Lukas 1:25

1:25 “This is what ¹  the Lord has done for me at the time ²  when he has been gracious to me, ³  to take away my disgrace ⁴  among people.” ⁵ 

Lukas 10:42

10:42 but one thing ⁶  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ⁷  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Lukas 11:20

11:20 But if I cast out demons by the finger ⁸  of God, then the kingdom of God ⁹  has already overtaken ¹⁰  you.

Lukas 12:6

12:6 Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? ¹¹  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

Lukas 18:19

18:19 Jesus ¹²  said to him, “Why do you call me good? ¹³  No one is good except God alone.

[1:25]  ¹ tn Grk “Thus.”

[1:25]  ² tn Grk “in the days.”

[1:25]  ³ tn Grk “has looked on me” (an idiom for taking favorable notice of someone).

[1:25]  ⁴ sn Barrenness was often seen as a reproach or disgrace (Lev 20:20-21; Jer 22:30), but now at her late age (the exact age is never given in Luke’s account), God had miraculously removed it (see also Luke 1:7).

[1:25]  ⁵ tn Grk “among men”; but the context clearly indicates a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") here.

[10:42]  ⁶ tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

[10:42]  ⁷ tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).

[11:20]  ⁸ sn The finger of God is a figurative reference to God’s power (L&N 76.3). This phrase was used of God’s activity during the Exodus (Exod 8:19).

[11:20]  ⁹ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[11:20]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase ἔφθασεν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς (efqasen ef’ Juma") is important. Does it mean merely “approach” (which would be reflected in a translation like “has come near to you”) or actually “come upon” (as in the translation given above, “has already overtaken you,” which has the added connotation of suddenness)? The issue here is like the one in 10:9 (see note there on the phrase “come on”). Is the arrival of the kingdom merely anticipated or already in process? Two factors favor arrival over anticipation here. First, the prepositional phrase “upon you” suggests arrival (Dan 4:24, 28 Theodotion). Second, the following illustration in vv. 21-23 looks at the healing as portraying Satan being overrun. So the presence of God’s authority has arrived. See also L&N 13.123 for the translation of φθάνω (fqanw) as “to happen to already, to come upon, to come upon already.”

[12:6]  ¹¹ sn The pennies refer to the assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest thing sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.

[18:19]  ¹² tn Grk “And Jesus.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:19]  ¹³ sn Jesus’ response, Why do you call me good?, was designed to cause the ruler to stop and think for a moment about who Jesus really was. The following statement No one is good except God alone seems to point the man in the direction of Jesus’ essential nature and the demands which logically follow on the man for having said it.