Bible Strands
Luke 3:10
The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The crowds ask John the Baptist this question immediately after his warning about the axe at the root of the trees. They seek practical direction following his declaration of imminent judgment.
The words — The inquiry centers on ἐπηρώτων (epērōtōn), meaning "were asking," and τί οὖν (ti oun), meaning "what then." These terms frame the crowd's request as a direct follow-up to John's preceding warning.
The thread — Similar inquiries about required action appear in Luke 3:14 when soldiers ask John what they must do, and in Acts 2:37 when listeners ask Peter and the apostles what they should do. Acts 16:30 records a different Greek construction and English phrasing ("what must I do to be saved?") rather than this specific formula.
Why it lands — The text demands a concrete behavioral response to divine warning rather than abstract belief. Readers must identify specific actions they can take to align their conduct with the message they have heard.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
Cross-references
- Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
- Acts 16:30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
- Luke 3:12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
- Acts 9:6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
- Luke 3:8 Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.