Luke 2:13-14

2:13 Suddenly ¹  a vast, heavenly army ²  appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

2:14 “Glory ³  to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among people ⁴  with whom he is pleased!” ⁵ 

Luke 2:20

2:20 So ⁶  the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising ⁷  God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told. ⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “And suddenly.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn Grk “a multitude of the armies of heaven.”

³ sn Glory here refers to giving honor to God.

⁴ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") referring to both males and females.

⁵ tc Most witnesses (א² B² L Θ Ξ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï sy bo) have ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία (en anqrwpoi" eudokia, “good will among people”) instead of ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας (en anqrwpoi" eudokia", “among people with whom he is pleased”), a reading attested by א* A B* D W pc (sa). Most of the Itala witnesses and some other versional witnesses reflect a Greek text which has the genitive εὐδοκίας but drops the preposition ἐν. Not only is the genitive reading better attested, but it is more difficult than the nominative. “The meaning seems to be, not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure” (TCGNT 111).

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.

⁷ sn The mention of glorifying and praising God is the second note of praise in this section; see Luke 2:13-14.

⁸ tn Grk “just as [it] had been spoken to them.” This has been simplified in the English translation by making the prepositional phrase (“to them”) the subject of the passive verb.