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

44but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard Jesus were astonished at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”

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 2:44but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
• 1 Kings 12:5He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
• Matthew 12:40For just as Jonah was in the belly of the 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 show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
• Matthew 27:63and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
• Luke 5:17Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
• Acts 5:34But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.
• Isaiah 49:1Listen to me, you coastlands! Pay attention, you people who live far away! The Lord summoned me from birth; he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.
• Isaiah 50:4The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, so that I know how to help the weary. He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do.

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