Discovery BoxLuke 2:7 
Context2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth 1 and laid him in a manger, 2 because there was no place for them in the inn. 3
Luke 23:53
Context23:53 Then 4 he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, 5 and placed it 6 in a tomb cut out of the rock, 7 where no one had yet been buried. 8
1 sn The strips of cloth (traditionally, “swaddling cloths”) were strips of linen that would be wrapped around the arms and legs of an infant to keep the limbs protected.
2 tn Or “a feeding trough.”
3 tn The Greek word κατάλυμα is flexible, and usage in the LXX and NT refers to a variety of places for lodging (see BDAG 521 s.v.). Most likely Joseph and Mary sought lodging in the public accommodations in the city of Bethlehem (see J. Nolland, Luke [WBC], 1:105), which would have been crude shelters for people and animals. However, it has been suggested by various scholars that Joseph and Mary were staying with relatives in Bethlehem (e.g., C. S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 194; B. Witherington, “Birth of Jesus,” DJG, 69-70); if that were so the term would refer to the guest room in the relatives’ house, which would have been filled beyond capacity with all the other relatives who had to journey to Bethlehem for the census.
sn There was no place for them in the inn. There is no drama in how this is told. There is no search for a variety of places to stay or a heartless innkeeper. (Such items are later, nonbiblical embellishments.) Bethlehem was not large and there was simply no other place to stay. The humble surroundings of the birth are ironic in view of the birth’s significance.
4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
5 tn The term σινδών (sindwn) can refer to a linen cloth used either for clothing or for burial.
6 tn In the Greek text this pronoun (αὐτόν, auton) is masculine, while the previous one (αὐτό, auto) is neuter, referring to the body.
7 tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.26).
8 tc Codex Bezae (D), with some support from 070, one Itala ms, and the Sahidic version, adds the words, “And after he [Jesus] was laid [in the tomb], he [Joseph of Arimathea] put a stone over the tomb which scarcely twenty men could roll.” Although this addition is certainly not part of the original text of Luke, it does show how interested the early scribes were in the details of the burial and may even reflect a very primitive tradition. Matt 27:60 and Mark 15:46 record the positioning of a large stone at the door of the tomb.
tn Or “laid to rest.”
