The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke2:21–24

Jesus Presented at the Temple

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Luke 2:21–24 — Jesus Presented at the Temple. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

21

When the eight days before His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hote oktō hēmerai tou auton peritemein eplēsthēsan kai eklēthē Iēsous autou to onoma to hypo tou angelou klēthen pro auton tou syllēmphthēnai en tē koilia

Word by word26 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτεhoteWhenG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
ὀκτὼoktō[the] eightG3638
√ ὀκτώ — "eight"AdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
oktō: eight The number is the Law's, not Luke's: Genesis 17:12 and Leviticus 12:3 fix the eighth day, and Poole, Barnes, Gill and Cambridge all send the reader to those texts rather than to custom.
ἡμέραιhēmeraidaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day Nominative plural, the subject of the passive verb: the days themselves are what get filled.
τοῦtoubeforeG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
αὐτόνautonHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
περιτεμεῖνperitemeincircumcisionG4059
√ περιτέμνω — to cut around, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
peritemnō: to cut around, circumcise The single Gospel mention of the circumcision of Jesus, and it is a subordinate clause. Benson reads it as the badge of a child of Abraham which “obliged him to keep the whole law”; JFB presses the same logic from Galatians 5:3, that the circumcised man is debtor to do the whole law, so that the cutting is a sworn bond in His own flesh. Cambridge and Pulpit both observe how brief this notice is beside the fuller account of John's circumcision at Luke 1:59.
ἐπλήσθησανeplēsthēsanhad passedG4130
√ πλήθω — to "fill" (literally or figuratively (imbue, influence, supply))VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
plēthō: to fill, complete Aorist passive: the eight days “were filled.” The same form governs v. 22. Luke is writing the infancy in legal measures that come to their fullness, which is the same vocabulary of fullness that Galatians 4:4 uses of the sending of the Son.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκλήθηeklēthēHe was namedG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call Aorist passive, subject unstated. The naming is reported as something done to Him, matching the angel's prior word at Luke 1:31 rather than any parental choice. Cambridge notes that the name was bestowed at circumcision, as with us at baptism.
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Iēsous: Jesus Greek for Yeshua, “the LORD saves.” JFB fastens on the timing: the name Saviour is spoken over Him in the very act that seals Him to the whole Law, so that the obedience the rite pledges is a redeeming obedience. Geneva says the same in covenantal terms, that the name of Jesus declares deliverance from the curse of the Law.
αὐτοῦautouG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὄνομαonomanameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounNominative Neuter Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὑπὸhypoG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀγγέλουangelouangelG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
angelos: messenger, angel Genitive of agent under ὑπὸ: the name came from Gabriel (Luke 1:31), not from the family.
κληθὲνklēthenhad given [Him]G2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
πρὸprobeforeG4253
√ πρό — "fore", iPreposition
αὐτὸνautonHeG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
συλλημφθῆναιsyllēmphthēnaiwas conceivedG4815
√ συλλαμβάνω — to clasp, iVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
syllambanō: to conceive, take together The Name precedes the conception, so the identity precedes the humanity assumed. Poole gathers the Old Testament company of those named before birth (Isaac, Ishmael, Josiah, Cyrus) and Gill records the rabbinic list of six; in both lists the point is the same, that the naming is a divine claim staked in advance.
ἐνen. . .G1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtē. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
κοιλίᾳkoilia. . .G2836
√ κοιλία — a cavity, iNounDative Feminine Singular
koilia: cavity, womb The womb of Mary, named plainly. The word differs from μήτρα in v. 23, which is the Law's term.
22

And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hote hai hēmerai tou autōn katharismou kata ton nomon Mōuseōs eplēsthēsan anēgagon auton eis Hierosolyma parastēsai tō Kyriō

Word by word19 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτεhotewhenG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
αἱhaitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιhēmeraitimeG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day Forty days for a male child (seven plus thirty-three), as Benson, Barnes, Poole, JFB, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all set out from Leviticus 12:2-4; eighty for a daughter.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
αὐτῶνautōnG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
autos: he, self (genitive plural) The contested pronoun. Cambridge: the uncials read “their.” Gill records the versions that agree and offers the reading that both mother and child came under the law of purification, while conceding neither had any impurity. This is a real textual and theological seam and the tool does not pretend it is settled.
καθαρισμοῦkatharismoupurificationG2512
√ καθαρισμός — a washing off, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
katharismos: a cleansing, purification A rare word, eight occurrences in the Greek New Testament (the Verifier finds it in seven other verses). Luke uses it here of the Levitical rite; Hebrews 1:3 uses it of what the Son accomplished for sins before sitting down. The same noun therefore stands over the mother's pigeons and over the cross, which is a verbal link the English “purification” keeps but the reader rarely notices.
κατὰkataaccording toG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
νόμονnomonLawG3551
√ νόμος — law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), genitive case (regulation), specially, (of Moses (including the volume)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
nomos: law Accusative under κατά: the family's movement is measured against the standard of Moses. Luke names the Law five times in these four verses (vv. 22, 23, 24), which is the densest concentration of the word in his infancy narrative.
ΜωϋσέωςMōuseōsof MosesG3475
√ Μωσεύς — Moseus, Moses, or Mouses (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐπλήσθησανeplēsthēsanwas completeG4130
√ πλήθω — to "fill" (literally or figuratively (imbue, influence, supply))VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
ἀνήγαγονanēgagon[His parents] broughtG321
√ ἀνάγω — to lead upVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
anagō: to lead up Third plural with no stated subject; Benson argues from the six miles between Bethlehem and Jerusalem that they waited out the forty days in Bethlehem and went straight up, and Benson also notes that Luke reports the presentation before the sacrifice though in fact the purification had to precede it, since until it was done the mother could not enter.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
παραστῆσαιparastēsaito present [Him]G3936
√ παρίστημι — to stand beside, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
paristēmi: to stand beside, present The verb of the whole scene. Ellicott hears in it the surviving witness to the priesthood of the firstborn, a dedicated life owed to God even after Aaron's sons had taken over the function; JFB, following Lightfoot, locates the act at the east gate called Nicanor's, where the mother was sprinkled with the blood of her sacrifice, and Gill independently names the same gate from the Mishnah (Sota 1.5).
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΚυρίῳKyriōLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounDative Masculine Singular
kyrios: lord, master Dative of the one to whom He is presented. Gill sees here the first coming of the Lord to His temple foretold at Malachi 3:1, which means the One presented and the One to whom He is presented bear the same title in the same verse.
23

(as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”),

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kathōs gegraptai en nomō Kyriou hoti Pan dianoigon mētran arsen klēthēsetai hagion tō Kyriō

Word by word14 · parsed
καθὼςkathōs(asG2531
√ καθώς — just (or inasmuch) as, thatAdverb
γέγραπταιgegraptaiit is writtenG1125
√ γράφω — to "grave", especially to writeVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
graphō: to write, engrave The perfect passive citation formula. Barnes gives the source in two words, Exodus 13:2; Gill quotes it at length and adds Exodus 13:12; Cambridge stacks Exodus 13:2, Exodus 22:29, Exodus 34:19, Numbers 3:13 and Numbers 18:15-16.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
νόμῳnomō[the] LawG3551
√ νόμος — law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), genitive case (regulation), specially, (of Moses (including the volume)NounDative Masculine Singular
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
kyrios: lord “Law of the Lord,” where v. 22 said “Law of Moses.” Luke sets the two genitives side by side in consecutive verses without comment.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ΠᾶνPanEveryG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
διανοῖγονdianoigonfirstbornG1272
√ διανοίγω — to open thoroughly, literally (as a first-born) or figuratively (to expound)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Singular
dianoigō: to open thoroughly Rare in the New Testament (the Verifier finds it in eight other verses). Luke owns most of them, and he uses it for what God opens: the eyes at Emmaus, the Scriptures, the mind, and at Acts 16:14 the heart of Lydia. Here it is the Law's physical sense of opening the womb. The one verb runs from the first opening of a body to the opening of a understanding, which is a Lukan habit worth watching rather than a doctrine to be built on.
μήτρανmētran. . .G3388
√ μήτρα — the matrixNounAccusative Feminine Singular
mētra: the matrix, womb The rarest word in the unit: two occurrences in the Greek New Testament. Its only other home is Romans 4:19, of the deadness of Sarah's womb. The Law's word for the womb that opens is used elsewhere only of the womb that could not.
ἄρσενarsenmaleG730
√ ἄῤῥην — male (as stronger for lifting)NounNominative Neuter Singular
κληθήσεταιklēthēsetaishall be consecratedG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
kaleō: to call Future passive. The Law's verdict is spoken, not achieved: the firstborn is called holy, and then redeemed with money. Gill notes the five shekels paid for this firstborn and draws the obvious irony, that a redemption price was paid for the Redeemer.
ἅγιονhagion. . .G40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
hagios: sacred, set apart Barnes reads “holy to the Lord” as an office rather than a moral quality, the priesthood of the firstborn that fell to the eldest son and was later transferred to the tribe of Levi (Numbers 8:13-18); JFB grounds the claim in the passover night, the firstborn of Israel spared through the sprinkled blood (Exodus 13:2). Both senses stand behind Luke's citation: this child is claimed as one spared by blood, and He is presented by a mother too poor to bring a lamb.
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΚυρίῳKyriōLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounDative Masculine Singular
24

and to offer the sacrifice specified in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai tou dounai thysian kata to eirēmenon en tō nomō Kyriou Zeugos trygonōn ē dyo nossous peristerōn

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
δοῦναιdounaito offerG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
didōmi: to give Articular infinitive continuing the purpose of v. 22: they went up to present Him and to give this.
θυσίανthysian[the] sacrificeG2378
√ θυσία — sacrifice (the act or the victim, literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
thysia: sacrifice Singular, though two birds are named, because Leviticus 12:6-8 treats the pair as one prescribed offering with two distinct functions. Barnes, Poole, JFB, Gill and Ellicott all spell out the division: one bird for the burnt offering, one for the sin offering, and no lamb, the lamb being what the poor may not reach. Gill draws the sharp consequence that the virgin offered a sin offering for herself, being ceremonially unclean, and every commentator here is careful to say ceremonially and no more. The point Luke leaves standing without comment is that a sin offering was burned on the day this particular child was carried into the court.
κατὰkatavvvG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
τὸtovvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
εἰρημένονeirēmenonspecifiedG2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ereō: to speak, say Perfect passive participle: what has been spoken stands spoken. Luke marks both citations in this unit as still-standing utterance, one written (v. 23) and one spoken (v. 24).
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
νόμῳnomōLawG3551
√ νόμος — law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), genitive case (regulation), specially, (of Moses (including the volume)NounDative Masculine Singular
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΖεῦγοςZeugosA pairG2201
√ ζεῦγος — a couple, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
zeugos: a yoke, matched pair The whole economic argument of the unit hangs on this word. Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill and Pulpit all read the substituted pair as proof of poverty; Pulpit puts it most sharply, that they would never have put the sanctuary off with the humbler gift had the richer been in their power. The provision is not a concession invented by mercy after the fact: Leviticus 12:8 writes the poor woman's offering into the Law itself, so the mother of the Messiah is met by a clause the Law had already made for people like her.
τρυγόνωνtrygonōnof turtledovesG5167
√ τρυγών — akin to G5149 (τρίζω), but denoting a duller sound)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
trygōn: turtledove Named, Barnes notes, for its plaintive and tender voice.
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
νοσσοὺςnossousyoungG3502
√ νεοσσός — a youngling (nestling)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
neossos: a nestling The cheapest permissible victim in the Levitical system.
περιστερῶνperisterōnpigeonsG4058
√ περιστερά — a pigeonNounGenitive Feminine Plural
peristera: pigeon, dove The same bird that will descend at His baptism (Luke 3:22). The tool notes the recurrence without claiming Luke intends it.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The eighth day: a verb, a blade, and a Name — Luke 2:21

Luke gives the circumcision of Jesus one subordinate clause. Cambridge and Pulpit both feel the disproportion: the rite that filled Luke 1:59-66 with neighbours and argument is here a bare date, and Cambridge closes its note with the line that in John the rite “solemnised its last glories.” Ellicott sharpens the contrast socially: no friends and neighbours, only two poor strangers in a city far from home. What Luke does spend words on is the Name. The Greek is passive throughout: the days ἐπλήσθησαν (were filled), He ἐκλήθη (was called), the name κληθὲν (having been called) by the angel πρὸ τοῦ συλλημφθῆναι, before the conceiving. Poole lists the company of those named before birth (Isaac, Ishmael, Josiah, Cyrus, John) and draws from it the certainty of future contingencies to God; Gill adds the rabbinic list of six, the Messiah among them. JFB alone presses the collision of the two facts: the name Saviour is pronounced in the act of circumcising, and since the circumcised man is debtor to do the whole Law (Galatians 5:3), the Child carries in His flesh the seal of a voluntary obligation, which JFB calls a redeeming obedience. Geneva says the same in covenantal shorthand, that Christ is made subject to the Law to deliver us from its curse. Benson is soberer and worth keeping beside them: the rite made Him visibly a son of Abraham, entitled to the privileges and bound to the duties of the covenant.

ii. Days filled and a going up: the family under the Law of Moses — Luke 2:22

The same verb returns. Eight days were filled; now the days of purification are filled, forty for a male child by Leviticus 12:2-4, as Benson, Barnes, Poole, JFB, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all lay out with unusual unanimity. Gill goes further and quotes Maimonides that the offering came on the forty-first day, after sunset of the fortieth. The pronoun is the seam: αὐτῶν, “their purification.” Cambridge states that all the uncials read it and that the Received Text's “her” is almost unsupported; JFB grants the manuscripts and then insists that only the mother needed purifying; Gill takes the plural at face value and reasons that Jesus, made sin for His people, came under the law of purification too, while insisting He had no impurity in His nature. The tool does not adjudicate. Then ἀνήγαγον, they led Him up, and παραστῆσαι, to stand Him beside the Lord. Ellicott hears in the presentation the surviving witness to the priesthood of the firstborn, a dedicated life still owed even after Aaron's sons had taken the office; Barnes traces the same office from father to eldest son to the tribe of Levi (Numbers 8:13-18). JFB, on Lightfoot's authority, and Gill, from Mishnah Sota 1.5, independently place the scene at the east gate called Nicanor's, where suspected wives were made to drink and new mothers were purified.

iii. Two citations: the Law claims Him, and the Law makes room for the poor — Luke 2:23-24

Luke cites the Law twice and marks both: γέγραπται, it stands written (v. 23), and τὸ εἰρημένον, the thing that stands spoken (v. 24). The first is Exodus 13:2, as Barnes says in two words and Gill at length; Cambridge widens it to Exodus 22:29, Exodus 34:19, Numbers 3:13 and Numbers 18:15-16. The Greek is not “firstborn” but πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἄρσεν, every male thing opening a womb, and the verdict is ἅγιον κληθήσεται, it shall be called holy, the same verb used of the naming of Jesus eight verses of Law and two verses of narrative earlier. JFB traces the claim to the passover night, the firstborn of Israel spared through sprinkled blood; Gill notes the five shekels actually paid, and cannot resist the point that a redemption price was paid for the Redeemer, and adds the halakhic aside (Maimonides, Hilchot Bikkurim 11.10) that a mother of Levitical descent would have exempted her son, which tells us Mary was not of Levi despite her kinship with Elisabeth. The second citation is Leviticus 12:8, and every commentator in this brief reads it the same way. Ellicott: another indication of poverty. JFB: poor circumstances, though not abject, since flour was the lower rung still. Barnes turns it pastoral, that our Saviour by coming in a state of poverty has shown it is not dishonourable to be poor. Pulpit is the sharpest: they would never have put the sanctuary off with the humbler gift had the richer been in their power. Cambridge, citing Tristram, notices the ornithological tenderness of the clause, that migratory turtledoves are not always to be had and old pigeons are hard to catch, so the Law names nestlings.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read only from the text, three passives govern this unit and one active verb breaks them. The days were filled, the child was called, the name had been called by the angel, the firstborn shall be called holy, the offering has been spoken in the Law. Nobody in the scene originates anything; Joseph and Mary do what has already been said. The one thing they actively do is ἀνήγαγον and δοῦναι, they carry Him up and they give. And what they give is the clause for people who cannot afford the clause above it. That is the reading offered here to be tested: Luke has arranged these four verses so that the Law speaks and the family obeys, and at the exact point where obedience would cost more than they have, the Law itself has already written down a cheaper way. The mother of the Messiah is not excused from the Law and is not crushed by it; she is met by a provision Moses made for the poor four hundred years before there was anyone poor enough to need it in this particular temple courtyard. Gill's irony holds, that five shekels were paid to redeem the Redeemer; the tool adds only this, that the pair of birds is the Law's own admission that it could not be kept by everyone at full price, and that admission is standing in the court on the day the One who will keep it fully is carried in.

The Law that claimed Him had already written down a cheaper way for the people who could not afford it (a machine reading, not a verse).

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The womb that opens and the womb that could not verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The Law's term in Luke's citation is μήτραν (mētra, G3388), and it is the rarest word in this unit: the Verifier finds it in only two verses of the Greek New Testament. Its one other home is Romans 4:19, where Paul says Abraham considered the deadness of Sarah's womb and did not waver. So the single Greek noun that names the womb the firstborn opens is used elsewhere only of the womb that opened nothing until God spoke. Luke reaches the word by quoting Exodus 13:2 and Paul reaches it by telling the story of the promise that made the covenant people possible at all. The tool claims the shared lexeme, not a shared intention; Luke shows no sign of alluding to Paul.

Romans 4:19

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3388 μήτρα, in 2 verses only, the rarest possible shared lexeme in the Greek New Testament; both refs are New Testament, so the shared Strong's number is a real verbal basis. No quotation is claimed between the two texts.

Luke quotes Exodus: every male that opens the womb structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke marks this himself with καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν νόμῳ Κυρίου. The source is Exodus 13:2, given in two words by Barnes and at length by Gill, who also supplies Exodus 13:12; Cambridge widens the base to Exodus 22:29, Exodus 34:19, Numbers 3:13 and Numbers 18:15-16, the last of which fixes the five shekel redemption price. JFB grounds the claim historically in the passover, the firstborn of Israel spared through sprinkled blood, and in the substitution of the whole tribe of Levi (Numbers 3:11-38, 3:44-47). This is the clearest citation in the unit and the commentators are unanimous on its address.

Exodus 13:2 · Exodus 13:12-15 · Numbers 3:13 · Numbers 18:15-16

basis: Luke explicitly quotes the Law of Moses here, so the link is verbal in substance. The refs cross the Testaments (Greek Luke to Hebrew Exodus and Numbers), so no shared Strong's number can be computed and the cross-Testament rule forbids a verbal tier; recorded instead as structural on the citation formula γέγραπται plus the named source given by Barnes, Gill, JFB and Cambridge.

The poor woman's clause: Leviticus 12 and the pair of birds structural / thematic: confirmed

The second citation, marked κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, is Leviticus 12:8. The full ordinance (Leviticus 12:2-8) prescribes a yearling lamb for the burnt offering and a bird for the sin offering; verse 8 provides that if she cannot reach a lamb she brings two birds instead. Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, JFB, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all read Luke's clause as evidence that Joseph and Mary were poor, JFB adding that they were not in abject poverty since a portion of fine flour was the rung below (Leviticus 5:7-11). What the tool would add: the concession is not mercy improvised around the Law, it is written into the Law, and Luke cites the concession clause rather than the main provision.

Leviticus 12:2-8 · Leviticus 12:8

basis: Luke quotes the Law (Leviticus 12:8) word for word in substance, but the refs cross the Testaments (Greek Luke to Hebrew Leviticus), so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable and the cross-Testament rule forbids a verbal tier. Recorded on the explicit citation formula plus the unanimous identification of Leviticus 12:6-8 by Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, JFB, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit.

The eighth day: Genesis 17 and Leviticus 12:3 structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke does not cite a text for the eighth day, he simply counts to it; but the count is the Law's. Barnes gives Genesis 17:12 alone, Poole gives Genesis 17:12 with Leviticus 12:3 and adds the covenant word of Genesis 17:10 that every male child among you shall be circumcised, Gill cites the original institution at Genesis 17:12, and Cambridge the same. The naming at circumcision, Cambridge notes, is custom rather than statute, paralleled among Greeks and Romans by the genethlia and nominalia on the eighth or ninth day.

Genesis 17:10-12 · Leviticus 12:3

basis: No quotation in Luke's text, only the counted date, so the basis is the shared legal institution named by Barnes, Poole, Gill and Cambridge. Cross-Testament refs preclude shared Strong's numbers and therefore a verbal tier.

καθαρισμός: the mother's purifying and the Son's verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ καθαρισμοῦ (katharismos, G2512) is rare, found by the Verifier in seven other verses. Mark 1:44 and Luke 5:14 use it of the cleansed leper's offering commanded by Moses, John 2:6 of the water jars for Jewish purifying, John 3:25 of a dispute about purifying, and Hebrews 1:3 of the Son having made purification for sins before He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. The same noun therefore covers the two birds a poor woman gave in the temple court and the finished work Hebrews sets at the far end of the story. The tool records the lexical link and no more: Hebrews is not quoting Luke and Luke is not anticipating Hebrews.

Hebrews 1:3 · Mark 1:44 · Luke 5:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2512 καθαρισμός, in 7 verses, a rare lexeme; all refs are New Testament so the shared Strong's number is a valid verbal basis. The link is lexical recurrence, not quotation, and the basis claims nothing more.

The male child claimed: ἄρσεν from the Law to the Apocalypse typological

⚙ ἄρσεν (arsen, G730) is rare, in seven other verses by the Verifier's count, and its distribution is striking. Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6 use it of male and female made at the beginning; Galatians 3:28 abolishes the distinction in Christ; Revelation 12:5 and 12:13 use it of the male child born of the woman and caught up to God and to His throne. Luke 2:23 stands at the hinge: the male who opens the womb is called holy to the Lord. Reading Revelation 12 as the same child is a figural move, ancient in the church and contested in detail (the woman has been read as Israel, as the church and as Mary), so the tool marks it typological and not verbal in intent even though the lexeme is genuinely shared.

Revelation 12:5 · Galatians 3:28

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G730 ἄῤῥην, in 7 verses (rare), all refs New Testament. The lexeme is a real verbal datum, but the reading that joins Luke's presented male child to the male child of Revelation 12 is figural, widely held in the ancient church and disputed in its referent, so the tier is set to typological rather than verbal.

διανοίγω: the opened womb and the opened heart structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The Law's participle in Luke's citation is διανοῖγον (dianoigō, G1272), found by the Verifier in eight other verses, most of them Luke's own. Luke uses the verb of what God opens: at Acts 16:14 the Lord opened Lydia's heart to attend. Here it is the plainly physical opening of a womb that puts a male child under God's claim. The recurrence is a Lukan habit of vocabulary; the tool notes it and declines to build a doctrine on the pun.

Acts 16:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1272 διανοίγω, in 8 verses (rare), both refs New Testament, so a verbal tier would be permitted. Downgraded deliberately: the two uses are in different semantic domains (physical opening of the womb versus God opening a heart) and neither text quotes or alludes to the other, so the honest claim is shared vocabulary within a Lukan pattern.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Lawgiver brought under the Law ancient/widely-held

The reading is apostolic before it is patristic: Galatians 4:4-5, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem those under the Law. Ellicott hears Paul's phrase behind this very narrative and suspects Paul learned it from Luke; Poole quotes it and adds that He was indeed the lawgiver, and as such not tied to the observance of the law, yet was made under it; Cambridge quotes the same verses on Luke 2:22; Geneva says Christ the head of the Church was made subject to the law to deliver us from its curse; JFB builds the whole of his note on it, that since the circumcised man is debtor to do the whole Law, the obedience His circumcision pledged Him to was a redeeming obedience, running on to Galatians 3:13 and Philippians 2:8. Benson, more restrained, says only that the rite obliged Him to keep the whole law. The unanimity across Reformed, Anglican and Nonconformist commentators is the point: this is the church's standing reading, not a novelty.

Galatians 4:4-5 · Galatians 5:3 · Galatians 3:13 · Philippians 2:8

Five shekels paid for the Redeemer ancient/widely-held

Because He opened His mother's womb, the Law's price fell on Him: five shekels to the Aaronic priesthood (Numbers 18:15-16), which Ellicott, JFB, Poole, Gill and Cambridge all name. Gill states the consequence flatly, that such a sum was now paid for his redemption, who was the great Redeemer of his people. JFB extends it to 1 Peter 1:18-19, that by this Babe we were in due time redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold. Luke does not mention the money; the commentators supply it from the statute, and the tool marks that distinction. Gill also draws from the exemption of Levite mothers (Maimonides, Hilchot Bikkurim 11.10) the conclusion that Mary was not of the tribe of Levi, which is an inference from halakhah, not from Luke.

Numbers 18:15-16 · 1 Peter 1:18-19

He who was rich: the offering of the poor ancient/widely-held

JFB reads the pair of birds straight into 2 Corinthians 8:9, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Barnes, less doctrinally and more pastorally, says our Saviour by coming in a state of poverty has shown that it is not dishonorable to be poor. Pulpit and Ellicott confirm the economic fact without drawing the Pauline line. ⚙ The tool would add the shape rather than the sentiment: the Law's provision for those who cannot afford a lamb is exercised in the arms of the woman carrying the Lamb. That juxtaposition is Luke's arrangement of facts, not his stated claim, and it is offered as reading rather than as exegesis.

2 Corinthians 8:9 · Leviticus 12:8 · John 1:29

Purification given and purification made novel

⚙ Luke's word for the rite is καθαρισμοῦ, the same rare noun Hebrews 1:3 uses when it says the Son made purification for sins and sat down. In Luke the purification is received under the Law by a mother who needed no cleansing (so Ellicott, Geneva, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all insist), and in Hebrews it is accomplished by her Son for everyone who did. The link is a shared lexeme, not a citation, and the reading built on it is the tool's own, not a claim the commentators in this brief make; it is offered to be tested.

Hebrews 1:3 · Luke 2:22

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. The chief variant in this unit is at Luke 2:22: αὐτῶν (their) against αὐτῆς (her). Cambridge states that all the uncials read “their” except D, which probably by oversight reads “His,” and that the Received Text's “her” is almost unsupported; JFB acknowledges that the most and best copies read “their” while arguing that only the mother needed purifying; Gill notes the Syriac, Persic and Ethiopic support for “their” and prefers “her” on the ground that it agrees with the Hebrew of Leviticus 12:4. BSB avoids the choice by rendering “the time of purification.” The tool records the disagreement and does not settle it.

Sources and what is uncertain. (1) The five shekel redemption price is nowhere in Luke; it comes from Numbers 18:15-16 via the commentators, and their currency equivalents differ (Cambridge about fifteen shillings, Gill twelve shillings and sixpence), so neither figure should be read as data from the text. (2) The location of the presentation at the Nicanor gate rests on Lightfoot (quoted by JFB) and on Mishnah Sota 1.5 (quoted by Gill); it is rabbinic topography, not Lukan. (3) Gill's timing of the offering on the forty-first day comes from Maimonides, Hilchot Mechusre Kapparah 1.5. (4) Ellicott's judgement that this visit preceded the Magi is a harmonisation with Matthew 2 and is flagged as such in the voice note. (5) Gill's identification of this entry with Malachi 3:1 is his theological reading; Luke does not cite Malachi. (6) The Verifier's thread candidates are computed from shared Strong's lexemes and can only operate within one Testament; the two explicit Old Testament citations in this unit (Exodus 13:2 at v. 23, Leviticus 12:8 at v. 24) are verbal in substance but are tiered structural here because Greek and Hebrew lexemes cannot be matched by number, and that tiering is a limitation of the method, not a judgement that the citations are loose. (7) The unit's Christological readings are marked ancient or novel individually; the καθαρισμός reading is the tool's own and is marked novel.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)