Lamp full

The Gospel of St LukeChapter III

Douay-Rheims · Challoner revision
1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina: 2Under the high priests Anna and Caiphas: the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. 3And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins. 4As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. 5Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain. 6And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. 7He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance: and do not begin to say, We have Abraham for our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones, to raise up children to Abraham. 9For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. 10And the people asked him, saying: What then shall we do? 11And he answering, said to them: He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner. 12And the publicans also came to be baptized and said to him: Master, what shall we do? 13But he said to them: Do nothing more than that which is appointed you. 14And the soldiers also asked him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said to them: Do violence to no man, neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay. 15And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ: 16John answered, saying unto all: I indeed baptize you with water: but there shall come one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; 17Whose fan is in his hand: and he will purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his barn: but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 18And many other things exhorting did he preach to the people. 19But Herod the tetrarch, when he was reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done: 20He added this also above all and shut up John in prison. 21Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized and praying, heaven was opened. 22And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove, upon him. And a voice came from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased. 23And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years: being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Mathat, 24Who was of Levi, who was of Melchi. who was of Janne, who was of Joseph, 25Who was of Mathathias, who was of Amos, who was of Nahum, who was of Hesli, who was of Nagge, 26Who was of Mahath, who was of Mathathias, who was of Semei, who was of Joseph, who was of Juda, 27Who was of Joanna, who was of Reza, who was of Zorobabel, who was of Salathiel, who was of Neri, 28Who was of Melchi, who was of Addi, who was of Cosan, who was of Helmadan, who was of Her, 29Who was of Jesus, who was of Eliezer, who was of Jorim, who was of Mathat, who was of Levi, 30Who was of Simeon, who was of Judas, who was of Joseph, who was of Jona, who was of Eliakim, 31Who was of Melea, who was of Menna, who was of Mathatha, who was of Nathan, who was of David, 32Who was of Jesse, who was of Obed, who was of Booz, who was of Salmon, who was of Naasson, 33Who was of Aminadab, who was of Aram, who was of Esron, who was of Phares, who was of Judas, 34Who was of Jacob, who was of Isaac, who was of Abraham, who was of Thare, who was of Nachor, 35Who was of Sarug, who was of Ragau, who was of Phaleg, who was of Heber, who was of Sale, 36Who was of Cainan, who was of Arphaxad, who was of Sem, who was Of Noe, who was of Lamech, 37Who was of Mathusale, who was of Henoch, who was of Jared, who was of Malaleel, who was of Cainan, 38Who was of Henos, who was of Seth, who was of Adam, who was of God.

Challoner’s argument, 1750

John's mission and preaching. Christ is baptized by him.

Rome — about 2,300 km west; named here only as Caesar.

Found outside this book

  • Tiberius Caesaremperor42 BC – AD 37, emperor from AD 14
  • Pontius Pilateprefect of Judeain office AD 26–36
  • Herod Antipastetrarch of Galilee and Perea4 BC – AD 39
  • Philiptetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitisd. AD 34
  • Lysaniastetrarch of Abilinaunder Tiberius
  • Annashigh priest, and father-in-law of CaiphasAD 6–15
  • Caiphashigh priestAD 18–36
  • John the Baptistnamed by Josephus, who says Antipas killed himd. c. AD 29–30

Notes

  • This is the most precisely dated sentence in the New Testament, fixing the moment by six offices at once. The fifteenth year of Tiberius falls in AD 28 or 29, depending on where the reckoning starts.
  • Five of the six are attested outside this book. Pilate’s prefecture is confirmed by a dedication stone bearing his name and title, found re-used at Caesarea in 1961. Annas and Caiphas, Antipas and Philip are all in Josephus.
  • Lysanias of Abilina was long held against Luke, because the Lysanias Josephus names was executed in 36 BC. An inscription from Abila naming a later tetrarch Lysanias under Tiberius is generally taken to answer the charge.
  • Two high priests are named at once because Annas kept the title and the influence after the Romans deposed him; Caiphas, his son-in-law, held the office.
  • Luke’s genealogy runs backwards to Adam, and differs from the one in Matthew. The difference has been explained many ways and settled by none.

What the Fathers said

Cyril of Alexandria preached through this gospel in the fifth century. These are his, in full, in Payne Smith’s translation of 1859.

Chapter III of XXIV
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Text: the Douay-Rheims Bible in Bishop Challoner’s revision, public domain, from Project Gutenberg ebook 8349, set unaltered — 24 chapters and 1,151 verses, checked for gaps. The summary at the head of each chapter is Challoner’s own and is labelled as his; every other note on the right-hand leaf was written for this edition. Map: cut from Natural Earth 10m land, lakes and rivers, public domain, clipped and projected at build time. A place is pinned solid only where the site is agreed, hollow where the identification is reasonable but not settled, and not at all where it is unknown — which is why Emmaus, named in the last chapter, is nowhere on the map.