Luke 9:9

9:9 Herod said, “I had John ¹  beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” So Herod wanted to learn about Jesus. ² 

Luke 9:19

9:19 They ³  answered, ⁴  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ⁵  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ⁶ 

Luke 9:28

The Transfiguration

9:28 Now ⁷  about eight days ⁸  after these sayings, Jesus ⁹  took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.

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.”

[9:9]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

[9:19]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.