Luke 2:28
2:28 Simeon 1 took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, 2
Luke 3:6
3:6 and all humanity 3 will see the salvation of God.’” 4
Luke 24:53
24:53 and were continually in the temple courts 5 blessing 6 God. 7
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Simeon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “and said.” The finite verb in Greek has been replaced with a participle in English to improve the smoothness of the translation.
3 tn Grk “all flesh.”
4 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).
5 tn Grk “in the temple.”
sn Luke’s gospel story proper ends where it began, in the temple courts (Luke 1:4-22). The conclusion is open-ended, because the story continues in Acts with what happened from Jerusalem onwards, once the promise of the Father (v. 49) came.
6 tc The Western text (D it) has αἰνοῦντες (ainounte", “praising”) here, while the Alexandrian mss (Ì75 א B C* L) have εὐλογοῦντες (eulogounte", “blessing”). Most mss, especially the later Byzantine mss, evidently combine these two readings with αἰνοῦντες καὶ εὐλογοῦντες (A C2 W Θ Ψ Ë1,13 33 Ï lat). It is more difficult to decide between the two earlier readings. Internal arguments can go either way, but what seems decisive in this instance are the superior witnesses for εὐλογοῦντες.
7 tc The majority of Greek mss, some of which are important witnesses (A B C2 Θ Ψ Ë13 Ï lat), add “Amen” to note the Gospel’s end. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, since significant witnesses lack the word (Ì75 א C* D L W 1 33 pc it co ), it is evidently not original.