Luke 24:2-5

24:2 They ¹  found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, ²  24:3 but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ³  24:4 While ⁴  they were perplexed ⁵  about this, suddenly ⁶  two men stood beside them in dazzling ⁷  attire. 24:5 The ⁸  women ⁹  were terribly frightened ¹⁰  and bowed ¹¹  their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living ¹²  among the dead?

[24:2]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:2]  ² sn Luke tells the story of the empty tomb with little drama. He simply notes that when they arrived the stone had been rolled away in a position where the tomb could be entered. This large stone was often placed in a channel so that it could be easily moved by rolling it aside. The other possibility is that it was merely placed over the opening in a position from which it had now been moved.

[24:3]  ³ tc The translation follows the much better attested longer reading here, “body of the Lord Jesus” (found in {Ì⁷⁵ א A B C L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 700 Ï}), rather than simply “the body” (found in D it) or “the body of Jesus” (found in 579 1241 pc). Further, although this is the only time that “Lord Jesus” occurs in Luke, it seems to be Luke’s normal designation for the Lord after his resurrection (note the many references to Christ in this manner in Acts, e.g., 1:21; 4:33; 7:59; 8:16; 11:17; 15:11; 16:31; 19:5; 20:21; 28:31). Although such a longer reading as this would normally be suspect, in this case some scribes, accustomed to Luke’s more abbreviated style, did not take the resurrection into account.

[24:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “And it happened that while.” 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.

[24:4]  ⁵ tn Or “bewildered.” The term refers to a high state of confusion and anxiety.

[24:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “behold.”

[24:4]  ⁷ sn The brilliantly shining clothing (dazzling attire) points to the fact that these are angels (see 24:23).

[24:5]  ⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the women) has been specified in the translation for clarity (the same has been done in v. 8).

[24:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “They were extremely afraid.”

[24:5]  ¹¹ sn Bowed their faces to the ground. Such respect for angels is common: Dan 7:28; 10:9, 15.

[24:5]  ¹² sn By referring to Jesus as the living, the angels make it clear that he is alive. There should be no surprise.