LUKE 1:1 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Several people attempted to write an account about the events that we’re personally certain of

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Since many have attempted to compile an account concerning the things that have been fulfilled among us,

UST Many people have already been writing about the things that happened among us.

BLB Inasmuch as many have undertaken to draw up a narration concerning the things having been accomplished among us,

AICNT Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative concerning the matters that have been fulfilled among us,

OEB To his Excellency, Theophilus.
¶ Many attempts have been already made to draw up an account of those events which have reached their conclusion among us,

WEBBE Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled amongst us,

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Now many have undertaken to compile an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,

LSV Seeing that many took in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us,

FBV As you know, many others have attempted to put down in writing the things that have been fulfilled[fn] that involve us.

1:1 Or “achieved,” “accomplished.”

TCNT Since many have undertaken to compile an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us,

T4T 1-2 My noble friend Theophilus, many people saw the things that Jesus did while he was with us, from the time when he started [MTY] his ministry. They served God by teaching people the message about the Lord Jesus. Many of those who heard what they taught wrote down for us accounts of the things that Jesus did from the time when he began his ministry.

LEB Since many have attempted to compile an account concerning the events that have been fulfilled among us,

BBE As a number of attempts have been made to put together in order an account of those events which took place among us,

Moff Inasmuch as a number of writers have essayed to draw up a narrative of the established facts in our religion

Wymth Seeing that many have attempted to draw up a narrative of the facts which are received with full assurance among us

ASV Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

DRA Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a narration of the things that have been accomplished among us;

YLT Seeing that many did take in hand to set in order a narration of the matters that have been fully assured among us,

Drby Forasmuch as many have undertaken to draw up a relation concerning the matters fully believed among us,

RV Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

SLT Since many have undertaken to arrange the narration concerning things rendered perfectly certain among us,

Wbstr Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

KJB-1769 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

KJB-1611 ¶ Forasmuch as many haue taken in hande to set foorth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely beleeued among vs,
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps Forasmuche as manye haue taken in hande, to set foorth in order, ye declaration of those thynges whiche are moste surelye to be beleued among vs,
(Forasmuche as many have taken in hand, to set forth in order, ye/you_all declaration of those things which are most surely to be believed among us,)

Gnva Forasmuch as many haue taken in hand to set foorth the storie of those things, whereof we are fully persuaded,
(Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth the story of those things, whereof we are fully persuaded, )

Cvdl For so moch as many haue taken in hande, to set forth ye wordes of the actes that are come to passe amonge vs,
(For so much as many have taken in hand, to set forth ye/you_all words of the acts that are come to pass among us,)

TNT For as moche as many have take in hand to compyle a treates of thoo thinges which are surely knowen amonge vs
(For as much as many have take in hand to compile a treates of those things which are surely known among us )

Wycl Forsothe for manye men enforceden to ordeyne the tellyng of thingis, whiche ben fillid in vs,
(For_certain/Truly for many men enforceden to ordain the telling of things, which been filled in us,)

Luth Sintemal sich‘s viele unterwunden haben, zu stellen die Rede von den Geschichten, so unter uns ergangen sind,
(Sintemal itself many unterwunden have, to/for place/put the speech from the stories, so under us/to_us/ourselves ergangen are,)

ClVg Quoniam quidem multi conati sunt ordinare narrationem, quæ in nobis completæ sunt, rerum:[fn]
(Since indeed many conati are ordinare tellsionem, which in/into/on us completæ are, things: )

1.1 Quoniam quidem, etc. BEDA. Lucas de omnibus quæ fecit Jesus et docuit, etc., usque ad magis ordinarent narrationem quam historiæ texerent veritatem.

1.1 Since indeed, etc. BEDA. Lucas from/about to_all which he_did Yesus and taught, etc., until to more ordinarent tellsionem how history texerent the_truth.

UGNT ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνατάξασθαι διήγησιν, περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων,
(epeidaʸper polloi epeⱪeiraʸsan anataxasthai diaʸgaʸsin, peri tōn peplaʸroforaʸmenōn en haʸmin pragmatōn,)

SBL-GNT Ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνατάξασθαι διήγησιν περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων,
(Epeidaʸper polloi epeⱪeiraʸsan anataxasthai diaʸgaʸsin peri tōn peplaʸroforaʸmenōn en haʸmin pragmatōn,)

RP-GNT Ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνατάξασθαι διήγησιν περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων,
(Epeidaʸper polloi epeⱪeiraʸsan anataxasthai diaʸgaʸsin peri tōn peplaʸroforaʸmenōn en haʸmin pragmatōn,)

TC-GNT Ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνατάξασθαι διήγησιν περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων,
(Epeidaʸper polloi epeⱪeiraʸsan anataxasthai diaʸgaʸsin peri tōn peplaʸroforaʸmenōn en haʸmin pragmatōn, )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:1–4: Luke wrote this book about Jesus for Theophilus

In these Notes, Luke 1:1–4 is both a division and a section of the book of Luke. You may want to include a section heading here. It is good to read the verses before you decide on a heading for the section.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Luke writes to Theophilus about Jesus

Luke addressed this book to Theophilus

Luke’s purpose in writing this book

Paragraph 1:1–4

Paragraph 1:1–4 in the Greek text is one long sentence. In some languages, it may be natural to use more than one sentence for this paragraph. For example, the GNT uses four sentences.

The Greek sentence in 1:1–4 talks about several events and ideas. It mentions them in an order that may not be natural in some languages. Here are the main ideas:

Many people attempted to compile an account of what happened among them (that is, of Jesus’ life) (1:1a–b).
They wrote what eyewitnesses told them (1:2a–c).
Luke also investigated all those things carefully (1:3a).
Luke thought that he also should write those things in an orderly way for Theophilus (1:3b).
Luke did this so that Theophilus could know that what he was taught was accurate (1:4).

You should present these ideas in an order that is natural in your language. See the General Comments on 1:2a–c and 1:1–2 at the end of the notes on 1:2b–c for specific suggestions.

You also need to think about how to connect the clauses. For example, in English there are different ways to connect the reasons in (a)-(c) with the result in (d):

^1a Since many others have written a report on the things that have happened…

^3bit seemed good for me to also write a report…. (See 1:1–4 in the RSV, NASB, NJB, KJV for similar examples.)

^1aMany others have written a report on the things that have happened….

^3b Therefore it seemed good for me to also write a report. (See 1:1–4 in the BSB, NIV, GNT, NET, CEV, GW, and JBP for similar examples.)

You should connect the clauses in the most natural way in your language.

Luke did not address Theophilus by name until near the end of his introduction. In some languages, it may be more appropriate to begin the introduction with Theophilus’ name. See the Display for 1:1a for an example.

1:1a

Many have undertaken to compose an account of

¶ Many people have attempted/tried to compile an orderly account of
¶ Most excellent/honorable Theophilus, many other authors have worked hard to write a report/history of
¶ Respected Theophilus, many men have already written about

In Greek this sentence begins with a word that means “since.” See the notes above about connecting clauses and decide the best way to connect the clauses of Luke 1:1–4 in your language. (The BSB uses the word “Therefore” in 1:3 to connect the clauses, and so it does not begin with “Since” here.).

Many: The Greek word that the BSB has translated literally as Many here means “Many people.” In this context it may also be possible to translate this as “Many authors/writers.” In the Jewish culture of New Testament times, usually only men were able to write. So it is also possible to translate this as “Many men.”

Luke himself planned to write an account of the life of Jesus as these Many people had done. So, in some languages it may be necessary to say:

Many others

undertaken: The Greek word that the BSB translates as undertaken means “attempted” or “tried.” Luke implied here that others had worked hard to write the story of Jesus’ life. He also implied that it was difficult to gather all the facts and write them down accurately and completely. However, he was not criticizing the others’ writings. He did not imply that they had failed in their attempts. Other ways to say this are:

worked hard

done their best (GNT)

to compose an account: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as to compose an account means to gather reports of different events and put them together to make one longer story. In this context the writers told about many of Jesus’ actions and teachings as they told the story of his life.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

to compose/write the story

to organize a history/narrative

to write a report (GNT)

to write about what had taken place (GW)

1:1b

the things that have been fulfilled among us,

the events that happened among us in fulfillment of what God had said.
the things about Jesus that were fulfilled among us.^(excl)
the events of Jesus’ life that God caused to happen among us^(excl) believers, just as he had promised/said.

the things that have been fulfilled: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as the things that have been fulfilled refers to the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There are several waysAnother possible interpretation is represented by the KJV. The phrase that the BSB translates as “things that have been fulfilled among us” may mean “the things that have been fully believed among us.” The verb would refer to fullness in the sense of being fully/completely convinced. The KJV says “those things which are most surely believed among us.” One other interpretation refers to fullness in the sense of fullness of knowledge. For example, “the things that are most widely known among us.” to interpret the verb have been fulfilled in this context:

It means that the events have been fulfilled. This implies that the events had been planned and predicted before they happened, and the events happened just as predicted. For example:
the events that have been fulfilled (NRSV) (BSB, NRSV, NIV, NET, NLT, NJB)
It means simply that the events have happened. For example:
the things that happened (NCV) (NCV, GNT, GW, REB, NLT96, JBP)
It means that the events have been accomplished/completed. The events were like tasks that were completed. For example:
things which have been accomplished (RSV) (RSV, NASB, ESV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This interpretation includes (2) and (3) as well. The events happened (2), and they were completed (3). However, interpretation (1) expresses the important idea that these events fulfilled what had been predicted. That is, God said that they would happen, and they did happen, just as he said. The fulfillment of prophecy is a theme in Luke. (See Luke 18:31.)

things that have been fulfilled: The phrase things that have been fulfilled is passive. In some languages it may be necessary to translate it as active and indicate who fulfilled the things. If that is true in your language, you should indicate that God fulfilled them. He fulfilled them by causing the events to happen just as he had said they would. He fulfilled many of these events through Jesus. He caused Jesus to be born and to die for people’s sins, and he raised Jesus from the dead.

Some other ways to translate things that have been fulfilled are:

things that happened just as God said they would

what God has done in fulfillment of his promises (NLT96 in 1:2)

things that God did through/concerning Jesus, just as he said he would do

among us: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as among us probably means “among us believers,” that is, “among us who believe in Jesus.” When Luke used this phrase, he probably included Christians who were born after Jesus’ lifetime. The form of the verb that the BSB translates as fulfilled indicates that the events continued to affect people at the time when Luke wrote. Christians of later generations were not present to see the events of Jesus’ life, but those events continued to affect them.

us: In some languages it is necessary to decide whether Luke meant to include Theophilus when he said us. It is not clear whether Theophilus was a believer at the time when Luke was writing to him. However, he was probably interested in becoming a believer (1:4).

Use a natural form in your language for a speaker to use toward someone who supports his group but perhaps is not yet a member. Remember also that Theophilus was a person of high status. Avoid using a form that would imply rejection or rudeness.

Parallel LUKE 1:1

Section 1:1–4: Luke wrote this book about Jesus for Theophilus

Paragraph 1:1–4

1:1a

1:1b