Lukas 2:36-37

The Testimony of Anna

2:36 There was also a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, ¹  having been married to her husband for seven years until his death. 2:37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. ²  She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ³ 

[2:36]  ¹ tn Her age is emphasized by the Greek phrase here, “she was very old in her many days.”

[2:37]  ² 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]  ³ sn The statements about Anna worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day make her extreme piety clear.