Luke 2:48-52

2:48 When ¹  his parents ²  saw him, they were overwhelmed. His ³  mother said to him, “Child, ⁴  why have you treated ⁵  us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” ⁶  2:49 But ⁷  he replied, ⁸  “Why were you looking for me? ⁹  Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ¹⁰  2:50 Yet ¹¹  his parents ¹²  did not understand ¹³  the remark ¹⁴  he made ¹⁵  to them. 2:51 Then ¹⁶  he went down with them and came to Nazareth, ¹⁷  and was obedient ¹⁸  to them. But ¹⁹  his mother kept all these things ²⁰  in her heart. ²¹ 

2:52 And Jesus increased ²²  in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

[2:48]  ¹ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:48]  ² tn Grk “when they”; the referent (his parents) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:48]  ³ tn Grk “And his.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:48]  ⁴ tn The Greek word here is τέκνον (teknon) rather than υἱός (Juios, “son”).

[2:48]  ⁵ tn Or “Child, why did you do this to us?”

[2:48]  ⁶ tn Or “your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you.”

[2:49]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

[2:49]  ⁸ tn Grk “he said to them.”

[2:49]  ⁹ tn Grk “Why is it that you were looking for me?”

[2:49]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:50]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast.

[2:50]  ¹² tn Grk “they”; the referent (his parents) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:50]  ¹³ 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).

[2:50]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the matter.”

[2:50]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “which he spoke.”

[2:51]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[2:51]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[2:51]  ¹⁸ tn Or “was submitting.”

[2:51]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

[2:51]  ²⁰ tn Or “all these words.”

[2:51]  ²¹ sn On the phrase his mother kept all these things in her heart compare Luke 2:19.

[2:52]  ²² tn Or “kept increasing.” The imperfect tense suggests something of a progressive force to the verb.