Luke 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 

Ex 38:8; 1Sa 2:2; Ps 22:2; Ps 23:6; Ps 27:4; Ps 84:4,10; Ps 92:13; Ps 135:1,2; Ac 26:7; 1Ti 5:5; Re 3:12; Re 7:15

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.