So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,
Parallel translations
- WEB He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,
- KJV And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
- BSB Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law,
- NASB And he came by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,
- NLT That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Led by the Spirit, Simeon comes to the temple just as Jesus' parents arrive. It matters because the Spirit orchestrates this meeting with the Messiah.
Overview
Simeon enters the temple under the Spirit's leading at the very time the parents bring Jesus for the customary rites. The Holy Spirit's guidance brings the waiting saint and the infant Savior together. God sovereignly arranges the encounter that fulfills His promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 2:22When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord
- Luke 2:48When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”
- Matt 4:1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
- Luke 2:51And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
- Luke 2:41His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.
- Acts 10:19While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you.
- Luke 4:1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
- Rev 1:10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
- Rev 17:3He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
- Acts 16:7When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them.
- Acts 11:12The Spirit told me to go with them, without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house.
- Acts 8:29The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 2:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.