Luke 3:3

3:3 He ¹  went into all the region around the Jordan River, ²  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ³ 

Luke 2:1

The Census and the Birth of Jesus

2:1 Now ⁴  in those days a decree ⁵  went out from Caesar ⁶  Augustus ⁷  to register ⁸  all the empire ⁹  for taxes.

Luke 4:25

4:25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ¹⁰  when the sky ¹¹  was shut up three and a half years, and ¹²  there was a great famine over all the land.

Luke 10:1

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

10:1 After this ¹³  the Lord appointed seventy-two ¹⁴  others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town ¹⁵  and place where he himself was about to go.

Luke 10:19

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread ¹⁶  on snakes and scorpions ¹⁷  and on the full force of the enemy, ¹⁸  and nothing will ¹⁹  hurt you.

[3:3]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:3]  ² tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:3]  ³ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it (Luke 3:10-14).

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” 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.

[2:1]  ⁵ sn This decree was a formal decree from the Roman Senate.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Or “from the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[2:1]  ⁷ sn Caesar Augustus refers to Octavian, who was Caesar from 27 b.c. to a.d. 14. He was known for his administrative prowess.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “that all the empire should be registered for taxes.” The passive infinitive ἀπογράφεσθαι (apografesqai) has been rendered as an active in the translation to improve the English style. The verb is regarded as a technical term for official registration in tax lists (BDAG 108 s.v. ἀπογράφω a).

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “the whole (inhabited) world,” but this was a way to refer to the Roman empire (L&N 1.83).

[4:25]  ⁷ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

[4:25]  ⁹ tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).

[10:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And after these things.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:1]  ¹¹ tc There is a difficult textual problem here and in v. 17, where the number is either “seventy” (א A C L W Θ Ξ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï and several church fathers and early versions) or “seventy-two” (Ì⁷⁵ B D 0181 pc lat as well as other versions and fathers). The more difficult reading is “seventy-two,” since scribes would be prone to assimilate this passage to several OT passages that refer to groups of seventy people (Num 11:13-17; Deut 10:22; Judg 8:30; 2 Kgs 10:1 et al.); this reading also has slightly better ms support. “Seventy” could be the preferred reading if scribes drew from the tradition of the number of translators of the LXX, which the Letter of Aristeas puts at seventy-two (TCGNT 127), although this is far less likely. All things considered, “seventy-two” is a much more difficult reading and accounts for the rise of the other. Only Luke notes a second larger mission like the one in 9:1-6.

[10:1]  ¹² tn Or “city.”

[10:19]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “trample on” (which emphasizes the impact of the feet on the snakes). See L&N 15.226.

[10:19]  ¹⁴ sn Snakes and scorpions are examples of the hostility in the creation that is defeated by Jesus. The use of battle imagery shows who the kingdom fights against. See Acts 28:3-6.

[10:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and [authority] over the full force of the enemy.” The second prepositional phrase can be taken either as modifying the infinitive πατεῖν (patein, “to tread”) or the noun ἐξουσίαν (exousian, “power”). The former is to be preferred and has been represented in the translation.

[10:19]  ¹⁶ tn This is an emphatic double negative in the Greek text.