Yehezkiel 11:20

11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹ 

Hosea 14:9

Concluding Exhortation

14:9 Who is wise?

Let him discern ²  these things!

Who is discerning?

Let him understand them!

For the ways of the Lord are right;

the godly walk in them,

but in them the rebellious stumble.

Lukas 1:6

1:6 They ³  were both righteous in the sight of God, following ⁴  all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. ⁵ 

Lukas 1:1

Explanatory Preface

1:1 Now ⁶  many have undertaken to compile an account ⁷  of the things ⁸  that have been fulfilled ⁹  among us,

Lukas 4:1-2

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then ¹⁰  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River ¹¹  and was led by the Spirit ¹²  in ¹³  the wilderness, ¹⁴  4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations ¹⁵  from the devil. He ¹⁶  ate nothing ¹⁷  during those days, and when they were completed, ¹⁸  he was famished.

[11:20]  ¹ sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).

[14:9]  ² tn The shortened form of the prefix-conjugation verb וְיָבֵן (vÿyaven) indicates that it is a jussive rather than an imperfect. When a jussive comes from a superior to an inferior, it may connote exhortation and instruction or advice and counsel. For the functions of the jussive, see IBHS 568-70 §34.3.

[1:6]  ³ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “walking in” (an idiom for one’s lifestyle).

[1:6]  sn The description of Zechariah and Elizabeth as following… blamelessly was not to say that they were sinless, but that they were faithful and pious. Thus a practical righteousness is meant here (Gen 6:8; Deut 28:9).

[1:6]  ⁵ tn The predicate adjective has the effect of an adverb here (BDF §243).

[1:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “Since” or “Because.” This begins a long sentence that extends through v. 4. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, the Greek sentence has been divided up into shorter English sentences in the translation.

[1:1]  ⁷ tn This is sometimes translated “narrative,” but the term itself can refer to an oral or written account. It is the verb “undertaken” which suggests a written account, since it literally is “to set one’s hand” to something (BDAG 386 s.v. ἐπιχειρέω). “Narrative” is too specific, denoting a particular genre of work for the accounts that existed in the earlier tradition. Not all of that material would have been narrative.

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Or “events.”

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Or “have been accomplished.” Given Luke’s emphasis on divine design (e.g., Luke 24:43-47) a stronger sense (“fulfilled”) is better than a mere reference to something having taken place (“accomplished”).

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate continuity with the previous topic.

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:1]  ¹² sn The double mention of the Spirit in this verse makes it clear that the temptation was neither the fault of Jesus nor an accident.

[4:1]  ¹³ tc Most mss (A Θ Ξ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) read εἰς τὴν ἔρημον (ei" thn erhmon, “into the wilderness”), apparently motivated by the parallel in Matt 4:1. However, the reading behind the translation (ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, en th ejrhmw) is found in overall better witnesses (Ì^4vid,7,75vid א B D L W 579 892 1241 pc it).

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “desert.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “in the desert, for forty days being tempted.” The participle πειραζόμενος (peirazomeno") has been translated as an adverbial clause in English to avoid a run-on sentence with a second “and.” Here the present participle suggests a period of forty days of testing. Three samples of the end of the testing are given in the following verses.

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:2]  ¹⁷ sn The reference to Jesus eating nothing could well be an idiom meaning that he ate only what the desert provided; see Exod 34:28. A desert fast simply meant eating only what one could obtain in the desert. The parallel in Matt 4:2 speaks only of Jesus fasting.

[4:2]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelesqeiswn) from the verb συντελέω (suntelew).

[4:2]  sn This verb and its cognate noun, sunteleia, usually implies not just the end of an event, but its completion or fulfillment. The noun is always used in the NT in eschatological contexts; the verb is often so used (cf. Matt 13:39, 40; 24:3; 28:20; Mark 13:4; Rom 9:28; Heb 8:8; 9:26). The idea here may be that the forty-day period of temptation was designed for a particular purpose in the life of Christ (the same verb is used in v. 13). The cognate verb teleiow is a key NT term for the completion of God’s plan: See Luke 12:50; 22:37; John 19:30; and (where it has the additional component of meaning “to perfect”) Heb 2:10; 5:8-9; 7:28.