Luke 3:15

3:15 While the people were filled with anticipation ¹  and they all wondered ²  whether perhaps John ³  could be the Christ, ⁴ 

Luke 7:28

7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ⁵  than John. ⁶  Yet the one who is least ⁷  in the kingdom of God ⁸  is greater than he is.”

Luke 9:7

Herod’s Confusion about Jesus

9:7 Now Herod ⁹  the tetrarch ¹⁰  heard about everything that was happening, and he was thoroughly perplexed, ¹¹  because some people were saying that John ¹²  had been raised from the dead,

Luke 9:9

9:9 Herod said, “I had John ¹³  beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” So Herod wanted to learn about Jesus. ¹⁴ 

Luke 9:19

9:19 They ¹⁵  answered, ¹⁶  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ¹⁷  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ¹⁸ 

Luke 9:28

The Transfiguration

9:28 Now ¹⁹  about eight days ²⁰  after these sayings, Jesus ²¹  took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.

Luke 9:49

On the Right Side

9:49 John answered, ²²  “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop ²³  him because he is not a disciple ²⁴  along with us.”

Luke 9:54

9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume ²⁵  them?” ²⁶ 

Luke 16:16

16:16 “The law and the prophets were in force ²⁷  until John; ²⁸  since then, ²⁹  the good news of the kingdom of God ³⁰  has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it. ³¹ 

Luke 20:6

20:6 But if we say, ‘From people,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

[3:15]  ¹ tn Or “with expectation.” The participle προσδοκῶντος (prosdokwnto") is taken temporally.

[3:15]  ² tn Grk “pondered in their hearts.”

[3:15]  ³ tn Grk “in their hearts concerning John, (whether) perhaps he might be the Christ.” The translation simplifies the style here.

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[7:28]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[9:7]  ⁹ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas. See the note on Herod Antipas in 3:1.

[9:7]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on tetrarch in 3:1.

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “was very confused.” See L&N 32.10 where this verse is given as an example of the usage.

[9:7]  ¹² sn John refers to John the Baptist, whom Herod had beheaded (v. 9).

[9:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “John I beheaded”; John’s name is in emphatic position in the Greek text. The verb is causative, since Herod would not have personally carried out the execution.

[9:9]  ¹⁴ tn The expression ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν αὐτόν (ezhtei idein auton, “was seeking to see him”) probably indicates that Herod, for curiosity’s sake or more likely for evil purposes, wanted to get to know Jesus, i.e., who he was and what he was doing. See I. H. Marshall, Luke (NIGTC), 357. Herod finally got his wish in Luke 23:6-12, with inconclusive results from his point of view.

[9:19]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:19]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

[9:19]  ¹⁹ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

[9:19]  ²⁰ sn The phrase has risen could be understood to mean “has been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. Note that the three categories in the reply match the ones in Luke 9:7-8.

[9:28]  ²¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that about.” 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.

[9:28]  ²² tn Matt 17:1 and Mark 9:2 specify the interval more exactly, saying it was the sixth day. Luke uses ὡσεί (Jwsei, “about”) to give an approximate reference.

[9:28]  ²³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:49]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And answering, John said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “John answered.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:49]  ²⁶ tc The translation follows the reading that has Luke’s normal imperfect here (ἐκωλύομεν, ekwluomen; found in Ì^75vid א B L Ξ 579 892 1241). Most mss, however, have an aorist (ἐκωλύσαμεν, ekwlusamen; found in A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï co), which would be translated “we forbade him.” The imperfect enjoys the best external and internal support.

[9:49]  ²⁷ tn Grk “does not follow with us.” BDAG 36 s.v. ἀκολουθέω 2 indicates that the pronoun σοι (soi, “you”) is to be supplied after the verb in this particular instance; the translation in the text best represents this nuance.

[9:54]  ²⁹ tn Or “destroy.”

[9:54]  ³⁰ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï it), read here “as also Elijah did,” making the allusion to 2 Kgs 1:10, 12, 14 more explicit. The shorter reading has better and earlier support (Ì^45,75 א B L Ξ 579 700* 1241 pc lat sa). It is difficult to explain how the shorter reading could have arisen from the longer, especially since it is well represented early on. However, the longer reading looks to have been a marginal note originally, incorporated into the text of Luke by early scribes.

[16:16]  ³³ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; one must be supplied. Some translations (NASB, NIV) supply “proclaimed” based on the parallelism with the proclamation of the kingdom. The transitional nature of this verse, however, seems to call for something more like “in effect” (NRSV) or, as used here, “in force.” Further, Greek generally can omit one of two kinds of verbs – either the equative verb or one that is already mentioned in the preceding context (ExSyn 39).

[16:16]  ³⁴ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[16:16]  ³⁵ sn Until John; since then. This verse indicates a shift in era, from law to kingdom.

[16:16]  ³⁶ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. 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.

[16:16]  ³⁷ tn Many translations have “entereth violently into it” (ASV) or “is forcing his way into it” (NASB, NIV). This is not true of everyone. It is better to read the verb here as passive rather than middle, and in a softened sense of “be urged.” See Gen 33:11; Judg 13:15-16; 19:7; 2 Sam 3:25, 27 in the LXX. This fits the context well because it agrees with Jesus’ attempt to persuade his opponents to respond morally. For further discussion and details, see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 2:1352-53.