Luke 9:18

Once ¹  when Jesus ²  was praying ³  by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, ⁴  “Who do the crowds say that I am?” ⁵ 

Mt 16:13,14; Mt 26:36; Mr 8:27-30; Lu 11:1; Lu 22:39-41

¹ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Prayer is a favorite theme of Luke and he is the only one of the gospel authors to mention it in the following texts (with the exception of 22:41): Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:28-29; 11:1; 22:41; 23:34, 46.

⁴ tn Grk “the disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying.”

⁵ sn “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question of who Jesus is occurs frequently in this section of Luke: 7:49; 8:25; 9:9. The answer resolves a major theme of Luke’s Gospel.