Discovery BoxLuke 2:37 
Context2:37 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 4:26
Context4:26 Yet 3 Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 4
Luke 18:3
Context18:3 There was also a widow 5 in that city 6 who kept coming 7 to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
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 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast.
4 sn Zarephath in Sidon was Gentile territory (see 1 Kgs 17:9-24). Jesus’ point was that he would be forced to minister elsewhere, and the implication is that this ministry would ultimately extend (through the work of his followers) to those outside the nation.
map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
5 sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.
6 tn Or “town.”
7 tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.
