Luke 1:1

Explanatory Preface

1:1 Now many have undertaken to compile an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

Luke 1:42

1:42 She exclaimed with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb!

Luke 2:14

2:14 “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among people 10  with whom he is pleased!” 11 

Luke 11:11

11:11 What father among you, if your 12  son asks for 13  a fish, will give him a snake 14  instead of a fish?

Luke 22:17

22:17 Then 15  he took a cup, 16  and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves.

Luke 22:24

22:24 A dispute also started 17  among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 18 

Luke 23:27

23:27 A great number of the people followed him, among them women 19  who were mourning 20  and wailing for him.

Luke 24:36

Jesus Makes a Final Appearance

24:36 While they were saying these things, Jesus 21  himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 22 


tn Grk “Since” or “Because.” This begins a long sentence that extends through v. 4. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, the Greek sentence has been divided up into shorter English sentences in the translation.

tn This is sometimes translated “narrative,” but the term itself can refer to an oral or written account. It is the verb “undertaken” which suggests a written account, since it literally is “to set one’s hand” to something (BDAG 386 s.v. ἐπιχειρέω). “Narrative” is too specific, denoting a particular genre of work for the accounts that existed in the earlier tradition. Not all of that material would have been narrative.

tn Or “events.”

tn Or “have been accomplished.” Given Luke’s emphasis on divine design (e.g., Luke 24:43-47) a stronger sense (“fulfilled”) is better than a mere reference to something having taken place (“accomplished”).

tn Grk “and she.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

tn Grk “and she exclaimed with a great cry and said.” The verb εἶπεν (eipen, “said”) has not been included in the translation since it is redundant in contemporary English.

sn The commendation Blessed are you among women means that Mary has a unique privilege to be the mother of the promised one of God.

tn Grk “fruit,” which is figurative here for the child she would give birth to.

sn Glory here refers to giving honor to God.

10 tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") referring to both males and females.

11 tc Most witnesses (א2 B2 L Θ Ξ Ψ Ë1,13 Ï sy bo) have ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία (en anqrwpoi" eudokia, “good will among people”) instead of ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας (en anqrwpoi" eudokia", “among people with whom he is pleased”), a reading attested by א* A B* D W pc (sa). Most of the Itala witnesses and some other versional witnesses reflect a Greek text which has the genitive εὐδοκίας but drops the preposition ἐν. Not only is the genitive reading better attested, but it is more difficult than the nominative. “The meaning seems to be, not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure” (TCGNT 111).

12 tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

13 tc Most mss (א A C D L W Θ Ψ Ë1,13 33 Ï lat syc,p,h bo) have “bread, does not give him a stone instead, or” before “a fish”; the longer reading, however, looks like a harmonization to Matt 7:9. The shorter reading is thus preferred, attested by Ì45,75 B 1241 pc sys sa.

14 sn The snake probably refers to a water snake.

15 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

16 sn Then he took a cup. Only Luke mentions two cups at this meal; the other synoptic gospels (Matt, Mark) mention only one. This is the first of the two. It probably refers to the first cup in the traditional Passover meal, which today has four cups (although it is debated whether the fourth cup was used in the 1st century).

17 tn Or “happened.”

18 tn Though the term μείζων (meizwn) here is comparative in form, it is superlative in sense (BDF §244).

19 sn The background of these women is disputed. Are they “official” mourners of Jesus’ death, appointed by custom to mourn death? If so, the mourning here would be more pro forma. However, the text seems to treat the mourning as sincere, so their tears and lamenting would have been genuine.

20 tn Or “who were beating their breasts,” implying a ritualized form of mourning employed in Jewish funerals. See the note on the term “women” earlier in this verse.

21 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

22 tc The words “and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” are lacking in some Western mss (D it). But the clause is otherwise well attested, being found in Ì75 and the rest of the ms tradition, and should be considered an original part of Luke.