“You will not get out of there!”: Reconsidering the placement of Q 12:58-59

Luke and Matthew situate Q 12:58-59 at very different places in their respective Gospels. In Matthew, Q 12:58-59 appears in the midst of his Sermon on the Mount. Luke, however, places the logion in the midst of a block of eschatological material that runs from 12:35 to 13:9. If the Matthean position represents Q, the saying would have featured between Q 16:17 and Q 16:18 in the Sayings Gospel. However, if the Lukan position represents Q, the saying would have featured between Q 12:49, 51, 53, 54-56 and Q 13:18-19 in the Sayings Gospel. Although there have been important voices in favour of the Matthean placement of Q 12:58-59, most scholars prefer the Lukan placement as representative of Q. The current article considers whether the majority opinion favouring Lukan placement is supported by the evidence.