Luke 2:37

2:37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. 1  She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 2 

Luke 16:7

16:7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man 3  replied, ‘A hundred measures 4  of wheat.’ The manager 5  said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 6 

1 tn Grk “living with her husband for seven years from her virginity and she was a widow for eighty four years.” The chronology of the eighty-four years is unclear, since the final phrase could mean “she was widowed until the age of eighty-four” (so BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.α). However, the more natural way to take the syntax is as a reference to the length of her widowhood, the subject of the clause, in which case Anna was about 105 years old (so D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:251-52; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 123-24).

2 sn The statements about Anna worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day make her extreme piety clear.

3 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the second debtor) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

4 sn The hundred measures here was a hundreds cors. A cor was a Hebrew dry measure for grain, flour, etc., of between 10-12 bushels (about 390 liters). This was a huge amount of wheat, representing the yield of about 100 acres, a debt of between 2500-3000 denarii.

5 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

6 sn The percentage of reduction may not be as great because of the change in material.