Luke 2:25

The Prophecy of Simeon

2:25 Now ¹  there was a man in Jerusalem ²  named Simeon who was righteous ³  and devout, looking for the restoration ⁴  of Israel, and the Holy Spirit ⁵  was upon him.

Luke 2:28-30

2:28 Simeon ⁶  took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, ⁷ 

2:29 “Now, according to your word, ⁸  Sovereign Lord, ⁹  permit ¹⁰  your servant ¹¹  to depart ¹²  in peace.

2:30 For my eyes have seen your salvation ¹³ 

[2:25]  ¹ tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:25]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:25]  ³ tn Grk “This man was righteous.” The Greek text begins a new sentence here, but this was changed to a relative clause in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[2:25]  ⁴ tn Or “deliverance,” “consolation.”

[2:25]  ⁵ sn Once again, by mentioning the Holy Spirit, Luke stresses the prophetic enablement of a speaker. The Spirit has fallen on both men (Zechariah, 1:67) and women (Elizabeth, 1:41) in Luke 1–2 as they share the will of the Lord.

[2:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Simeon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:28]  ⁷ tn Grk “and said.” The finite verb in Greek has been replaced with a participle in English to improve the smoothness of the translation.

[2:29]  ⁸ sn The phrase according to your word again emphasizes that God will perform his promise.

[2:29]  ⁹ tn The Greek word translated here by “Sovereign Lord” is δεσπότης (despoth").

[2:29]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:29]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:29]  ¹² tn Grk “now release your servant.”

[2:30]  ¹³ sn To see Jesus, the Messiah, is to see God’s salvation.