Luke 2:22-24

Jesus’ Presentation at the Temple

2:22 Now ¹  when the time came for their ²  purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary ³  brought Jesus ⁴  up to Jerusalem ⁵  to present him to the Lord 2:23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male ⁶  will be set apart to the Lord” ⁷ ), 2:24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is specified in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves ⁸  or two young pigeons. ⁹ 

Luke 2:27

2:27 So ¹⁰  Simeon, ¹¹  directed by the Spirit, ¹²  came into the temple courts, ¹³  and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, ¹⁴ 

Luke 2:29

2:29 “Now, according to your word, ¹⁵  Sovereign Lord, ¹⁶  permit ¹⁷  your servant ¹⁸  to depart ¹⁹  in peace.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

² tc The translation follows most mss, including early and important ones ({א A B L}). Some copyists, aware that the purification law applied to women only, produced mss ({76 it^pt vg} [though the Latin word eius could be either masculine or feminine]) that read “her purification.” But the extant evidence for an unambiguous “her” is shut up to one late minuscule ({codex 76}) and a couple of patristic citations of dubious worth ({Pseudo-Athanasius} whose date is unknown, and the {Catenae in euangelia Lucae et Joannis}, edited by J. A. Cramer. The Catenae is a work of collected patristic sayings whose exact source is unknown [thus, it could come from a period covering hundreds of years]). A few other witnesses (D pc lat) read “his purification.” The KJV has “her purification,” following Beza’s Greek text (essentially a revision of Erasmus’). Erasmus did not have it in any of his five editions. Most likely Beza put in the feminine form αὐτῆς (auths) because, recognizing that the eius found in several Latin mss could be read either as a masculine or a feminine, he made the contextually more satisfying choice of the feminine. Perhaps it crept into one or two late Greek witnesses via this interpretive Latin back-translation. So the evidence for the feminine singular is virtually nonexistent, while the masculine singular αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) was a clear scribal blunder. There can be no doubt that “their purification” is the authentic reading.

³ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Joseph and Mary) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁶ tn Grk “every male that opens the womb” (an idiom for the firstborn male).

⁷ sn An allusion to Exod 13:2, 12, 15.

¹¹ sn The offering of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, instead of a lamb, speaks of the humble roots of Jesus’ family – they apparently could not afford the expense of a lamb.

¹² sn A quotation from Lev 12:8; 5:11 (LXX).

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the action.

¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Simeon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn Grk “So in the Spirit” or “So by the Spirit,” but since it refers to the Spirit’s direction the expanded translation “directed by the Spirit” is used here.

¹⁹ tn Grk “the temple.”

²⁰ tn Grk “to do for him according to the custom of the law.” See Luke 2:22-24.

²¹ sn The phrase according to your word again emphasizes that God will perform his promise.

²² tn The Greek word translated here by “Sovereign Lord” is δεσπότης (despoth").

²³ sn This short prophetic declaration is sometimes called the Nunc dimittis, which comes from the opening phrase of the saying in Latin, “now dismiss,” a fairly literal translation of the Greek verb ἀπολύεις (apolueis, “now release”) in this verse.

²⁴ tn Here the Greek word δοῦλος (doulos, “slave”) has been translated “servant” since it acts almost as an honorific term for one specially chosen and appointed to carry out the Lord’s tasks.

²⁵ tn Grk “now release your servant.”