1:59 On 5 the eighth day 6 they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name 7 him Zechariah after his father.
1 tn Grk “this one.”
2 sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.
3 sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.
4 tn Or “ancestor.”
5 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.
6 sn They were following OT law (Lev 12:3) which prescribed that a male child was to be circumcised on the eighth day.
7 tn This could be understood as a conative imperfect, expressing an unrealized desire (“they were trying to name him”). It has been given more of a voluntative nuance in the translation.
9 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.
10 tn Grk “he said to them.”
11 tn Grk “Why is it that you were looking for me?”
12 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.
13 tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).
14 tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).