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Luke 03 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULB does this with the poetry in 3:4-6, which are words from the OT.
Special concepts in this chapter
How people who want to please God should live
John told all the people that they were to share what they had with poor people, and he told those who had the power to take money by force not to do it,
Genealogy
A genealogy is a list that records a person's ancestors or descendants. Jews used genealogies to choose the right man to become king. They did this because only a son of a king could become king. Most important people had records of their genealogies.
Important figures of speech in this chapter
Metaphors
Luke took words that Isaiah the prophet had written long ago and applied them to John. Isaiah had told the people of Israel to prepare for God to save them. He did this by speaking to them as if they were people making a good, straight road for a king to travel by cutting down the high places and filling in the low places. Luke used Isaiah's words so the reader would understand that John was telling the Jews to repent so God could save them.
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Telling events out of order
While John was exhorting and preaching to the people (Luke 3:1-18), he also baptized Jesus (Luke 3:21-22), and he also reproved Herod for marrying his brother's wife (Luke 3:19), After John had baptized Jesus, Herod locked John in prison (Luke 3:20). Luke did not say whether Jesus began his ministry (Luke 3:23) before or after Herod had put John in prison.