2:36 There was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, 4 having been married to her husband for seven years until his death. 2:37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. 5 She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 6
1 tn Grk “refuse younger widows.”
2 tn With a single verb and object, this clause means “pursue sensuous desires in opposition to Christ.”
3 tn Grk “for the sake of reviling.”
4 tn Her age is emphasized by the Greek phrase here, “she was very old in her many days.”
5 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).
6 sn The statements about Anna worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day make her extreme piety clear.