¹ tn Grk “every male that opens the womb” (an idiom for the firstborn male).

² sn An allusion to Exod 13:2, 12, 15.

³ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

⁴ sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

⁵ sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” since vv. 37-38 serve as something of a summary or transition from the discourse preceding to the passion narrative that follows.

⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Grk “in the temple.”

⁹ tn Grk “and spent the night,” but this is redundant because of the previous use of the word “night.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “at the mountain called ‘of Olives.’”

sn See the note on the phrase Mount of Olives in 19:29.