Luke 2:46

Luke 2:46 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
• New International Version (NIV)After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
• English Standard Version (ESV)After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

Context of Luke 2:46

44They thought that he was with their group on the way home. They travelled for a whole day. Then they began to look for him among their family and friends. 45They could not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem. They looked for him there. After three days, they found him in the temple. He was sitting there among the teachers. He was listening to what they were saying. He was also asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard Jesus was very surprised. He understood so many things and he could answer difficult questions. 48When his parents saw him there, they were also very surprised. His mother said to him, ‘My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have looked everywhere for you. We have had a lot of troubles in our mind.’

Luke 2:46 word by word

καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ ἡμέρας τρεῖς εὗρον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων καὶ ἀκούοντα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπερωτῶντα αὐτούς.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Andκαίkai · andG2532
• it came to passγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• that afterμετάmeta · with/afterG3326
• threeτρεῖςtreis tria · ThreeG5140
• daysἡμέραhēmera · dayG2250
• they foundεὑρίσκωheuriskō · to find/meetG2147
• himαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• the templeὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the templeἱερόνhieron · templeG2411
• sittingκαθέζομαιkathezomai · to sit downG2516
• the midstμέσοςmesos · midstG3319
• of the doctorsδιδάσκαλοςdidaskalos · teacherG1320
• hearingἀκούωakouō · to hearG191
• askingἐπερωτάωeperōtaō · to questionG1905

Cross-references for Luke 2:46

• Luke 2:44They thought that he was with their group on the way home. They travelled for a whole day. Then they began to look for him among their family and friends.
• 1 Kings 12:5Rehoboam answered them, ‘Go away for three days. Then come back to me.’ So the people went away.
• Matthew 12:40Jonah stayed inside a big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will remain in the ground for three days and three nights.
• Matthew 16:21After this, Jesus began to explain everything to his disciples. He told them, ‘I must go to Jerusalem. There, I will suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests, and the teachers of God's Law will hurt me. Then people will kill me. But three days later, God will cause me to become alive again.’
• Matthew 27:63They said to him, ‘Sir, that man told lies. When he was still living, he said, “Three days after I die, I will become alive again.” We know that is what he said.
• Luke 5:17One day, while Jesus was teaching in someone's house, many people were sitting there. Some of them were Pharisees. Other people were teachers of God's Law. They had come from many villages in Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there with Jesus to make sick people well.
• Acts 5:34But one man did not agree. He was called Gamaliel and he was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. All the people agreed that he was a good man. Gamaliel stood up in front of the group of Jewish leaders. He told the police to take the apostles out of the room.
• Isaiah 49:1Listen to me, you islands. Listen carefully, you people who live far away. The Lord called me to serve him before I was born. Before my mother gave birth, he used my name to speak to me.
• Isaiah 50:4‘The Almighty Lord has given his message to me, his servant. I speak it on his behalf. I know what to say to help weak and tired people. The Lord wakes me up every morning so that I can learn something. I listen carefully to him, as a student listens to his teacher.

Commentaries on Luke 2:46

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 46Sitting in the midst of the doctors - The rabbins, who were explaining the law and the ceremonies of the Jewish religion to their disciples. Asking them questions - Not as a scholar asks his teacher, to be informed; but as a teacher, who proposes questions to his scholars in order to take an occasion to instruct them. In the time of Josephus, the Jewish teachers were either very ignorant or very humble: for he tells us that, "when he was about fourteen…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 46After three days - This means, probably, “on the third day” after they had left Jerusalem - that is, the first day they went toward Galilee, on the second they returned to Jerusalem, and on the third they found him. Compare Matthew 27:63; Mark 8:31. In the temple - In the “court” of the temple, for Jesus, not being a Levitical priest, could not enter into the temple itself. See Matthew 21:12. In the midst of the doctors - The “teachers,” the “rabbis,” who…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 41-52Verses 41-52 It is for the honour of Christ that children should attend on public worship. His parents did not return till they had stayed all the seven days of the feast. It is well to stay to the end of an ordinance, as becomes those who say, It is good to be here. Those that have lost their comforts in Christ, and the evidences of their having a part in him, must bethink themselves where, and when, and how they lost them, and must turn back again…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 46The three days likely included one day traveling from Jerusalem, one day traveling back, and one day searching. • in the temple courts: He was in the temple complex, not the sanctuary. • listening to them and asking them questions: Jesus was acting like a student. In rabbinic teaching (the teaching methods of Jewish teachers), a teacher often answered a student’s question by asking more questions. Jesus asked wise questions and gave wise answers, and this…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 45-4645-46. After three sorrowing days, they find Him still in Jerusalem, not gazing on its architecture, or surveying its forms of busy life, but in the temple--not the "sanctuary" (as in Lu 1:9), to which only the priests had access, but in some one of the enclosures around it, where the rabbins, or "doctors," taught their scholars.Read the comment

Topics related to Luke 2:46

• Children
• Doctor
• Jesus, the Christ
• Joseph
• Passover
• Temple

In the dictionaries

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Commentaries on Luke 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings