Jesus begins to tell a parable as he continues to teach his disciples. This is the same part of the story that began in [Luke 17:20](../17/20.md). Verse 1 gives us a description of the parable Jesus is about to tell. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parables]])
These two clauses have similar meanings, which Jesus used to emphasize his point. Some languages have different ways of emphasizing. AT: "they should always keep on praying" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])
Here "certain city" is a way to let the listener know that the narrative that follows takes place in a city, but the name of the city itself is not important. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-intro]])