Luke 1:5

Birth Announcement of John the Baptist

1:5 During the reign ¹  of Herod ²  king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to ³  the priestly division of Abijah, ⁴  and he had a wife named Elizabeth, ⁵  who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ 

Luke 4:2

4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations ⁷  from the devil. He ⁸  ate nothing ⁹  during those days, and when they were completed, ¹⁰  he was famished.

Luke 23:7

23:7 When ¹¹  he learned that he was from Herod’s jurisdiction, ¹²  he sent him over to Herod, ¹³  who also happened to be in Jerusalem ¹⁴  at that time.

[1:5]  ¹ tn Grk “It happened that in the days.” 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.

[1:5]  ² sn Herod was Herod the Great, who ruled Palestine from 37 b.c. until he died in 4 b.c. He was known for his extensive building projects (including the temple in Jerusalem) and for his cruelty.

[1:5]  ³ tn Grk “of”; but the meaning of the preposition ἐκ (ek) is more accurately expressed in contemporary English by the relative clause “who belonged to.”

[1:5]  ⁴ sn There were twenty-four divisions of priesthood and the priestly division of Abijah was eighth on the list according to 1 Chr 24:10.

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Grk “and her name was Elizabeth.”

[1:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “a wife of the daughters of Aaron.”

[4:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:2]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelesqeiswn) from the verb συντελέω (suntelew).

[23:7]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[23:7]  ¹⁴ sn Learning that Jesus was from Galilee and therefore part of Herod’s jurisdiction, Pilate decided to rid himself of the problem by sending him to Herod.

[23:7]  ¹⁵ sn Herod was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. See the note on Herod in 3:1.

[23:7]  ¹⁶ sn Herod would probably have come to Jerusalem for the feast, although his father was only half Jewish (Josephus, Ant. 14.15.2 [14.403]). Josephus does mention Herod’s presence in Jerusalem during a feast (Ant. 18.5.3 [18.122]).