Discovery BoxLuke 2:48-49 
Context2:48 When 1 his parents 2 saw him, they were overwhelmed. His 3 mother said to him, “Child, 4 why have you treated 5 us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” 6 2:49 But 7 he replied, 8 “Why were you looking for me? 9 Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 10
1 tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn Grk “when they”; the referent (his parents) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Grk “And his.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
4 tn The Greek word here is τέκνον (teknon) rather than υἱός (Juios, “son”).
5 tn Or “Child, why did you do this to us?”
6 tn Or “your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you.”
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.
8 tn Grk “he said to them.”
9 tn Grk “Why is it that you were looking for me?”
10 tn Or “I must be about my Father’s business” (so KJV, NKJV); Grk “in the [things] of my Father,” with an ellipsis. This verse involves an idiom that probably refers to the necessity of Jesus being involved in the instruction about God, given what he is doing. The most widely held view today takes this as a reference to the temple as the Father’s house. Jesus is saying that his parents should have known where he was.
