Footnotes

1. Luke 24:50 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
2. Luke 24:50 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3. Luke 24:50 sn Bethany was village on the Mount of Olives about 2 mi (3 km) from Jerusalem; see John 11:1, 18.
4. Luke 24:51 tn Grk “And it happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
5. Luke 24:51 tn Grk “while he blessed them.”
6. Luke 24:51 tn Grk “he departed from them.”
7. Luke 24:51 tc The reference to the ascension (“and was taken up into heaven”) is lacking in א* D it sy^s, but it is found in P⁷⁵ and the rest of the ms tradition. The authenticity of the statement here seems to be presupposed in Acts 1:2, for otherwise it is difficult to account for Luke’s reference to the ascension there. For a helpful discussion, see TCGNT 162-63.tn For the translation of ἀνεφέρετο (anephereto) as “was taken up” see BDAG 75 s.v. ἀναφέρω 1.sn There is great debate whether this event equals Acts 1:9-11 so that Luke has telescoped something here that he describes in more detail later. The text can be read in this way because the temporal marker in v. 50 is vague.
8. Luke 24:52 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of Jesus’ ascension and the concluding summary of Luke’s Gospel.
9. Luke 24:52 tc The reference to worship is lacking in the Western ms D, its last major omission in this Gospel.
10. Luke 24:52 sn Joy is another key theme for Luke: 1:14; 2:10; 8:13; 10:17; 15:7, 10; 24:41.
11. Luke 24:53 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.
12. Luke 24:53 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 ƒ^1,13 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.
13. Luke 24:53 tc The majority of Greek mss, some of which are significant witnesses (A B C² Θ Ψ ƒ¹³ 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 it co), it is evidently not original.