Luke 24:52–53 NET
24:52 So133 they worshiped134 him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,135 24:53 and were continually in the temple courts136 blessing137 God.138
133 | tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of Jesus’ ascension and the concluding summary of Luke’s Gospel. |
134 | tc The reference to worship is lacking in the Western ms D, its last major omission in this Gospel. |
135 | sn Joy is another key theme for Luke: 1:14; 2:10; 8:13; 10:17; 15:7, 10; 24:41. |
136 | tn Grk “in the temple.”sn Luke’s gospel story proper ends where it began, in the temple courts (Luke 1:4–22). The conclusion is open-ended, because the story continues in Acts with what happened from Jerusalem onwards, once the promise of the Father (v. 49) came. |
137 | tc The Western text (D it) has αἰνοῦντες (ainountes, “praising”) here, while the Alexandrian mss (𝔓75 א B C* L) have εὐλογοῦντες (eulogountes, “blessing”). Most mss, especially the later Byzantine mss, evidently combine these two readings with αἰνοῦντες καὶ εὐλογοῦντες (A C2 W Θ Ψ f1, 13 33 𝔐 lat). It is more difficult to decide between the two earlier readings. Internal arguments can go either way, but what seems decisive in this instance are the superior witnesses for εὐλογοῦντες. |
138 | tc The majority of Greek mss, some of which are important witnesses (A B C2 Θ Ψ f13 𝔐 lat), add “Amen” to note the Gospel’s end. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, since significant witnesses lack the word (𝔓75 א C* D L W 1 33 pc it co), it is evidently not original. |