Psalms 22:2

22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,

but you do not answer,

and during the night my prayers do not let up. ¹ 

Psalms 86:3

86:3 Have mercy on me, ²  O Lord,

for I cry out to you all day long!

Nehemiah 1:6

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ³  against you – both I myself and my family ⁴  have sinned.

Isaiah 62:6

62:6 I ⁵  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ⁶ 

You who pray to ⁷  the Lord, don’t be silent!

Luke 2:37

2:37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. ⁸  She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ⁹ 

Luke 18:7

18:7 Won’t ¹⁰  God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out ¹¹  to him day and night? ¹²  Will he delay ¹³  long to help them?

Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ¹⁴  Jesus ¹⁵  told them a parable to show them they should always ¹⁶  pray and not lose heart. ¹⁷ 

Luke 3:10

3:10 So ¹⁸  the crowds were asking ¹⁹  him, “What then should we do?”

Luke 3:2

3:2 during the high priesthood ²⁰  of Annas and Caiaphas, the word ²¹  of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ²² 

Luke 1:3

1:3 So ²³  it seemed good to me as well, ²⁴  because I have followed ²⁵  all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account ²⁶  for you, most excellent Theophilus,

[22:2]  ¹ tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[86:3]  ² tn Or “show me favor.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

[62:6]  ⁵ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ⁷ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[2:37]  ⁸ tn Grk “living with her husband for seven years from her virginity and she was a widow for eighty four years.” The chronology of the eighty-four years is unclear, since the final phrase could mean “she was widowed until the age of eighty-four” (so BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.α). However, the more natural way to take the syntax is as a reference to the length of her widowhood, the subject of the clause, in which case Anna was about 105 years old (so D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:251-52; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 123-24).

[2:37]  ⁹ sn The statements about Anna worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day make her extreme piety clear.

[18:7]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:7]  ¹¹ sn The prayers have to do with the righteous who cry out to him to receive justice. The context assumes the righteous are persecuted.

[18:7]  ¹² tn The emphatic particles in this sentence indicate that God will indeed give justice to the righteous.

[18:7]  ¹³ sn The issue of delay has produced a whole host of views for this verse. (1) Does this assume provision to endure in the meantime? Or (2) does it mean God restricts the level of persecution until he comes? Either view is possible.

[18:1]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ¹⁷ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the people’s response.

[3:10]  ¹⁹ tn Though this verb is imperfect, in this context it does not mean repeated, ongoing questions, but simply a presentation in vivid style as the following verbs in the other examples are aorist.

[3:2]  ²⁰ sn Use of the singular high priesthood to mention two figures is unusual but accurate, since Annas was the key priest from a.d. 6-15 and then his relatives were chosen for many of the next several years. After two brief tenures by others, his son-in-law Caiaphas came to power and stayed there until a.d. 36.

[3:2]  ²¹ tn The term translated “word” here is not λόγος (logos) but ῥῆμα (rJhma), and thus could refer to the call of the Lord to John to begin ministry.

[3:2]  ²² tn Or “desert.”

[1:3]  ²³ tn The conjunction “so” is supplied here to bring out the force of the latter part of this Greek sentence, which the translation divides up because of English style. Luke, in compiling his account, is joining a tradition with good precedent.

[1:3]  ²⁴ sn When Luke says it seemed good to me as well he is not being critical of the earlier accounts, but sees himself stepping into a tradition of reporting about Jesus to which he will add uniquely a second volume on the early church when he writes the Book of Acts.

[1:3]  ²⁵ tn Grk “having followed”; the participle παρηκολουθηκότι (parhkolouqhkoti) has been translated causally.

[1:3]  ²⁶ sn An orderly account does not necessarily mean that all events are recorded in the exact chronological sequence in which they occurred, but that the account produced is an orderly one. This could include, for example, thematic or topical order rather than strict chronological order.