Luke 3:23

So ¹  Jesus, when he began his ministry, ²  was about thirty years old. He was ³  the son (as was supposed) ⁴  of Joseph, the son ⁵  of Heli,

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,

When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Heli.

When Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old, the son (in public perception) of Joseph, who was--son of Heli,

And Jesus at this time was about thirty years old, being the son (as it seemed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli,

Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

So ¹  Jesus, when he began his ministry, ²  was about thirty years old. He was ³  the son (as was supposed) ⁴  of Joseph, the son ⁵  of Heli,

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summary nature of the statement.

² tn The words “his ministry” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

³ tn Grk “of age, being.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ὤν (wn) has been translated as a finite verb with the pronoun “he” supplied as subject, and a new sentence begun in the translation at this point.

⁴ sn The parenthetical remark as was supposed makes it clear that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. But a question still remains whose genealogy this is. Mary is nowhere mentioned, so this may simply refer to the line of Joseph, who would have functioned as Jesus’ legal father, much like stepchildren can have when they are adopted by a second parent.

⁵ tc Several of the names in the list have alternate spellings in the ms tradition, but most of these are limited to a few mss. Only significant differences are considered in the notes through v. 38.

tn The construction of the genealogy is consistent throughout as a genitive article (τοῦ, tou) marks sonship. Unlike Matthew’s genealogy, this one runs from Jesus down. It also goes all the way to Adam, not stopping at Abraham as Matthew’s does. Jesus has come for all races of humanity. Both genealogies go through David.