Luke 9:27-29

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Luke 9:27 tn Grk “I tell you truly” (λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, legō de humin alēthōs).
2. Luke 9:27 tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mē) is the strongest possible.
3. Luke 9:27 tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
4. Luke 9:27 sn The meaning of the statement that some will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God is clear at one level, harder at another. Jesus predicts some will experience the kingdom before they die. When does this happen? (1) An initial fulfillment is the next event, the transfiguration. (2) It is also possible in Luke’s understanding that all but Judas experience the initial fulfillment of the coming of God’s presence and rule in the work of Acts 2. In either case, the “kingdom of God” referred to here would be the initial rather than the final phase.
5. Luke 9:28 tn Grk “Now it happened that about.” 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.
6. Luke 9:28 tn Matt 17:1 and Mark 9:2 specify the interval more exactly, saying it was the sixth day. Luke uses ὡσεί (hōsei, “about”) to give an approximate reference.
7. Luke 9:28 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8. Luke 9:29 tn Grk “And as.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
9. Luke 9:29 tn Here the preposition ἐν (en) plus the dative articular aorist infinitive has been translated as a temporal clause (ExSyn 595).
10. Luke 9:29 tn Or “the appearance of his face became different.”sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw the appearance of his face transformed, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).
11. Luke 9:29 tn Or “became bright as a flash of lightning” (cf. BDAG 346 s.v. ἐξαστράπτω); or “became brilliant as light” (cf. BDAG 593 s.v. λευκός 1).