Luke 2:15

2:15 When ¹  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ²  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ³  has made known to us.”

Luke 3:4

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ⁴  of one shouting in the wilderness: ⁵ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ⁶  his paths straight.

Luke 4:40

4:40 As the sun was setting, all those who had any relatives ⁷  sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. ⁸  He placed ⁹  his hands on every one of them and healed them.

Luke 7:28

7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ¹⁰  than John. ¹¹  Yet the one who is least ¹²  in the kingdom of God ¹³  is greater than he is.”

Luke 9:48

9:48 and said to them, “Whoever welcomes ¹⁴  this child ¹⁵  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.” ¹⁶ 

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹⁷  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ¹⁸  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ¹⁹  the yeast of the Pharisees, ²⁰  which is hypocrisy. ²¹ 

Luke 17:2

17:2 It would be better for him to have a millstone ²²  tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea ²³  than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ²⁴ 

Luke 17:22

The Coming of the Son of Man

17:22 Then ²⁵  he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days ²⁶  of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

Luke 19:44

19:44 They will demolish you ²⁷  – you and your children within your walls ²⁸  – and they will not leave within you one stone ²⁹  on top of another, ³⁰  because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” ³¹ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” 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.

[2:15]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:15]  ³ sn Note how although angels delivered the message, it was the Lord whose message is made known, coming through them.

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

[3:4]  ⁶ tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.

[4:40]  ⁷ tn Grk “everyone, as many as had those being sick.” The use of εἶχον (eicon, “had”) suggests that the subject of the accusative participle ἀσθενοῦντας (asqenountas, “those being sick”) is not simply acquaintances, but rather relatives, perhaps immediate family, and certainly close friends.

[4:40]  ⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:40]  ⁹ tn Or “laid.” The participle ἐπιτεθείς (epiteqei") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[7:28]  ¹⁰ sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.

[7:28]  ¹¹ tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iwannou, “John”) here (Ì⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ Ë¹ 579 pc). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241] pc). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).

[7:28]  ¹² sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[7:28]  ¹³ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ proclamation. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. It is not strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.

[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.

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ²⁰ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[17:2]  ¹⁹ tn This term refers to the heavy upper stone of a grinding mill (L&N 7.70; BDAG 660 s.v. μυλικός).

[17:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “if a millstone were tied…and he were thrown.” The conditional construction in Greek has been translated by English infinitives: “to have… and be thrown.”

[17:2]  ²¹ tn Or “to stumble.” This verb, σκανδαλίσῃ (skandalish), has the same root as the noun σκάνδαλον (skandalon) in 17:1, translated “stumbling blocks”; this wordplay is difficult to reproduce in English. It is possible that the primary cause of offense here would be leading disciples (“little ones”) astray in a similar fashion.

[17:22]  ²² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:22]  ²³ sn This is a reference to the days of the full manifestation of Jesus’ power in a fully established kingdom. The reference to “days” instead of “day” is unusual, appearing only here and in v. 26, but it may be motivated merely by parallelism with the “days” of Noah there and the “days of Lot” in v. 28.

[19:44]  ²⁵ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

[19:44]  ²⁶ tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

[19:44]  ²⁷ sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

[19:44]  ²⁸ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

[19:44]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.