After this, the Lord chose seventy-twotranslateTextseventy-twoSome manuscripts read “seventy” rather than “seventy-two.” The difference matters: seventy connects to Moses appointing seventy elders who received the Spirit (Numbers 11:24–25). Seventy-two connects to the table of nations in Genesis 10 (LXX), where seventy-two peoples descend from Noah — representing all humanity. If Luke wrote “seventy-two,” the mission to these towns prefigures the gospel going to all nations. The earliest and best manuscripts (P75, Codex Vaticanus) support “seventy-two.” others and sent them out ahead of him — two by two, to every town and place he planned to visit. He told them: “The harvest is vast, and the workers so few. Beg the lord of the harvest to drive workers out into his fields. “Go. I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. “Carry no money. No bag. No extra sandals. And don't stop for roadside greetings— there is no time. “When you enter a house, say this first: 'Peace to this house.' If a person of peace lives there— someone whose heart is open — your peace will settle on them. If not, it will come back to you. Stay in that house. Eat and drink whatever they give you — a worker earns his keep. Don't go looking for better lodgings. “When you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever they set before youpublicCultureeat whatever they set before youThis instruction may carry more weight than it appears. Observant Jews followed dietary laws (kashrut) that regulated what could be eaten and how food was prepared. “Eat whatever they set before you” could mean: don't ask questions about the food's preparation. If the seventy-two entered Gentile or Samaritan households, this would mean eating non-kosher food — a radical loosening of purity boundaries for the sake of mission. The same principle appears later in Acts 10, when Peter is told to eat what he formerly considered unclean.. Heal the sick among them. And tell them: 'God's kingdom has come close to you.' “But when you enter a town and they turn you away, go into their streets and say: 'Even the dust of your town clinging to our feet — we wipe it off against you. But know this: God's kingdom hasstill come close.' “I tell you, on that day it will go easier for SodompublicCultureeasier for SodomModern readers associate Sodom primarily with sexual sin. But in Jewish tradition, Sodom's defining crime was the violation of sacred hospitality — specifically, the violent rejection of divine messengers (Genesis 19). The prophet Ezekiel names Sodom's sins as pride, excess of food, prosperous ease, and failure to help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49). Jesus' comparison is precise: towns that reject God's messengers repeat Sodom's original offense. And yet Sodom never saw the miracles these towns witnessed — making their rejection worse. than for that town.”

“What grief awaits you, Chorazin. What grief awaits you, Bethsaida.”These were lakeside towns that had seen his miracles firsthand. “If the miracles done in you had been done inthe pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment, Tyre and Sidon will fare better than you. “And you, Capernaum”— his own home base, the town that knew him best — “do you think you'll be lifted to heaven? You will be brought down to the depths.” He looked at them. “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”