Luke 1:15

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of ¹  the Lord. He ²  must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ³ 

Luke 1:32

1:32 He ⁴  will be great, ⁵  and will be called the Son of the Most High, ⁶  and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father ⁷  David.

Luke 4:25

4:25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ⁸  when the sky ⁹  was shut up three and a half years, and ¹⁰  there was a great famine over all the land.

Luke 7:16

7:16 Fear ¹¹  seized them all, and they began to glorify ¹²  God, saying, “A great prophet ¹³  has appeared ¹⁴  among us!” and “God has come to help ¹⁵  his people!”

Luke 9:48

9:48 and said to them, “Whoever welcomes ¹⁶  this child ¹⁷  in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one who is great.” ¹⁸ 

[1:15]  ¹ tn Grk “before.”

[1:15]  ² tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

[1:15]  ³ tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

[1:32]  ⁴ tn Grk “this one.”

[1:32]  ⁵ 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.

[1:32]  ⁶ 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.

[1:32]  ⁷ tn Or “ancestor.”

[4:25]  ⁷ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

[4:25]  ⁹ tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).

[7:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Awe.” Grk “fear,” but the context and the following remark show that it is mixed with wonder; see L&N 53.59. This is a reaction to God’s work; see Luke 5:9.

[7:16]  ¹¹ tn This imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[7:16]  ¹² sn That Jesus was a great prophet was a natural conclusion for the crowd to make, given the healing; but Jesus is more than this. See Luke 9:8, 19-20.

[7:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “arisen.”

[7:16]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “visited,” but this conveys a different impression to a modern reader. L&N 85.11 renders the verb, “to be present, with the implication of concern – ‘to be present to help, to be on hand to aid.’ … ‘God has come to help his people’ Lk 7:16.” The language recalls Luke 1:68, 78.

[9:48]  ¹³ tn This verb, δέχομαι (decomai), is a term of hospitality (L&N 34.53).

[9:48]  ¹⁴ sn Children were very insignificant in ancient culture, so this child would be the perfect object lesson to counter the disciples’ selfish ambitions.

[9:48]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “among you all, this one is great.” The absence of a comparative term here makes the point that comparison should not be done.