Lukas 24:4-6

24:4 While ¹  they were perplexed ²  about this, suddenly ³  two men stood beside them in dazzling ⁴  attire. 24:5 The ⁵  women ⁶  were terribly frightened ⁷  and bowed ⁸  their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living ⁹  among the dead? 24:6 He is not here, but has been raised! ¹⁰  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ¹¹ 

[24:4]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that while.” 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. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[24:4]  ² tn Or “bewildered.” The term refers to a high state of confusion and anxiety.

[24:4]  ³ tn Grk “behold.”

[24:4]  ⁴ sn The brilliantly shining clothing (dazzling attire) points to the fact that these are angels (see 24:23).

[24:5]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the women) has been specified in the translation for clarity (the same has been done in v. 8).

[24:5]  ⁷ tn Or “They were extremely afraid.”

[24:5]  ⁸ sn Bowed their faces to the ground. Such respect for angels is common: Dan 7:28; 10:9, 15.

[24:5]  ⁹ sn By referring to Jesus as the living, the angels make it clear that he is alive. There should be no surprise.

[24:6]  ¹⁰ tc The phrase “He is not here, but has been raised” is omitted by a few mss (D it), but it has wide ms support and differs slightly from the similar statement in Matt 28:6 and Mark 16:6. Although NA²⁷ places the phrase at the beginning of v. 6, as do most modern English translations, it is omitted from the RSV and placed at the end of v. 5 in the NRSV.

[24:6]  tn The verb here is passive (ἠγέρθη, hgerqh). This “divine passive” (see ExSyn 437-38) points to the fact that Jesus was raised by God, and such activity by God is a consistent Lukan theological emphasis: Luke 20:37; 24:34; Acts 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 37. A passive construction is also used to refer to Jesus’ exaltation: Luke 24:51; Acts 1:11, 22.

[24:6]  ¹¹ sn While he was still in Galilee looks back to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. So the point is that this was announced long ago, and should come as no surprise.