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 the others who were traveling with them. After traveling for a day, they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. Three days later, they found him in the temple courtyard. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. 47His understanding and his answers stunned everyone who heard him. 48When his parents saw him, they were shocked. His mother asked him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been worried sick looking for you!”

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 the others who were traveling with them. After traveling for a day, they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.
• 1 Kings 12:5He said to them, “Leave and come back the day after tomorrow.” So the people left.
• Matthew 12:40Just as Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
• Matthew 16:21From that time on Jesus began to inform his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem. There he would have to suffer a lot because of the leaders, the chief priests, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be brought back to life.
• Matthew 27:63They said, “Sir, we remember how that deceiver said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be brought back to life.’
• Luke 5:17One day when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in Moses’ Teachings were present. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. Jesus had the power of the Lord to heal.
• Acts 5:34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up. He was a highly respected expert in Moses’ Teachings. He ordered that the apostles should be taken outside for a little while.
• Isaiah 49:1Listen to me, you islands. Pay attention, you people far away. Before I was born, the Lord chose me. While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name.
• Isaiah 50:4The Almighty Lord will teach me what to say, so I will know how to encourage weary people. Morning after morning he will wake me to listen like a student.

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

• Consolation
• Decree
• Depart
• Devout
• Doctor
• Glory
• Inn
• Lighten
• Mary
• Pair

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