Luke 24:50-53

Jesus’ Departure

24:50 Then ¹  Jesus ²  led them out as far as Bethany, ³  and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 24:51 Now ⁴  during the blessing ⁵  he departed ⁶  and was taken up into heaven. ⁷  24:52 So ⁸  they worshiped ⁹  him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ¹⁰  24:53 and were continually in the temple courts ¹¹  blessing ¹²  God. ¹³ 

[24:50]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[24:50]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:50]  ³ sn Bethany was village on the Mount of Olives about 2 mi (3 km) from Jerusalem; see John 11:1, 18.

[24:51]  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.

[24:51]  ⁵ tn Grk “while he blessed them.”

[24:51]  ⁶ tn Grk “he departed from them.”

[24:51]  ⁷ tc The reference to the ascension (“and was taken up into heaven”) is lacking in א* D it sy^s, but it is found in Ì⁷⁵ and the rest of the ms tradition. The authenticity of the statement here seems to be presupposed in Acts 1:2, for otherwise it is difficult to account for Luke’s reference to the ascension there. For a helpful discussion, see TCGNT 162-63.

[24:52]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of Jesus’ ascension and the concluding summary of Luke’s Gospel.

[24:52]  ⁹ tc The reference to worship is lacking in the Western ms D, its last major omission in this Gospel.

[24:52]  ¹⁰ sn Joy is another key theme for Luke: 1:14; 2:10; 8:13; 10:17; 15:7, 10; 24:41.

[24:53]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in the temple.”

[24:53]  ¹² tc The Western text (D it) has αἰνοῦντες (ainounte", “praising”) here, while the Alexandrian mss (Ì⁷⁵ א B C* L) have εὐλογοῦντες (eulogounte", “blessing”). Most mss, especially the later Byzantine mss, evidently combine these two readings with αἰνοῦντες καὶ εὐλογοῦντες (A C² W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). It is more difficult to decide between the two earlier readings. Internal arguments can go either way, but what seems decisive in this instance are the superior witnesses for εὐλογοῦντες.

[24:53]  ¹³ tc The majority of Greek mss, some of which are important witnesses (A B C² Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat), add “Amen” to note the Gospel’s end. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, since significant witnesses lack the word (Ì⁷⁵ א C* D L W 1 33 pc it co ), it is evidently not original.