Luke 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

A Roman census sends Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born and laid in a feeding trough, and angels announce the birth to shepherds who come and see him. The family keeps the law's requirements: Jesus is circumcised and named on the eighth day and presented at the temple in Jerusalem, where Simeon and Anna both speak about him. Twelve years later he stays behind in Jerusalem after Passover and is found among the temple teachers, then returns to Nazareth and obeys his parents. The chapter closes with him growing in wisdom, in size, and in favor with God and people.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.
   • The decree ordered that all the inhabited world be registered.
2. 2:2
   • This registration was the first one.
   • It took place while Cyrenius was governing Syria.
3. 2:3
   • All went to be registered.
   • Each person went to his own city.
4. 2:4
   • Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth.
   • He went into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.
   • He went because he was of the house and lineage of David.
5. 2:5
   • Joseph went to be registered together with Mary.
   • Mary was espoused to him.
   • Mary was pregnant.
6. 2:6
   • While they were there, the days for her to give birth were completed.
7. 2:7
   • She gave birth to her firstborn son.
   • She wrapped him in swaddling cloths.
   • She laid him in a manger.
   • There was no room for them in the lodging place.
8. 2:8
   • There were shepherds in that same region.
   • The shepherds were staying out in the fields.
   • The shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by night.
9. 2:9
   • An angel of the Lord came upon them.
   • The glory of the Lord shone around them.
   • They were greatly afraid.
10. 2:10
    • The angel said to them not to be afraid.
    • The angel said he was bringing them good news of great joy.
    • The angel said that joy would be to all the people.
11. 2:11
    • The angel said a Savior was born to them that day.
    • The angel said the Savior is Christ the Lord.
    • The angel said this happened in the city of David.
12. 2:12
    • The angel said this would be a sign to them.
    • The angel said they would find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths.
    • The angel said the baby would be lying in a manger.
13. 2:13
    • Suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host appeared with the angel.
    • The heavenly host was praising God and speaking.
14. 2:14
    • The heavenly host said glory to God in the highest.
    • The heavenly host said peace on earth.
    • The heavenly host said good will toward men.
15. 2:15
    • The angels went away from them into heaven.
    • The shepherds spoke to one another.
    • The shepherds said to go to Bethlehem.
    • The shepherds said to see this thing that had happened.
    • The shepherds said the Lord had made this thing known to them.
16. 2:16
    • They came with haste.
    • They found Mary and Joseph.
    • They found the baby lying in the manger.
17. 2:17
    • When they had seen him, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.
18. 2:18
    • All who heard it wondered at the things told them by the shepherds.
19. 2:19
    • Mary kept all these things.
    • Mary pondered them in her heart.
20. 2:20
    • The shepherds returned.
    • The shepherds glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen.
    • What they heard and saw was as it had been told to them.
21. 2:21
    • Eight days were completed for circumcising the child.
    • His name was called Jesus.
    • The angel had given that name before he was conceived in the womb.
22. 2:22
    • The days of the purification according to the law of Moses were completed.
    • They brought him to Jerusalem.
    • They brought him to present him to the Lord.
    • The King James says the purification was hers; the Greek says the purification was theirs.
23. 2:23
    • It is written in the law of the Lord.
    • The law says every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.
24. 2:24
    • They came also to offer a sacrifice.
    • The sacrifice was according to what is said in the law of the Lord.
    • The sacrifice specified is a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
25. 2:25
    • There was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon.
    • This man was just.
    • This man was devout.
    • This man was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
    • The Holy Spirit was upon him.
26. 2:26
    • It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
    • The revelation was that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27. 2:27
    • He came by the Spirit into the temple.
    • The parents brought in the child Jesus.
    • They brought him in to do for him according to the custom of the law.
28. 2:28
    • Simeon took the child up in his arms.
    • Simeon blessed God.
    • Simeon spoke.
29. 2:29
    • Simeon addressed God as Master.
    • Simeon said God was now releasing his servant in peace.
    • Simeon said this was according to God's word.
30. 2:30
    • Simeon said his eyes had seen God's salvation.
31. 2:31
    • Simeon said God had prepared this salvation before the face of all peoples.
32. 2:32
    • Simeon said the salvation is a light for revelation to the Gentiles.
    • Simeon said the salvation is the glory of God's people Israel.
33. 2:33
    • His father and his mother marveled at the things spoken about him.
    • The King James names the father as Joseph; the Greek says 'his father'.
34. 2:34
    • Simeon blessed them.
    • Simeon said to Mary his mother that this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel.
    • Simeon said the child is set for a sign that will be spoken against.
35. 2:35
    • Simeon said a sword would pierce through Mary's own soul.
    • Simeon said this was so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed.
36. 2:36
    • There was a prophetess named Anna.
    • Anna was the daughter of Phanuel.
    • Anna was of the tribe of Asher.
    • Anna was advanced in many days.
    • Anna had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity.
37. 2:37
    • Anna was a widow of eighty-four years.
    • Anna did not depart from the temple.
    • Anna served with fastings and prayers.
    • Anna served night and day.
    • The Greek is ambiguous whether the eighty-four years is her age or the length of her widowhood; the King James reads it as her age as a widow.
38. 2:38
    • Anna came up at that very hour.
    • Anna gave thanks to God.
    • Anna spoke about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39. 2:39
    • They performed all things according to the law of the Lord.
    • They returned into Galilee.
    • They returned to their own city Nazareth.
40. 2:40
    • The child grew.
    • The child became strong.
    • The child was filled with wisdom.
    • The grace of God was upon him.
    • The King James says he waxed strong in spirit; the Greek says only that he became strong.
41. 2:41
    • His parents went to Jerusalem every year.
    • They went at the feast of the Passover.
42. 2:42
    • He became twelve years old.
    • They went up according to the custom of the feast.
43. 2:43
    • They fulfilled the days.
    • As they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
    • His parents did not know it.
    • The King James names them as Joseph and his mother; the Greek says his parents.
44. 2:44
    • They supposed him to be in the traveling company.
    • They went a day's journey.
    • They sought him among their relatives and acquaintances.
45. 2:45
    • They did not find him.
    • They turned back to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46. 2:46
    • After three days they found him in the temple.
    • He was sitting in the midst of the teachers.
    • He was listening to them.
    • He was asking them questions.
47. 2:47
    • All who heard him were astonished.
    • They were astonished at his understanding and his answers.
48. 2:48
    • When they saw him, they were amazed.
    • His mother asked him why he had dealt with them this way.
    • His mother said his father and she had been searching for him in distress.
49. 2:49
    • He asked them why they had been seeking him.
    • He asked whether they did not know that he must be in the things of his Father.
    • The Greek phrase can mean in his Father's house or about his Father's business; the King James renders it as his Father's business.
50. 2:50
    • They did not understand the saying he spoke to them.
51. 2:51
    • He went down with them.
    • He came to Nazareth.
    • He was subject to them.
    • His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52. 2:52
    • Jesus increased in wisdom.
    • Jesus increased in stature.
    • Jesus increased in favor with God and men.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

In 1611 English "taxed" meant enrolled on an official register, not charged money, though the point of such a register was taxation and manpower. "All the world" translates a phrase meaning the inhabited world, which in Roman usage meant the empire. Caesar Augustus ruled from 27 BC to AD 14.

2:2

Cyrenius is the KJV spelling of the Latin name Quirinius. Syria was the Roman province from which Judea was overseen. The registration under Quirinius is usually dated to AD 6, which is hard to square with the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC; the Greek of this verse can also be read as "this registration was before the one when Quirinius was governor," and the question is not settled.

2:3

Roman registrations were normally made where a person lived and held property. A requirement to register in the town of one's family line is unusual, and Luke does not explain it.

2:4

"Went up" is about elevation, not direction: Bethlehem lies south of Nazareth but in higher country, and one always "goes up" to Jerusalem. "City" in the KJV means any town, however small. Bethlehem was David's home town, about seventy miles from Nazareth, several days' walk.

2:5

"Espoused" means betrothed. A Jewish betrothal was a binding legal contract, not a modern engagement: the couple were already called husband and wife, and breaking it required a divorce, but they had not yet begun living together.

2:7

Swaddling was ordinary newborn care: the baby was wrapped snugly in long strips of cloth, which people believed helped the limbs grow straight. A manger is a feeding trough for animals; in village houses the animals were often kept in the lower part of the same dwelling. The word behind "inn" means a guest room or lodging place; Luke uses a different word for a commercial inn elsewhere.

2:8

"Country" here means the surrounding district, not a nation. These shepherds stayed out with the flock through the night rather than returning home, splitting the dark hours into watches.

2:9

"Sore afraid" is 1611 English for extremely frightened; "sore" is an intensifier meaning greatly, with no sense of soreness. "The glory of the Lord" renders a standing phrase from the Hebrew scriptures for the blazing visible brightness that marked God's presence.

2:10

"Tidings" simply means news. The verb behind "bring you good tidings" was also the ordinary word for a public herald's announcement about an emperor. "All people" translates "all the people," a phrase that in Greek usually means the people of Israel specifically, though it can be read more broadly.

2:11

"Christ" is not a surname but the Greek word for Anointed One, the exact equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. Kings and priests were installed by having oil poured on the head. "Saviour" means rescuer or deliverer, and was also a title given to Roman emperors.

2:12

"Sign" here means an identifying mark, the thing by which they would recognize the right baby, not a miracle.

2:13

"Host" in 1611 English means an army. "The heavenly host" is a military image: the massed ranks of heaven.

2:14

The Greek manuscripts differ by a single letter here. One reading gives "good will toward men"; the other gives "peace among people of good will," that is, people on whom God's favor rests. The earliest manuscripts mostly have the second.

2:17

"Made known abroad" means told the news all around town. It has nothing to do with foreign countries.

2:19

"Pondered" translates a word meaning to put things together, to turn events over and try to work out what they add up to.

2:21

Circumcision is the cutting away of the foreskin of a male child, commanded on the eighth day after birth as the bodily mark of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants. A boy was customarily named at the same ceremony. "Jesus" is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Joshua, which means "the LORD saves."

2:22

Under the law of Moses (Leviticus 12) a woman who had borne a son was ritually unclean for seven days and then waited thirty-three more before coming to the sanctuary, forty days in all. Ritually unclean means temporarily barred from sacred space, not sinful or dirty. Some manuscripts read "their purification" rather than "her purification."

2:23

The quotation is from Exodus 13. Every firstborn male, of people and of livestock, was counted as belonging to God, and a firstborn son was bought back from that claim by a payment to the priests. "Openeth the womb" means the mother's first child.

2:24

Leviticus 12 set the offering at a year-old lamb plus a bird, but allowed two birds instead if the family could not afford a lamb. The pair of birds is therefore the cheaper option. A turtledove is a small wild dove; the name has nothing to do with turtles.

2:25

"Just" here means upright, doing what is right, not a judge. "Devout" means careful about religious duty. "The consolation of Israel" was a set phrase for the comfort and restoration of the nation that prophets such as Isaiah had promised. "Holy Ghost" is not a spook: in 1611 "ghost" simply meant spirit.

2:26

"He should not see death" is a Hebrew way of saying he would not die. "The Lord's Christ" means the Lord's Anointed One.

2:27

"The temple" means the whole walled complex of courts in Jerusalem where ordinary worshipers gathered and met, not the inner sanctuary, which only priests entered.

2:29

The word translated "Lord" here is not the usual one; it is the word for a master who owns slaves. "Lettest thou thy servant depart" is the language of a master formally releasing a slave, or of a sentry being discharged from his post.

2:32

"Gentiles" is the KJV word for all peoples other than Israel.

2:33

Some manuscripts read "Joseph and his mother" here, as the KJV has it; others read "his father and his mother."

2:34

"Set for" means appointed or destined for. The Greek can be read as describing two groups, some falling and others rising, or as one sequence, a fall followed by a rise, for the same people; it is not resolved either way. "Spoken against" means contradicted or opposed.

2:35

The KJV puts this line in parentheses in the middle of the sentence; in the Greek the clause about the sword stands just before "that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed," so the two lines belong together. The word for sword means a large broad blade, not a small dagger.

2:36

A prophetess is a woman who speaks messages from God, a recognized role in Israel. "Aser" is the KJV spelling of Asher, one of the twelve tribes, settled in the far north. "From her virginity" means from when she was first married as a young unmarried woman.

2:37

"Fourscore" is eighty; a score is twenty. The Greek can mean either that she was eighty-four years old or that she had been a widow for eighty-four years. "Fastings" means going without food for set periods as a religious practice.

2:38

"Redemption" is a commercial word meaning buying back or ransoming, the term used for freeing a slave or a prisoner by payment. Applied to Jerusalem it means the liberation of the city and nation.

2:40

"Waxed strong" means grew strong; "wax" is the old opposite of "wane." The words "in spirit" are absent from the earliest manuscripts. "Grace" here means favor or kindness shown by God.

2:41

Passover was the yearly festival remembering Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt. It was one of three festivals at which Jewish men were expected to travel to Jerusalem, and it ran into the week-long feast of Unleavened Bread.

2:42

Twelve was near the age at which a Jewish boy began to be held responsible for keeping the law himself; the formal coming-of-age ceremony known later as bar mitzvah did not yet exist.

2:43

"When they had fulfilled the days" means once the festival days, normally about a week, were over. "Tarried behind" means stayed behind.

2:44

"The company" is the caravan. Whole villages traveled to and from Jerusalem together for safety, so a child could easily be assumed to be somewhere else in the group. "Kinsfolk" means relatives; "acquaintance" means the people they knew.

2:46

"Doctors" here means teachers, the scholars who taught and interpreted the law; it has nothing to do with medicine. "After three days" most likely counts from their leaving Jerusalem: a day out, a day back, and the day they found him.

2:48

"Why hast thou thus dealt with us" means why have you done this to us. Mary saying "thy father and I" is ordinary family speech about Joseph, which is what makes Jesus' reply in the next verse a pointed correction.

2:49

"Wist ye not" means did you not know; "wist" is the past tense of an old English verb for knowing. The Greek says literally "in the ... of my Father," leaving the noun out, so it can mean either "in my Father's house" or "busy with my Father's affairs." The KJV takes the second; both readings are possible.

2:51

"Was subject unto them" means he placed himself under their authority and obeyed them.

2:52

"Stature" means bodily height, though the Greek word can also mean length of life, that is, age. "Favour" means good regard and standing.