Passage

Luke 1.2

Book: Luke · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

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

"2. even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,"

"3. it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4. that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed." (Luke 1:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,"

"2. even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,"

"3. it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4. that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed." (Luke 1:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

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

"2. Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;"

"3. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." (Luke 1:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

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

"2. as they did deliver to us, who from the beginning became eye-witnesses, and officers of the Word, --"

"3. it seemed good also to me, having followed from the first after all things exactly, to write to thee in order, most noble Theophilus, 4. that thou mayest know the certainty of the things wherein thou wast instructed." (Luke 1:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.