Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 2 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V45 V47 V49 V51
OET (OET-LV) and having_completed the days, in the time them to_be_returning, the boy Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) remained, in Hierousalaʸm, but the parents of_him not.
knew.
OET (OET-RV) and when it was all over and they started on their return, the lad stayed there in Yerushalem but his parents weren’t aware of it.
In this section, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. This may have been Jesus’ first time to go there for Passover. While Jesus was in Jerusalem, he went to the Temple and discussed religious matters with Jewish religious leaders.
When Joseph and Mary left Jerusalem to return to Nazareth, they traveled with a group of people. They did not realize that Jesus had stayed in Jerusalem and was not traveling with them. This may have happened because of the way Jews normally walked in smaller groups when they traveled together. The women and small children walked ahead since they traveled more slowly. A boy normally traveled with his mother. But when he became a man, perhaps as early as twelve years old, he traveled with his father. So, as they returned from Jerusalem, Mary probably thought that Jesus was with Joseph, and Joseph may have thought that he was with Mary. Joseph and Mary traveled for a whole day before they realized that Jesus was not with them. The events in this section show three things:
Joseph and Mary did not know where Jesus was;
they did not know exactly what he was telling them when they found him;
by the age of twelve (or before), Jesus was aware that he was God’s Son.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Mary and Joseph Find Jesus With the Teachers in the Temple Courtyard (GW)
Jesus when he was twelve years old
When those days were over and they were returning home,
When the festival was over, Jesus’ parents started on their way back home.
After the feast, Jesus’ mother and father left to go back home,
When those days were over and they were returning home: This part of the verse indicates that after the Passover celebration ended, Joseph and Mary started traveling home.
they: The Greek word that the BSB translates as they refers to Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus. Some versions, such as the NIV, say “his parents” here and “they” in 2:43c instead of “his parents.”
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
The young Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem,
but their son Jesus remained in the city of Jerusalem.
In Greek, no conjunction connects this clause to 2:43a. This verse tells about an event that is unexpected or surprising. In some languages, it may be natural to use a conjunction to indicate that, as the BSB does by saying “but.” For example:
43a…they started home to Nazareth, 43bbut Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
The event in 2:43c is also surprising. In some languages, it may be natural to have a conjunction there too. For example:
43a…they started home to Nazareth, 43bbut Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. 43cHowever, they were unaware of it.
Connect the clauses in a natural way in your language.
the boy Jesus: In some languages it may be difficult or unnatural to say the boy Jesus. If that is true in your language, here are other ways to translate it:
young Jesus
their son Jesus
Jesus
but His parents were unaware He had stayed.
but his parents did not know about it.
Joseph and Mary did not realize/know that he was not with them.
but: The Greek conjunction that the BSB here translates as but is a common conjunction that is often translated as “and” in English. Some English versions begin a new sentence here and do not translate this conjunction. However, since it introduces an unexpected event, some English versions indicate that by saying “but.” Connect this clause to the context in a natural way in your language. See the note on the connection in 2:43b.
His parents were unaware He had stayed: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as His parents were unaware is literally “his parents did not know.” Joseph and Mary did not know that Jesus had stayed behind in Jerusalem. Another way to translate this is:
His parents did not know it (ESV)
His parents: There is a textual issue with this phrase. Most English versions follow the rendering “his parents.” Other manuscripts have “Joseph and his mother” instead of “his parents.” The KJV follows these manuscripts. It is recommended that you translate “his parents,” since it has early and widespread manuscript support. Also, the majority of English versions have “his parents.” However, if the national language version in your area has “Joseph and his mother,” you may want to mention the other textual possibility in a footnote. For example: “Some Greek manuscripts have ‘Joseph and his mother.’” This recommendation is based on Swanson, p. 42, and Exegetical Summaries on TW. As noted at 2:43a, the Greek says his parents here. Some translations, such as the NIV, mention the parents in 2:43a and say “they” here. Refer to Joseph and Mary here in a natural way in your language.
In some languages, it will be more natural to reorder the clauses of 2:43a–c. Some examples are:
43aWhen the feast was over, Jesus’ parents returned home. 43cThey did not realize that 43bJesus had stayed behind in Jerusalem.
43aWhen the feast was over, Jesus’ parents left Jerusalem and started to return home. 43cThey did not realize that 43bJesus had stayed in Jerusalem.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
τελειωσάντων τὰς ἡμέρας
˓having˒_completed (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί τελειωσάντων τάς ἡμέρας ἐν τῷ ὑποστρέφειν αὐτούς ὑπέμεινεν Ἰησοῦς ὁ παῖς ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ καί οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ)
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, and you could state who did the action. Alternate translation: [after they had celebrated the feast for the required number of days]
2:41-51 Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem when he was twelve is the only account from Jesus’ childhood recorded in the Gospels. Its main theme is Jesus’ early spiritual insight, including his growing awareness both of his unique father-son relationship with God and of his unique mission.
OET (OET-LV) and having_completed the days, in the time them to_be_returning, the boy Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) remained, in Hierousalaʸm, but the parents of_him not.
knew.
OET (OET-RV) and when it was all over and they started on their return, the lad stayed there in Yerushalem but his parents weren’t aware of it.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.