Lukas 1:30

1:30 So ¹  the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, ²  Mary, for you have found favor ³  with God!

Lukas 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.

Lukas 17:16

17:16 He ¹⁰  fell with his face to the ground ¹¹  at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. ¹²  (Now ¹³  he was a Samaritan.) ¹⁴ 

Lukas 18:35

Healing a Blind Man

18:35 As ¹⁵  Jesus ¹⁶  approached ¹⁷  Jericho, ¹⁸  a blind man was sitting by the road begging.

[1:30]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Gabriel’s statement is a response to Mary’s perplexity over the greeting.

[1:30]  ² sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.

[1:30]  ³ tn Or “grace.”

[1:30]  sn The expression found favor is a Semitism, common in the OT (Gen 6:8; 18:3; 43:14; 2 Sam 15:25). God has chosen to act on this person’s behalf.

[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]  sn This census (a decree…to register all the empire) is one of the more disputed historical remarks in Luke. Josephus (Ant. 18.1.1 [18.1-2]) only mentions a census in a.d. 6, too late for this setting. Such a census would have been a massive undertaking; it could have started under one ruler and emerged under another, to whose name it became attached. This is one possibility to explain the data. Another is that Quirinius, who became governor in Syria for the later census, may have been merely an administrator for this census. See also Luke 2:2.

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

[17:16]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he fell on his face” (an idiom for complete prostration).

[17:16]  ¹² sn And thanked him. This action recognized God’s healing work through Jesus.

[17:16]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a parenthetical comment.

[17:16]  ¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The comment that the man was a Samaritan means that to most Jews of Jesus’ day he would have been despised as a half-breed and a heretic. The note adds a touch of irony to the account (v. 18).

[18:35]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Now it happened that as.” 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.

[18:35]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:35]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase is “he drew near to” (19:29; 24:28). It is also possible the term merely means “is in the vicinity of.” Also possible is a reversal in the timing of the healing and Zacchaeus events for literary reasons as the blind man “sees” where the rich man with everything did not.

[18:35]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.