Luke 1:20

1:20 And now, ¹  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, ²  you will be silent, unable to speak, ³  until the day these things take place.”

Luke 3:4

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ⁴  of one shouting in the wilderness: ⁵ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ⁶  his paths straight.

Luke 9:26

9:26 For whoever is ashamed ⁷  of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person ⁸  when he comes in his glory and in the glory ⁹  of the Father and of the holy angels.

Luke 24:19

24:19 He ¹⁰  said to them, “What things?” “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied, “a man ¹¹  who, with his powerful deeds and words, proved to be a prophet ¹²  before God and all the people;

Luke 24:44

Jesus’ Final Commission

24:44 Then ¹³  he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me ¹⁴  in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms ¹⁵  must be fulfilled.”

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¹ tn Grk “behold.”

² sn The predicted fulfillment in the expression my words, which will be fulfilled in their time takes place in Luke 1:63-66.

³ sn Silent, unable to speak. Actually Zechariah was deaf and mute as 1:61-63 indicates, since others had to use gestures to communicate with him.

⁴ tn Or “A voice.”

⁵ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

⁶ tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.

⁷ sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.

⁸ tn This pronoun (τοῦτον, touton) is in emphatic position in its own clause in the Greek text: “of that person the Son of Man will be ashamed…”

⁹ tn Grk “in the glory of him and of the Father and of the holy angels.” “Glory” is repeated here in the translation for clarity and smoothness because the literal phrase is unacceptably awkward in contemporary English.

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹¹ tn This translates the Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr).

¹² sn The role of Jesus as prophet is a function Luke frequently mentions: 4:25-27; 9:35; 13:31-35.

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹⁴ sn Everything written about me. The divine plan, events, and scripture itself are seen here as being one.

¹⁵ sn For a similar threefold division of the OT scriptures, see the prologue to Sirach, lines 8-10, and from Qumran, the epilogue to 4QMMT, line 10.