commandment.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed […]


Deuteronomy's Sabbath form explicitly rests the ox and donkey and frames the day as liberation from bondage, the very logic Jesus deploys ('free his ox or donkey... ought not this woman... be freed'). Strong Coherence: Jesus reads the Sabbath as release, matching Deuteronomy's exodus rationale.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as […]


'The LORD raises up those who are bowed down' supplies the precise theological image of the bent woman 'made straight,' identifying Jesus' act with the LORD's characteristic work. Medium Volume; the verbal match (bowed down / raised) is striking.

Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.


'The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down' doubles the motif of God straightening the bent, reinforcing Psalm 146:8. Recurrence across the Psalter of God raising the bowed strengthens the allusion.

Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.


Calling the woman a 'daughter of Abraham' reads her into the Abrahamic covenant of blessing and offspring, asserting her full claim to Sabbath release. Figural rather than verbal, but coherent with Luke's covenant-inclusion theme.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless. I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made […]


'Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you' invokes Abrahamic descent as ground of restoration, resonant with 'daughter of Abraham.' Low Volume and contested; offered as a possible source for the covenant-daughter language.

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.


Satan afflicting a body with infirmity ('whom Satan had bound eighteen years') recalls Job, where the Adversary inflicts physical disease by divine permission. Low Volume, but the attribution of bodily affliction to Satan has its clearest OT precedent in Job.

So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.


'The birds of the sky lodged in its branches' closely echoes Daniel's great tree in which 'the birds of heaven dwelt,' a kingdom-as-tree image. High Volume in the nesting-birds clause and strong Coherence with the Kingdom-of-God comparison.

The leaves of it were beautiful, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all: the animals of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.


Daniel's interpretation repeats the tree 'in whose branches the birds of heaven lived,' reinforcing the imperial-tree imagery now applied to God's kingdom. Recurrence within Daniel 4 itself strengthens the allusion.

whose leaves were beautiful, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all; under which the animals of the field lived, and on whose branches the birds of the sky had their habitation:


The messianic cedar planted on the mountain, under which 'birds of every sort will nest,' is the prophetic prototype of a small planting that becomes a sheltering tree for the nations. High Coherence: Luke's tiny seed-to-tree growth tracks Ezekiel's promise.

in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell.


Assyria as a great cedar 'in whose boughs all the birds of the heavens made their nests' provides another canonical world-tree with nesting birds. Medium Volume; recurrence with Daniel and Ezekiel 17 makes the nesting-birds topos secure.

All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth to their young; and all great nations lived under its shadow.


'By the streams the birds of the sky have their habitation; they sing among the branches' offers a creation-praise image of birds nesting in branches. Low Volume and likely incidental compared with the prophetic world-tree texts.

The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches.


'Three measures of flour' matches the three seahs of fine meal Sarah kneads for the three visitors, an unusually specific quantity. Medium Volume; the precise figure suggests deliberate evocation of hospitality/promise to Abraham, though it may simply denote a large baking.

Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”


Gideon's ephah of flour for the angelic visitor is another large measure baked at a moment of divine encounter, paralleling the 'three measures.' Low Volume and contested; offered as an alternative quantity-of-flour resonance.

Gideon went in, and prepared a young goat, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.


Leaven's pervasive, hidden spread plays against the Passover law that purges all leaven as corruption, making the Kingdom's leaven a pointed reversal of the usual negative valence. Contested and figural; the parable's positive use of leaven only registers against this background.

“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. You shall observe the feast […]


'Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity' reproduces the psalmist's dismissal of evildoers almost verbatim as the householder's rejection. High Volume (near-exact wording) and strong Availability make this a direct quotation, here on the lips of the eschatological judge.

Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping.


The redeemed 'gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south' supplies Luke's exact four-direction ingathering ('east, west, north, and south'). High Volume in the matching compass formula and strong Coherence with eschatological gathering.

And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.


'I will bring your offspring from the east... from the west... to the north... and to the south' is the classic restoration oracle of God gathering his people from every direction. High Coherence with the kingdom-feast ingathering of outsiders.

Don’t be afraid; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—


Reclining at table 'in the Kingdom of God' with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob evokes Isaiah's eschatological feast 'for all peoples' on the mountain. Medium Volume; the banquet image grounds the seating/dining language and the Gentile inclusion.

In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines.


'These shall come from afar... from the north and from the west' adds to the prophetic ingathering-from-all-directions tradition behind Luke's east-west-north-south. Recurrence across Isaiah strengthens the directional motif.

Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”


'From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations' anticipates worship gathered from all peoples east to west, coherent with outsiders streaming into the kingdom. Medium Volume; reinforces the Gentile-inclusion theme.

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.


'The wicked... gnashes his teeth and melts away' supplies the OT idiom of teeth-gnashing in frustrated exclusion that Luke fuses with weeping. Medium Volume for the distinctive gnashing-of-teeth phrase applied to the excluded wicked.

The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.


'The LORD shut him in' after Noah entered the ark prefigures the master who 'has shut the door,' sealing insiders from outsiders before judgment. Low Volume and contested, but the door-shut-before-judgment pattern is coherent with Luke's warning.

Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in.


'A prophet cannot perish outside Jerusalem' draws on the tradition of prophets killed in the holy city, exemplified by Zechariah son of Jehoiada stoned in the temple court. Medium Volume; this murdered-prophet text undergirds the saying and the lament that follows.

The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his […]


Uriah son of Shemaiah, a prophet hunted down and killed for his message, illustrates the deadly fate of prophets in Jerusalem behind Jesus' words. Coherent with the prophet-perishing motif; recurrence with 2 Chronicles 24 secures it.

There was also a man who prophesied in Yahweh’s name, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt: and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son […]


'Your prophets are like foxes among ruins' offers an OT precedent for 'fox' as a label of destructive cunning, here aimed at Herod. Low Volume and contested; the fox insult may be proverbial rather than a specific citation.

Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places.


'On the third day he will raise us up' may stand faintly behind 'the third day I complete my mission,' tying Jesus' goal to a resurrection-shaped 'third day.' Contested and low Volume; the numerical phrasing here is more idiomatic than citational.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD' is quoted verbatim as the cry that will precede Jerusalem's seeing Jesus again. High Volume (direct citation) and strong Availability from the Hallel make this an unambiguous quotation.

Blessed is he who comes in Yahweh’s name! We have blessed you out of Yahweh’s house.


'Jerusalem... that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her' alludes to Zechariah son of Jehoiada, stoned in the temple court at the king's command, the paradigm of the city's murder of God's messengers. High Coherence; stoning-of-the-sent matches the verb precisely.

They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house.


The killing of the prophet Uriah reinforces the indictment of Jerusalem as a city that slays those sent to it. Recurrence with 2 Chronicles 24 establishes the prophet-killing tradition behind the lament.


'They killed your prophets who had warned them to turn back to you' summarizes the very pattern Jesus laments. Medium Volume; this confessional retrospect is a strong conceptual source for 'kills the prophets.'

“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.


Elijah's complaint that Israel 'has killed your prophets with the sword' voices the same charge of prophet-slaying. Low Volume relative to the Jerusalem-specific texts, but coherent with the tradition.

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”


'He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will take refuge' is the closest OT image to gathering children 'under her wings,' associating Jesus' maternal longing with God's sheltering protection. High Volume in the under-the-wings refuge motif.

He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.


The eagle that 'hovers over its young, spreading out its wings' to bear them models God's parental gathering, paralleling the hen and brood. Medium Volume; the Song of Moses' wing-protection image is a likely source.

As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.


Coming to take refuge 'under the wings' of the LORD supplies the same shelter-under-wings idiom for those gathered to God. Recurrence of the wings-refuge motif across the canon supports the allusion.

May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”


'Hide me in the shadow of your wings' extends the wing-protection imagery in the Psalter behind the hen-and-brood figure. Low Volume on its own but part of a coherent recurring motif (Pss 36:7; 57:1; 63:7).

Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,


'Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem' joins bird-protection imagery specifically to Jerusalem, the very city Jesus longs to shelter. Medium Volume; the Jerusalem-specific bird-shielding tightens the Coherence.

As birds hovering, so Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it. He will pass over and preserve it.”


'This house shall become a desolation' supplies the judgment formula behind 'your house is left to you desolate,' spoken against the royal house/temple. High Coherence; the desolation-of-the-house oracle is the prophetic backdrop of the saying.

But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation.


'I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage' gives the divine-abandonment sense of 'your house is left to you,' God withdrawing from the temple. High Volume in the forsaken-house motif and strong Coherence with impending desolation.

I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.


The warning that the temple will become 'a heap of ruins' and Israel cast off if they forsake the LORD underlies the threat that the house is left desolate. Medium Volume; the conditional house-desolation oracle resonates with Luke's pronouncement.

then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?’


'May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents' offers an imprecatory desolation formula faintly behind 'left desolate.' Low Volume and contested; the connection is thematic rather than verbal.

Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.


Jesus' rescue argument — 'which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn't immediately pull him out on a Sabbath?' — draws on the Torah's humane-rescue command not to leave a brother's ox or donkey fallen by the way without lifting it up. The qal-wahomer (how much more a person) presupposes this animal-rescue obligation as available scriptural premise; high coherence with Jesus' wider Sabbath-mercy disputes (Luke 13:15).

You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.


The parallel Torah duty to help even an enemy's donkey lying under its burden reinforces the same fallen-animal-rescue logic Jesus invokes for the well-fallen ox. Recurrence of the rescue motif across Deut 22:4 and Exod 23:5 strengthens availability, though Deut 22:4 is the closer verbal match.

If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.


The Sabbath-rest command framing the whole conflict ('Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?') stands behind the scene; the dropsy healing is staged precisely against the holy-convocation rest prescription. Faint and diffuse — the Sabbath law is assumed background rather than cited.

“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.


The Decalogue Sabbath command is the legal ground the lawyers and Pharisees presuppose in watching whether Jesus will heal. Coherent with Luke's recurring Sabbath-controversy pattern but only ambiently present here.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed […]


The counsel 'do not sit in the best seat... go and sit in the lowest place, so that he may tell you, Friend, move up higher' closely reworks Proverbs 25:6-7: 'do not put yourself forward in the king's presence... for it is better to be told Come up here than to be put lower.' High volume (verbal and structural correspondence), high coherence with Luke's reversal theme; among the strongest sapiential echoes in the chapter.

Don’t exalt yourself in the presence of the king, or claim a place among great men; for it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,” than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.


The concluding maxim 'everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted' resonates with the proverb that pride goes before destruction and that it is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor. Coherent wisdom-of-humility background reinforcing the Prov 25 banquet scene.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.


'A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will obtain honor' supplies the exact exalt/humble inversion of v.11. Recurrence of this antithesis across Proverbs strengthens its availability as the wisdom matrix for Jesus' aphorism.

A man’s pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.


The prophetic reversal formula 'exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high' parallels the abasement/exaltation of v.11. Faint and contested — the verbal medium is closer to Proverbs, but the prophetic reversal topos adds availability for Luke's broader Magnificat-style theme.

thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; this will not be as it was; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.


Ben Sira's 'the greater you are, the more you must humble yourself, and you will find favor in the sight of the Lord' is the nearest Second-Temple analogue to Jesus' self-humbling counsel, set likewise in a context of social honor. Deuterocanonical availability and thematic coherence make this a plausible direct echo.

The greater you are, humble yourself the more, And you will find favor before the Lord.


'The wisdom of the humble lifts up his head and seats him among the great' offers a banquet-seating image of humble exaltation strikingly like 'move up higher.' Low confidence and contested given proximity to Prov 25, but the seating-among-the-great motif raises recurrence within the wisdom tradition.

The wisdom of the lowly will lift up his head, And make him to sit in the midst of great men.


Jesus' command to invite those who cannot repay — instead of friends and rich neighbors — recalls the third-year tithe given to the Levite, sojourner, fatherless, and widow 'that the Lord may bless you in all the work of your hands.' The blessing-for-giving-to-the-needy logic ('you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you') maps onto the Deuteronomic almsgiving promise.

The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.


The guest list 'the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind' inverts the priestly disqualifications of Lev 21:18 (no blind, lame, or mutilated man may approach the altar) — precisely those bodies barred from priestly table-service are summoned to the eschatological banquet. Figural reversal with strong coherence to Luke's inclusion theme.

For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity,


'The blind and the lame shall not come into the house' (the Jebusite proverb attached to David's capture of Jerusalem) is the exclusionary saying Jesus' open invitation of the lame and blind overturns. Faint and contested, but coheres with the Lev 21 disqualification reversal as a second exclusion-text being inverted.

David said on that day, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and strike the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame can’t come into the house.”


'You will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous' presupposes the doctrine of bodily resurrection and reward first articulated in Daniel 12:2, where many who sleep awake, some to everlasting life. Availability of the resurrection-of-the-just hope grounds Jesus' eschatological recompense.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


'Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed' is the wisdom axiom behind being repaid not by guests but at the resurrection. Strong thematic coherence with the repay-by-God logic of vv.13-14.

He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.


Tobit's almsgiving instruction — give to the poor and do not turn your face away, laying up a good treasure against the day of necessity — parallels Jesus' counsel to give where no repayment is possible. Deuterocanonical availability and coherence with Luke's almsgiving theology (cf. Luke 12:33).

Give alms from your possessions. When you give alms, don’t let your eye be envious. Don’t turn away your face from any poor man, and the face of God won’t be turned away from you.


The exclamation 'Blessed is he who will feast in the Kingdom of God!' and the parable of the great supper draw directly on Isaiah's eschatological banquet on Mount Zion — 'a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees' for all peoples. High volume and coherence: the messianic banquet is the controlling image, and the eventual inclusion of outsiders mirrors Isaiah's 'all peoples.'

In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines.


The three excuses parody the Deuteronomic war-exemptions: the man who built a new house (cf. 'I have bought a field'), the man who planted a vineyard, and the man newly betrothed who need not go to battle. The banquet-summons is cast as a holy-war muster the invitees decline, inverting the exemptions into culpable refusals.

The officers shall speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit. What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? […]


'I have married a wife, and therefore I can't come' echoes the exemption granting a newly married man a year free from military service and public duty. The legitimate Torah exemption is repurposed as a self-condemning excuse, sharpening the parody of the war-muster reading.

When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.


'Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests' supplies the motif of a prepared feast/sacrifice with summoned guests on the day of the Lord — matching 'everything is ready now' and the judgment on those who refuse ('none of those men... will taste of my supper').

Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.


The free invitation 'Come, for everything is ready now' resonates with Isaiah's 'Come, buy and eat... without money and without price.' Faint but coherent with the gratuitous-banquet and the bringing-in of those who would not otherwise come.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? listen diligently to me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.


Wisdom 'has slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine, set her table, and sent out her maidens' to call guests — 'Come, eat of my bread.' The sent-servant-summoning-the-invited pattern and the call to the simple closely parallel the great supper's structure and the gathering of the lowly.

Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!


The gathering of outsiders — foreigners and eunuchs brought to God's house, 'others besides those already gathered' — anticipates the master sending into highways and hedges to fill the house. Coheres with Luke's Gentile-inclusion trajectory but verbally diffuse.

Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people”; neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says Yahweh, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, […]


Samuel's sacrificial feast where 'the people will not eat until he comes... afterward those eat who are invited' supplies the formal vocabulary of invited guests waiting on the host's bidding. A faint background to the supper's summons protocol.

As soon as you have come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he come, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you shall find him.”


'If anyone... doesn't disregard his own father, mother, wife, children' echoes the blessing of Levi, who said of father and mother 'I have not seen him,' disowned his brothers and ignored his children — keeping covenant fidelity above kin. The radical preference of covenant loyalty over family ties is the closest scriptural precedent for Jesus' hyperbolic 'hate.'

He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant.


The Levites' ordination by slaying brother, companion, and neighbor at Moses' command — 'each one at the cost of his son and his brother' — is the narrative behind Deut 33:9's praise of Levi. It models the disciple's willingness to set covenant allegiance above family, coherent with Jesus' demand and the cross-bearing that follows.

He said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against […]


Micah's portrait of eschatological family division — son dishonoring father, daughter against mother, 'a man's enemies are the men of his own household' — undergirds Jesus' setting discipleship against the closest kin (and is explicitly cited at Luke 12:53). Recurrence in Luke strengthens its availability here.

For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.


The command to show no pity even to a brother, son, daughter, or wife who entices to false worship — placing exclusive devotion to the Lord above the dearest relations — offers a Torah analogue to subordinating family to higher allegiance. Faint and contested, but coheres with the covenant-over-kin theme of Deut 33:9.

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither […]


The king who 'will not sit down first and consider' before going to war reflects the proverb 'by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in an abundance of counselors there is victory.' The counsel to deliberate before battle is the sapiential ground of Jesus' second illustration about counting the cost.

for by wise guidance you wage your war; and victory is in many advisors.


'Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war' doubles the counting-the-cost-before-war motif of vv.31-32. Recurrence of this maxim across Proverbs 20:18 and 24:6 strengthens the wisdom-deliberation background of the tower-and-war pair.

Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!


'Prepare your work outside... and after that build your house' supplies the prudence-before-building logic behind the tower illustration ('count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it'). Faint but coherent with the sapiential planning theme.

Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.


Ben Sira's 'before every action let counsel go, and before every undertaking deliberation' captures the count-the-cost-first principle of both illustrations. Deuterocanonical availability adds Second-Temple recurrence to the wisdom-deliberation reading.

Let reason be the beginning of every work, And let counsel go before every action.


'Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless...' draws on the covenant-of-salt requirement that every grain offering be seasoned with salt — salt as the indispensable mark of acceptable offering. Saltless disciples 'fit neither for soil nor manure pile' invert the covenant-of-salt's enduring fidelity.

Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.


The 'covenant of salt forever before the Lord' given to the priests defines salt as a symbol of permanent, unbreakable covenant — the very quality lost when salt goes flat. Coherent with the disqualification-from-covenant-service theme and reinforces Lev 2:13's availability.

All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Yahweh, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you.”


The Davidic kingship granted 'by a covenant of salt' extends the salt-as-perpetual-covenant idiom that gives Jesus' saltlessness saying its bite. Faint and contested, but adds recurrence to the covenant-of-salt motif across the canon.

Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?


Jeremiah's curse on the one who trusts in man — dwelling in 'a salt land not inhabited,' barren and uninhabitable — resonates with salt-spoiled ground 'fit neither for the soil nor the manure pile.' Faint figural overlap between barren salt-land and the worthless flat salt thrown out.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.


The Pharisees and scribes 'murmured' (diegongyzon) that Jesus eats with sinners; LXX uses gongyzo precisely for Israel's murmuring against God's provision in the wilderness. Luke evokes the recurrent grumbling motif to cast the objectors as faithless Israel resisting God's gracious feeding. Coherence is strong because the parables that follow defend a divine table.

and in the morning, then you shall see Yahweh’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh. Who are we, that you murmur against us?” Moses said, “Now Yahweh shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you; because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.”


The separatist who says 'Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you' supplies the exact posture Luke's Pharisees adopt against table fellowship with sinners. Isaiah condemns this self-segregating holiness as a stench before God, which coheres with Jesus' vindication of welcoming sinners. Availability and thematic coherence are high; verbal overlap is thematic rather than lexical.

who say, Stand by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.


The wisdom ideal that the righteous do not sit with sinners frames the Pharisees' assumption that eating with sinners defiles. Luke inverts the maxim: Jesus' table redefines blessedness as seeking rather than separating. Faint and contested, resting on shared sinner/righteous vocabulary.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;


God declares 'I myself will search for my sheep... I will seek the lost,' the precise plot of the one shepherd who leaves the flock to find the strayed (vv. 4,6,16). Volume is high (sustained seeking-shepherd oracle), recurrence strong (Ezekiel 34 is a touchstone for Luke's shepherd Christology), and coherence exact: God's own searching contrasts the failed shepherds, just as Jesus seeks sinners the Pharisees abandon.

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I […]


The shepherd who gathers lambs and carries them in his bosom illuminates the man carrying the found sheep on his shoulders rejoicing. The tender carrying gesture is distinctive and shared, strengthening the divine-shepherd reading. Coheres with Ezekiel 34 as the comfort-of-God shepherd image.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.


'I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant' supplies the penitent's voice answered by the seeking shepherd. The verbal pairing of straying sheep and divine seeking is close, and coherence with the repentance emphasis (v.7) is strong. Slightly lower volume than Ezekiel 34.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.


'All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way' is the canonical image of straying that the parable assumes for 'one sinner who repents.' Recurrence in Luke's passion theology supports availability; the echo is thematic rather than cited here. Contested as to whether Luke intends the Servant song specifically.

All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


The woe on shepherds who scatter and the promise that God will gather the remnant and set true shepherds over them stands behind the lost-sheep rescue. Coheres with Ezekiel 34 as the prophetic indictment of leaders who fail the flock, paralleling the Pharisees. Lower volume, so an echo.

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh. Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Yahweh. I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they […]


God's promise to gather the remnant of Israel 'like sheep in a fold' supplies the regathering motif. Faint and one of several gathering oracles; included for recurrence within the shepherd-restoration cluster. Contested because no distinctive verbal link to a single lost sheep.

I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will swarm with people.


The flock doomed to slaughter and the shepherd's care/abandonment drama belongs to the same prophetic shepherd field Luke draws on. Faint here; included as availability for the seeking-shepherd theme. Contested.

Thus says Yahweh my God: “Feed the flock of slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.” So I fed […]


God 'searches Jerusalem with lamps' to find the complacent, a near image to the woman lighting a lamp and sweeping to find the coin. The lamp-search vocabulary is suggestive, though Zephaniah's search is judicial, here gracious. Contested and faint.

It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”


Seeking wisdom 'as silver, and searching for it as for hidden treasure' parallels the diligent search for the lost silver drachma until found. The seek-until-found wisdom pattern coheres with the parable's diligence, but the link is thematic. Contested.

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:


The beloved who seeks through the night 'until I found him' and then summons others to rejoice mirrors the woman's seek-find-celebrate structure. Faint, figural, contested; included as a seek-and-find availability rather than a deliberate citation.

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him […]


The law of inheritance giving the firstborn a double portion frames 'give me my share of your property' and the father's division between the two sons. The legal background makes the younger son's premature demand pointed and the father's later 'all that is mine is yours' (v.31) the firstborn's lawful due. Coherence high; verbal link thematic.

but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.


The patriarchal pattern of departing to a far country when 'a severe famine' strikes the land underlies the son's far-country famine. The famine-driven sojourn is a recurrent Genesis motif (also 26:1; 41-47), lending availability. Contested as a specific source; an ambient echo.

There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.


The pig is declared unclean, so feeding swine and craving their husks marks the Jewish son's total degradation and ritual estrangement. For a Torah-formed audience the swine signal maximal defilement, intensifying the depth from which the father's mercy reaches. Volume modest but coherence and distinctiveness high.

The pig, because he has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, he is unclean to you.


'Whoever loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth' compactly anticipates both the prodigal's wasteful living and the elder son's accusation of harlots (v.30). The proverb pairs squandering and harlotry with a father, exactly Luke's configuration. Coherence strong.

Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.


'Do not give yourself to prostitutes, lest you lose your inheritance' (deuterocanonical wisdom) joins squandering to harlotry and lost inheritance, the prodigal's exact fall. Availability within Second-Temple wisdom strengthens the moral frame. Contested and faint as a direct source.

Give not your soul to harlots, That you lose not your inheritance.