Luke 3:21

The Baptism of Jesus

3:21 Now when ¹  all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. And while he was praying, ²  the heavens ³  opened,

Luke 16:17

16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter ⁴  in the law to become void. ⁵ 

Luke 17:29

17:29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ⁶ 

Luke 19:38

19:38 “Blessed is the king ⁷  who comes in the name of the Lord! ⁸  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Luke 21:11

21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines ⁹  and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights ¹⁰  and great signs ¹¹  from heaven.

Luke 21:26

21:26 People will be fainting from fear ¹²  and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ¹³ 

Luke 21:33

21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ¹⁴ 

Luke 24:51

24:51 Now ¹⁵  during the blessing ¹⁶  he departed ¹⁷  and was taken up into heaven. ¹⁸ 

[3:21]  ¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that when.” 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.

[3:21]  ² tn Grk “and while Jesus was being baptized and praying.” The first of these participles has been translated as a finite verb to be more consistent with English style.

[3:21]  ³ tn Or “the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. In this context, although the word is singular, the English plural “heavens” connotes the Greek better than the singular “heaven” would, for the singular does not normally refer to the sky.

[16:17]  ⁴ tn Or “one small part of a letter” (L&N 33.37).

[16:17]  ⁵ tn Grk “to fall”; that is, “to drop out of the text.” Jesus’ point may be that the law is going to reach its goal without fail, in that the era of the promised kingdom comes.

[17:29]  ⁷ sn And destroyed them all. The coming of the Son of Man will be like the judgment on Sodom, one of the most immoral places of the OT (Gen 19:16-17; Deut 32:32-33; Isa 1:10).

[19:38]  ¹⁰ sn Luke adds the title king to the citation from Ps 118:26 to make clear who was meant (see Luke 18:38). The psalm was used in looking for the deliverance of the end, thus leading to the Pharisees’ reaction.

[19:38]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.

[21:11]  ¹³ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

[21:11]  ¹⁴ tn This term, φόβητρον (fobhtron), occurs only here in the NT. It could refer to an object, event, or condition that causes fear, but in the context it is linked with great signs from heaven, so the translation “sights” was preferred.

[21:11]  ¹⁵ sn See Jer 4:13-22; 14:12; 21:6-7.

[21:26]  ¹⁶ tn According to L&N 23.184 this could be mainly a psychological experience rather than actual loss of consciousness. It could also refer to complete discouragement because of fear, leading people to give up hope (L&N 25.293).

[21:26]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 34:4. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

[21:33]  ¹⁹ sn The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away. They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11.

[24:51]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Grk “while he blessed them.”

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

[24:51]  ²⁵ 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.