And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Parallel translations
- WEB and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.
- BSB and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
- NKJV and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
- NASB and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the temple grounds, serving night and day with fasts and prayers.
- NLT Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.
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
Anna, a widow of many years, worshiped continually in the temple with fasting and prayer. It matters because it portrays a life of devoted, persevering faith.
Overview
Luke describes Anna's decades of widowhood spent in constant temple worship, fasting, and prayer night and day. Her devotion exemplifies steadfast godliness while awaiting God's salvation. Such persevering faith is honored as she is brought to behold the Messiah she long sought.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Tim 5:5Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
- Ps 23:6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
- Acts 14:23And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
- Acts 13:3And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
- Ps 27:4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
- Acts 26:7Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
- Rev 7:15Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
- Rev 3:12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
- Ps 84:4Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
- Ps 22:2O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
- Ps 84:10For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
- Ps 135:1–2Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD.
- Luke 5:33And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
- Exod 38:8And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
- Ps 92:13Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
- 1 Sam 2:2There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:37 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.