Luke 2:49-52

2:49 But ¹  he replied, ²  “Why were you looking for me? ³  Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁴  2:50 Yet ⁵  his parents ⁶  did not understand ⁷  the remark ⁸  he made ⁹  to them. 2:51 Then ¹⁰  he went down with them and came to Nazareth, ¹¹  and was obedient ¹²  to them. But ¹³  his mother kept all these things ¹⁴  in her heart. ¹⁵ 

2:52 And Jesus increased ¹⁶  in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

² tn Grk “he said to them.”

³ tn Grk “Why is it that you were looking for me?”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast.

⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (his parents) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ sn This was the first of many times those around Jesus did not understand what he was saying at the time (9:45; 10:21-24; 18:34).

⁸ tn Or “the matter.”

⁹ tn Grk “which he spoke.”

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹¹ map For location see Map1-D3; Map2-C2; Map3-D5; Map4-C1; Map5-G3.

¹² tn Or “was submitting.”

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

¹⁴ tn Or “all these words.”

¹⁵ sn On the phrase his mother kept all these things in her heart compare Luke 2:19.

¹⁶ tn Or “kept increasing.” The imperfect tense suggests something of a progressive force to the verb.