Translation commentary on Luke 2:38

Exegesis:

kai autē tē hōra ‘and at that very hour,’ i.e. at the time that Jesus was presented in the temple by his parents, stronger than ‘at that time’ and suggesting that the meeting with Anna was more than just a coincidence.

epistasa anthōmologeito tō theō ‘after coming up, she returned thanks to God.’ epistasa expresses an action which precedes the action of the main verb, and is to be connected with autē tē hōra. For ephistēmi cf. on v. 9. Here it suggests the idea of approaching somebody.

anthomologeomai ‘to return praise,’ ‘to thank’; anti brings out that she thanked God in return for what He had done, i.e. the birth of the Messiah.

kai elalei peri autou ‘and she spoke about him.’ The imperfect tense has durative meaning, and suggests that she spoke about Jesus till long afterwards. autou refers to the child.

pasin tois prosdechomenois lutrōsin Ierousalēm ‘to all who were expecting the redemption of Jerusalem.’ In Old Testament passages referring to Messianic redemption, Jerusalem often represents all Israel, cf. Is. 40.2; Zeph. 3.14-20; Zech. 9.9f. For lutrōsis cf. on 1.68.

Translation:

Coming up, or, ‘coming near,’ or, co-ordinating the clause and specifying the participants, ‘she came (to) stand on their side’ (Sranan Tongo).

She gave thanks to God. Some languages can use a rendering built on their normal expression for ‘Thank(fulness),’ for which see on “ungrateful” in 6.35; other languages (e.g. Bahasa Indonesia) use a specific term for thank offered to God, or say, ‘she praised God’ (Bible de Jérusalem, Tae’), ‘she praised God for his gift/deed, or, for that child’ (Tboli).

Spoke of him (or, ‘the child’), or, ‘kept on talking about him’ (Ekari).

Redemption of Jerusalem, or, ‘(God’s) redeeming (lit. action redeem) Jerusalem’ (Thai), ‘that Jerusalem would be made free,’ ‘the time that God would pull Jerusalem from its distress’ (Sranan Tongo). For redemption see references on “redeemed” in 1.68.

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

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