'To shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death' draws on Isaiah 9:2, 'the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness (shadow of death), on them has light shined.' Distinctive darkness/shadow-of-death + light combination; high volume.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.


'Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death' quotes Psalm 107:10, 'some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,' whom God then delivers (107:14). The verbatim sit-in-darkness-and-shadow-of-death phrase gives high volume.

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,


'To shine on those who sit in darkness' echoes the Servant's commission 'to bring out... from the prison those who sit in darkness' (Isaiah 42:7). The Servant-as-light-to-those-in-darkness theme coheres with the salvation-dawn imagery.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


'The dawn from on high will visit us, to shine' echoes Isaiah 58:8, 'then shall your light break forth like the dawn.' The light-breaks-forth-like-dawn imagery contributes to the anatole metaphor; a coherent supporting echo.

Then your light shall break out as the morning, and your healing shall spring out speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; Yahweh’s glory shall be your rear guard.


'The dawn... will shine on those who sit in darkness' echoes Isaiah 60:1-2, 'Arise, shine, for your light has come... darkness shall cover the earth... but the Lord will arise upon you.' The light-rising-over-darkness imagery coheres with the eschatological-dawn theme.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory is risen on you. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.


'To guide our feet into the way of peace' echoes Isaiah 59:8, 'The way of peace they do not know,' the very condition the dawn now reverses. The way-of-peace diction is distinctive enough to register as a focused echo.

The way of peace they don’t know; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace.


'To guide our feet into the way of peace' faintly echoes 'He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way' (Psalm 25:9; cf. 25:4). The God-guides-in-the-way motif coheres, but the diction is generic, making this a low contested echo.

He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.


'The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit' echoes the refrain about Samuel, 'the child Samuel grew... and grew in the presence of the Lord' (1 Samuel 2:21,26; 3:19). The child-grew summary, tied to the Hannah/Samuel matrix governing the chapter, gives high volume.

Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.


'The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit' parallels 'the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him' (Judges 13:24-25). The grew + Spirit notice closes the Samson-style annunciation cycle; high volume.

The woman bore a son, and named him Samson: and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him. The Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.


Luke locates the birth in 'Bethlehem... the city of David,' the very town Micah names as the origin of the ruler 'whose goings forth are from of old.' Volume is high (the place-name itself), recurrence strong in the early-Jewish messianic reading of Micah, and thematic coherence exact: a Davidic ruler from Bethlehem. Luke leaves the citation implicit rather than quoting, but the topographic anchor is unmistakable.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.


Joseph belongs 'to the house and family of David,' and Jesus is born in David's city, activating Nathan's oracle of an everlasting Davidic throne. Coherence with Gabriel's earlier promise (1:32-33, intra-Lukan) shows Luke reading the Nathan dynastic covenant as availability; volume here is the repeated 'David' framing across vv. 4-11.

When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness shall not […]


David himself was found and anointed at Bethlehem among the family of Jesse, so Bethlehem functions as the appointed site where God designates the true king over against appearances. The thematic link (humble Bethlehem origin of the LORD's chosen) is coherent, though Luke makes no verbal contact with the Samuel narrative.

Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”


Bethlehem is the setting of Ruth, whose closing genealogy issues in David; the elders' blessing invokes building up the house of Israel in Bethlehem (Ephrathah). The connection is figural and dynastic rather than verbal, hence faint, but it belongs to the Bethlehem-David availability cluster Luke is drawing on.

All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.


Luke pointedly calls Jesus Mary's 'firstborn son' (prototokos), the same charged term governing the consecration of every firstborn to the LORD in Exodus. The label anticipates the redemption/presentation in vv. 22-23, so its volume is reinforced by recurrence within the chapter; coherence with the firstborn-belongs-to-God theme is high.

“Sanctify to me all of the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine.”


The detail that the infant is laid in a phatne (feeding trough/manger) has long been read against Isaiah's 'the ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger,' a contrast between dumb beasts who recognize and an Israel that does not. The link is interpretive rather than lexically secured by Luke, so it is faint and contested, but the manger word supplies real verbal contact.

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.”


The shepherds 'keeping watch over their flock' near Bethlehem evoke Micah's 'tower of the flock' (Migdal Eder), traditionally located by Bethlehem and read messianically as the place where kingship returns. Verbal contact is slight in Greek, so the echo is faint, but the Bethlehem-shepherd-king geography is thematically coherent.

You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.


Shepherds first receive the Davidic birth announcement, fittingly because David was taken 'from following the sheep' to shepherd Israel. The motif of the shepherd-king frames the angel's proclamation of a 'Savior... in the city of David'; coherence is high, though the link is conceptual rather than quoted.

Now therefore you shall tell my servant David this, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, over Israel.


'The glory of the LORD shone around them' renders the Septuagintal doxa kyriou, the visible Sinai/tabernacle glory that settled and shone. Luke uses the technical theophany vocabulary, giving real volume; coherence is high as the kabod now attends the announcement of salvation.

Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.


The angel announces a child born 'this day' who is 'Savior... Christ the Lord' bringing 'great joy' and 'peace,' the cluster of Isaiah's oracle of the child born to us, called the Prince of Peace, on whose shoulder the government rests. Coherence is exact (birth, joy, peace, Davidic rule) and the theme recurs across the infancy account, giving strong volume despite no formula quotation.

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


'Good news of great joy' echoes Isaiah's 'they rejoice before you... as men rejoice when they divide the spoil,' the joy attending the breaking of the oppressor's yoke in the same Immanuel oracle that names the child. The joy-language strengthens the broader Isaiah 9 allusion in this pericope.

You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder.


The angel 'brings good news' (euangelizomai) of peace and salvation, the very verb-and-content of Isaiah's herald who publishes peace and announces 'your God reigns.' Septuagintal availability is direct and the salvation/peace coherence is strong; Luke universalizes it to 'all the people.'

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”


The Gloria's 'on earth peace' set beside the heavenly host's praise recalls the psalm in which the LORD enthroned amid the heavenly beings 'gives strength to his people' and 'blesses his people with peace.' The host-of-heaven plus peace pairing is coherent though the verbal contact is thin, so it is a faint supporting echo.

Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.


The 'multitude of the heavenly army' crying 'Glory to God in the highest' resembles the seraphim antiphon 'Holy... the whole earth is full of his glory,' a heavenly liturgy proclaiming God's glory over the earth. The pattern (angelic chorus, glory, earth) is coherent though Luke's wording is independent.

One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”


'Glory to God in the highest' with the angelic host praising parallels the psalm's call to 'praise him in the heights... praise him, all his hosts/angels.' The heights/host/praise vocabulary is coherent, supplying a plausible liturgical backdrop to the Gloria, though faint as direct source.

Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh from the heavens! Praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army!


Naming Jesus 'Savior... Christ (anointed) the Lord' in David's city recalls the anointing of David at Bethlehem when the Spirit rushed upon him. The christos-David-Bethlehem nexus is coherent within the chapter's Davidic frame, though no verbal echo is pressed.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.


'Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart' resembles Jacob who 'kept the saying in mind' after Joseph's dreams (LXX: dieterei to rhema). The verbal pattern (keeping/treasuring a rhema) is close and recurs at 2:51, giving recurrence, though the motif is also a general wisdom convention, so the specific source is contested.

His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.


Mary's treasuring the matter 'in her heart' parallels Daniel who 'kept the matter in my heart' (LXX) after a revelation he did not fully grasp. The apocalyptic reticence-and-treasuring motif coheres with Luke's portrayal of a not-yet-understood revelation, but the link is faint.

Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.


The shepherds 'returned, glorifying and praising God' and publishing the saying recalls the psalmist's vow to 'declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.' The proclaim-and-praise pattern is coherent but generic, so a faint echo at best.

I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.


Jesus is circumcised 'when eight days were fulfilled,' the precise Abrahamic stipulation that every male be circumcised on the eighth day as the sign of the covenant. Volume is high (the eighth-day specification) and coherence exact: Jesus is incorporated into the covenant of Abraham.

He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed.


The eighth-day circumcision restates the Mosaic legislation, 'on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised,' which also frames the purification timeline taken up in the next pericope. Direct legal availability and exact coherence make this a strong allusion.

In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.


That the child's 'name was called' as commanded by the angel before conception echoes the divine naming of Isaac ('you shall call his name Isaac') announced before his birth. The angel-given name-before-birth pattern is coherent with the Isaac annunciation type-scene Luke is reworking.

God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.


'The days of their purification according to the law of Moses' are exactly Leviticus 12's prescription for the mother's purification after childbirth, culminating in a burnt offering and a sin offering. Volume and availability are maximal since Luke is paraphrasing the statute; coherence is total.

“‘When the days of her purification are completed, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering:


Luke quotes the offering 'a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,' the Levitical concession for those who cannot afford a lamb. This is the explicit nearer source of v. 24's citation and signals the holy family's poverty; it is a near-verbatim quotation introduced by 'as is said in the law.'

If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”


'Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord' renders the consecration of the firstborn, 'sanctify to me every firstborn that opens the womb.' Luke marks it 'as it is written,' so this is a formal quotation; the firstborn-belongs-to-God theme tracks the prototokos of v. 7.

“Sanctify to me all of the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine.”


The presentation of the firstborn to the Lord enacts the Exodus mandate to set apart every firstborn that opens the womb because the LORD spared Israel's firstborn at the Passover. Coherence is exact and the redemptive backstory (firstborn spared by blood) resonates with Luke's larger soteriology.

that you shall set apart to Yahweh all that opens the womb, and every firstborn which you have that comes from an animal. The males shall be Yahweh’s. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons. It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand […]


The redemption of the firstborn human (to be redeemed at a set price) underlies bringing Jesus 'to present him to the Lord'; Numbers spells out that every firstborn is the LORD's and must be redeemed. This is the priestly legislation completing the Exodus firstborn command Luke invokes.

Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.


Bringing the child up to the sanctuary and presenting him 'to the Lord' strongly recalls Hannah bringing Samuel and 'lending' him to the LORD; Luke's whole infancy narrative is patterned on 1 Samuel (Magnificat on Hannah's song). Recurrence of the Samuel template gives this real weight beyond the bare legal citations.

When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to Yahweh’s house in Shiloh. The child was young. They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have granted him […]


The restated covenant law that 'all that opens the womb is mine' and the firstborn must be redeemed reinforces v. 23's quotation; the doublet across Exodus 13 and 34 supplies recurrence for the firstborn-consecration theme Luke foregrounds.

“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.


When 'they brought him up to Jerusalem... to the temple,' Luke begins to stage Malachi's promise that 'the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple,' a theme that climaxes in Simeon and Anna meeting him there. The temple-arrival coherence is strong and recurs through vv. 25-38, though it is set up rather than quoted here.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.


Simeon is 'looking for the consolation (paraklesis) of Israel,' the exact Septuagintal keynote of Isaiah's 'Comfort, comfort my people.' Volume is high (the noun consolation), the Isaiah background recurs throughout the Nunc Dimittis, and coherence is exact: the end of exile-comfort arrives in the child.

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.


'Now you are releasing your servant... in peace; for my eyes have seen...' draws on the promise that Abraham would 'go to his fathers in peace' once God's word was fulfilled. The depart-in-peace-after-seeing-the-promise pattern is coherent, supplying the form of Simeon's release.

but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.


Simeon's readiness to die having seen salvation closely parallels Jacob: 'Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.' The see-then-ready-to-die formula is verbally and thematically close, a strong candidate alongside Genesis 15:15 for the source of the Nunc Dimittis opening.

Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”


'My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples' renders Isaiah's 'all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God,' where the LORD bares his arm 'before all the nations.' The seeing-of-God's-salvation-before-all-nations cluster is verbally and thematically exact.

Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


'A light for revelation to the nations (Gentiles), and the glory of your people Israel' fuses the Servant's commission to be 'a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth' with Israel's restoration. Volume and coherence are very high; this is among the clearest OT echoes in the chapter.

yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”


The Servant given 'as a light to the nations' (and a covenant to the people) directly informs Simeon's 'light for revelation to the nations.' The doublet with Isaiah 49:6 supplies recurrence; the universal-light-of-salvation theme coheres exactly with Luke's program of salvation reaching the Gentiles.

“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;


'I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory' supplies the second half of Simeon's couplet, 'the glory of your people Israel,' pairing salvation with Israel's glory. The salvation-and-glory-of-Israel coherence and Septuagintal availability make this a solid supporting allusion.

I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.


Simeon's 'my eyes have seen your salvation... before the face of all peoples' echoes 'the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.' The universal-seeing-of-revealed-glory theme reinforces the broader Isaiah 40-55 matrix of the Nunc Dimittis.

Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”


'This is our God; we have waited for him... let us be glad in his salvation' parallels the waiting Simeon who finally sees God's salvation. The wait-then-rejoice-in-salvation pattern is coherent, though it is a faint supporting echo within the strong Isaianic cluster.

It shall be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”


Simeon's oracle that the child is 'set for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against' draws on Isaiah's stone that becomes 'a sanctuary, but a stone of offense... many shall stumble and fall.' The fall/rise division of Israel over the sign is verbally and thematically coherent, a key prophetic warrant for Luke's divided-Israel theme.

He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”


The 'sign spoken against' over which many fall and rise also draws on the tested cornerstone laid in Zion, which becomes the criterion of standing or stumbling. Paired with Isaiah 8 this supplies the stone-of-decision motif; coherence is strong though Luke does not quote it.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily.


The 'sword' that 'will pierce through your own soul' has been linked to Ezekiel's recurring 'a sword shall pass through the land,' a figure of sifting judgment that divides. The sword-of-division imagery coheres with the falling-and-rising oracle, though the application to Mary's soul is distinctively Lukan, so the source is faint.

Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;


The piercing 'sword' anticipating grief over the child has been read against Zechariah's 'they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and mourn,' associated with a future piercing of the LORD's chosen. The piercing-and-mourning link is suggestive but indirect here, hence a contested faint echo.

I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me, because they have mocked me, and they shall make lamentation for him, as for a beloved friend, and they shall grieve intensely, as for a firstborn son.


'A sword will pierce through your own soul' may color itself with the psalm's idiom that the wicked's 'sword shall enter their own heart.' The sword-into-the-soul phrasing offers verbal contact, but the sense differs (Mary's anguish vs. the wicked's self-destruction), so the echo is faint.

Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Their bows shall be broken.


Simeon meets the child precisely in the temple, fulfilling 'the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple,' which Malachi pairs with a refining that tests Israel, coherent with the falling-and-rising oracle. The temple-coming-as-test theme recurs with Anna in the next pericope, giving it recurrence.


Anna, a long-widowed woman of great age devoted to fasting and prayer, closely matches Judith, a widow who lived chastely many years, fasted often, and feared God greatly. The pious-aged-widow type is coherent and the fasting-and-prayer detail gives real volume; Luke seems to draw on the Second-Temple ideal Judith exemplifies.

Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months. She made herself a tent upon the roof of her house, and put on sackcloth upon her loins. The garments of her widowhood were upon her. And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, except the eves of the Sabbaths, the Sabbaths, the eves of the new moons, the new moons, and the feasts and joyful days of the house of Israel. She was of a goodly countenance, and exceeding beautiful to behold. Her […]


Anna is introduced as 'a prophetess' (prophetis), the same title and role given to Miriam who leads Israel's praise. The prophetess-who-leads-thanksgiving pattern is coherent, situating Anna in the line of Israel's women prophets.

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.


Anna 'the prophetess' also recalls Deborah, 'a prophetess... judging Israel,' another woman bearing the prophetic office at a hinge of salvation history. The title link is real but generic across the female-prophet category, so it is a faint supporting echo to Miriam.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.


Anna speaks of the child 'to all who were looking for the redemption (lytrosis) of Jerusalem,' echoing Isaiah's 'the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.' The redemption-of-Jerusalem phrase has direct Septuagintal availability and pairs with Simeon's 'consolation of Israel,' giving the pericope a strong Isaianic frame.

Break out into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.


'Looking for the redemption of Jerusalem' also resonates with Isaiah's address to Jerusalem that her warfare is ended and iniquity pardoned. It belongs to the same Isaiah 40-52 consolation matrix as Simeon's oracle; faint as an independent source but coherent with the cluster.

“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”


Anna's name is the Greek form of Hannah, and her temple devotion of fasting and prayer mirrors Hannah's vow and worship at the sanctuary; Luke's infancy narrative is steeped in the Hannah/Samuel story. The onomastic and devotional link is suggestive though not pressed, so a faint echo.

She vowed a vow, and said, “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.”


'The child was growing, and was becoming strong... filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him' closely follows the boy Samuel who 'continued to grow... in favor with the LORD and with men.' The growth-and-favor formula is verbally and structurally parallel, and recurs at v. 52, giving strong recurrence within the chapter.

The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh, and also with men.


'The child grew, and the LORD blessed him' (Samson) supplies the same OT growth-of-the-promised-child notice that Luke reuses; together with 1 Samuel 2:26 it shows the type-scene of the divinely favored child maturing. Coherence with the annunciation-and-birth pattern is high.

The woman bore a son, and named him Samson: and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.


That the child is 'filled with wisdom' and grows under God's grace faintly recalls the Nazirite child set apart to God from the womb in the Samson cycle; the link is the consecrated-child motif, supportive of the Samson allusion but not independently strong.

but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”


The family's annual Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem enacts the Torah requirement that all appear before the LORD at the appointed feasts, the first being Unleavened Bread/Passover. The pilgrimage-feast obligation gives the scene its legal frame and coherence with Luke's law-observant family.

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.


Going up 'every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover' follows the Deuteronomic centralization of Passover at the place the LORD chooses, i.e., Jerusalem. Availability is direct and coherence exact for the pilgrimage detail in vv. 41-42.

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt […]


The explicit Passover setting frames Jesus' first recorded words against the founding redemption feast, a figural touch given Luke's later Passion-Passover. The connection is contextual rather than verbal here, so a faint echo at this point in the narrative.

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one […]


The closing 'Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men' restates Samuel's growth 'in favor with the LORD and with men,' an inclusio with v. 40. Strong verbal parallel and double recurrence make this the chapter's clearest growth-formula allusion.


The boy 'filled with wisdom,' astonishing the teachers and increasing 'in wisdom,' is colored by Wisdom's call to the children who keep her ways and find favor from the LORD. The wisdom-and-favor coherence is real but the sapiential coloring is diffuse, so a faint echo.

“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it. Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh.


The precociously wise child amazing his elders resembles the ideal in Wisdom where the speaker, 'a child of good parts,' receives wisdom as a gift sought in the sanctuary. The early-wisdom motif is coherent within Second-Temple thought, though not a verbal source.

Now I was a child of parts, and a good soul fell to my lot; Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled. But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom except God gave her me (Yes and to know by whom the grace is given, this too came of understanding), I pleaded with the Lord and implored him, and with my whole heart I said,


Jesus 'sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening and asking questions' embodies Ben Sira's counsel to stand in the assembly of elders, attach oneself to the wise, and meditate on the law. The disciple-among-the-sages image coheres, but the link is thematic and faint.

Stand you in the multitude of the elders; And whoso is wise, cleave you to him. Be willing to listen to every godly discourse; And don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you. If you see a man of understanding, get you betimes to him, And let your foot wear out the steps of his doors. Let your mind dwell upon the ordinances of the Lord, And meditate continually in his commandments: He will establish your heart, And your desire of wisdom will be […]


Jesus is found in the temple declaring he 'must be in my Father's house,' the Lord present in his own temple as Malachi foretold and as Simeon's temple-encounter anticipated. The temple-claim coheres with the Father-Son relation Luke develops and recurs across the chapter's temple scenes.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.


Jesus' devotion to being 'in my Father's house' resonates with the psalmist's one desire 'to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life.' The longing-for-God's-house theme is coherent but generic, hence a faint supporting echo.

One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.


'After three days they found him' has occasionally been read against Hosea's 'on the third day he will raise us up,' a figural foreshadowing of the resurrection found-on-the-third-day. The three-days detail offers verbal contact, but the application is debated, so a contested faint echo.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


"The word of God came to John" replicates the prophetic-call superscription formula of Jeremiah 1:1-2, which likewise dates a prophet's commission by regnal year and names the priestly father. The verbal correspondence (logos egeneto ... epi/pros) and the structural pairing of a dated regnal synchronism with the coming of the word give this high Volume; Luke's deliberate sevenfold dating frame imitates the prophetic-book convention.

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom Yahweh’s word came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


Hosea 1:1 ("the word of the LORD that came to Hosea ... in the days of" the kings) is the closest LXX analogue to Luke's construction, anchoring John's call in the classic prophetic-word-reception formula. The combination of named rulers plus the coming of the divine word marks John as a prophet in the canonical mold; recurrence of this formula across the prophets reinforces Coherence.

Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.


"Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah" supplies another instance of the egeneto-logos idiom that Luke draws on for John. Lower Volume than Jeremiah/Hosea since it lacks the dated-superscription shape, but it belongs to the same prophetic word-event pattern available to Luke.

Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying,


Ezekiel's call ("the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel ... the son of Buzi the priest") combines the word-event formula with a named priestly lineage in the wilderness/exile, paralleling John "son of Zacharias" the priest in the wilderness. The priest-prophet pairing adds Coherence to Luke's portrait of John as Ezekiel-like prophet.

Yahweh’s word came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Yahweh was there on him.


1 Maccabees opens its narrative with a precise regnal-year dating of a ruler as historiographical frame, a Second-Temple convention Luke shares in synchronizing John's appearance with Tiberius's fifteenth year. Faint and generic, marked low; the parallel is one of historiographical method rather than verbal echo.

And there came forth out of them a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.


Luke gives the fullest NT citation of Isaiah 40:3-5, uniquely extending the quotation through v.5 to "all flesh shall see the salvation of God," following the LXX (which reads "the salvation of God" where MT has "the glory of the LORD"). The explicit citation formula ("as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah") and verbatim LXX wording give maximal Volume; the extension serves Luke's universal-salvation theme.

The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains. And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken it.


The preparing-the-way motif fuses Isaiah 40 with Malachi 3:1 ("I send my messenger to prepare the way before me"), the standard conflation underlying the John-as-forerunner tradition. Coherence is strong across the gospel tradition even though Luke here cites only Isaiah by name.


Exodus 23:20 LXX ("I send my angel before you to guard you on the way") feeds the "prepare the way" messenger tradition behind Mark's conflated citation, available to Luke's forerunner theme. Faint here since Luke names only Isaiah; marked low and contested.

“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.


"All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" (Isaiah 52:10 LXX) closely parallels Luke's extended clause "all flesh shall see the salvation of God," reinforcing the universal-salvation reading. Likely a reinforcing intratextual Isaianic resonance Luke exploits rather than a separate citation; low and contested.

Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


"Offspring of vipers" draws on the prophetic image of the wicked hatching adders' eggs (Isaiah 59:5), where viper-brood imagery signals deadly, deceitful evildoers under judgment. Coherence with John's judgment oracle is strong; the serpent-progeny metaphor is distinctly prophetic.

They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.


The "offspring of vipers" may evoke the serpent's seed of Genesis 3, casting the unrepentant as children of the primeval serpent in opposition to God. Faint and figural; marked low since the immediate force is prophetic invective rather than a Genesis citation.

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”


"God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones" plays on Isaiah 51:1-2, which calls Israel to "look to the rock from which you were hewn ... to Abraham your father," the rock-Abraham-descendants nexus John inverts. The shared Abraham-from-stone logic gives this real Volume; possible Hebrew wordplay (banim/abanim, children/stones) strengthens the link.

“Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.


"The axe lies at the root of the trees" and trees cut down echoes Isaiah 10:33-34, where the LORD lops the boughs and hews down the forest of the arrogant in judgment. The arboreal-judgment imagery and verb of cutting give solid Coherence with John's eschatological warning.

Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.


Trees that bear no good fruit being "cut down and thrown into the fire" coheres with Malachi 4:1 (3:19 MT), where the day comes burning like an oven, leaving the wicked neither root nor branch. The root/branch and burning-judgment vocabulary reinforce the eschatological-fire theme John develops in v.17.

“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.


Ezekiel's parable of the useless vine fit only for the fire parallels the unfruitful tree consigned to burning. A reinforcing instance of the prophetic fruitless-wood-to-fire judgment topos; low and contested.

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned: is it profitable for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has […]


Jeremiah likens Israel to a once-green tree the LORD sets on fire and whose branches are broken for evil done, matching John's unfruitful-tree-cast-into-fire image. Faint reinforcing echo within the prophetic tree-judgment field; low.

Yahweh called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.


The fruit-bearing-tree-versus-judgment contrast inverts Psalm 1's tree that yields fruit in season; John warns that fruitlessness ends in fire. Thematic and faint; the Volume is low and the link is contested.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.


John's practical ethics of justice and mercy (share clothing/food, no extortion, no false accusation) embody Micah 6:8's demand to do justice and love mercy as the true fruit of repentance. The prophetic reduction of repentance to concrete social righteousness gives strong Coherence with John's program.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?


"He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none ... he who has food" closely matches Isaiah 58:7's true fast: share bread with the hungry and cover the naked. The verbal pairing of clothing and food for the destitute gives this real Volume as the prophetic template for John's instruction.

“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?


Ezekiel 18's portrait of the righteous man (gives bread to the hungry, covers the naked, takes no usury/extortion, returns the pledge) directly parallels John's checklist of repentant conduct. The catalog of just deeds as the mark of the one who lives gives strong Coherence with John's "fruits worthy of repentance."

But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity, and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; he who has not lent on […]


John's charges to soldiers and tax collectors not to extort, defraud, or accuse falsely echo the Holiness Code's prohibitions of robbery, fraud, and oppression of the wage-laborer (Lev 19:11-13). A reinforcing legal substratum for John's ethic; low and contested.

“‘You shall not steal. “‘You shall not lie. “‘You shall not deceive one another. “‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh. “‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.


Job's oath of innocence (he did not withhold bread from the poor or let any perish for lack of clothing) parallels John's clothing-and-food charity. Part of the wider OT righteousness-as-mercy field; faint and low.

“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, her have I guided from my mother’s womb); if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;


The Coming One who baptizes "with the Holy Spirit and fire" and refines/purges directly answers Malachi 3:2-3, where the messenger of the covenant is like a refiner's fire purifying the sons of Levi. The pairing of fire with purgative judgment-and-cleansing gives high Coherence with John's contrast between the mightier one and himself.

“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.


The winnowing fork separating wheat from chaff to be burned with unquenchable fire mirrors Malachi 4:1 (3:19 MT), where the day burns like a furnace and the wicked are stubble. The threshing-floor/chaff-versus-grain judgment and the inextinguishable fire give this strong Volume.


"Unquenchable fire" (pyr asbeston) echoes Isaiah 66:24, where the fire upon the rebels' corpses is not quenched, the OT locus for everlasting judgment-fire. The precise eschatological-fire vocabulary gives this real Volume within John's threshing-floor oracle.

“They shall go out, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”


"I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land" (Jeremiah 15:7) supplies the divine-winnowing image of separating people for judgment that underlies John's fan and threshing floor. The agricultural-judgment metaphor (winnow/scatter the unfaithful) gives solid Coherence.

I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they didn’t return from their ways.


The promise that the Coming One "will baptize you in the Holy Spirit" resonates with Joel's outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, a text Luke develops at Pentecost. Faint here, foreshadowing the Lukan Spirit theme; low and contested as the immediate image is refining fire.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


Spirit-baptism that purifies recalls Ezekiel 36:25-27, where God sprinkles clean water and puts a new Spirit within his people. A reinforcing prophetic Spirit-and-cleansing background for the contrast between water and Spirit baptism; low.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


Isaiah 41:15-16 makes Israel a threshing sledge that winnows mountains so the wind carries them off, another winnowing-judgment image feeding John's fan and chaff. Faint reinforcing echo within the OT threshing-floor field; low and contested.

Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.


John reproving Herod for his evil and being imprisoned casts John in the Elijah role confronting a wicked king (and queen Herodias as a Jezebel figure), recalling Elijah's rebuke of Ahab. Coherence with Luke's Elijah typology for John is real but the link here is thematic, not verbal; low.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and you have followed the Baals.


Herod's offense of taking his brother's wife is the very union forbidden by Leviticus 18:16 / 20:21, the legal basis of John's reproof. The Torah prohibition underlies the charge even though Luke does not cite it; low and contested.

“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. It is your brother’s nakedness.


The heavenly voice "You are my beloved Son" draws on Psalm 2:7's royal-messianic decree, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you," identifying Jesus as the enthroned Davidic king. The verbal core ("You are my Son") gives high Volume, and Luke's western text-tradition at this verse even cites Psalm 2:7 in full.

I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.


"In you I am well pleased" with the Spirit descending fulfills Isaiah 42:1, the Servant on whom God puts his Spirit and "in whom my soul delights." The fusion of beloved-Son with the Spirit-endowed Servant gives strong Coherence with Luke's portrayal of Jesus' anointing for mission.

“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights— I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.


"Beloved Son" (ho agapetos) echoes the LXX of Genesis 22:2, where God names Isaac "your beloved son" before the Akedah, layering sacrificial-son overtones onto Jesus' designation. The distinctive agapetos vocabulary gives this real Volume beyond the Psalm 2 base.

He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”


The Spirit descending over the waters of baptism evokes Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God hovers over the waters at creation, framing the baptism as a new-creation moment. Coherence with the Spirit-over-water motif is strong though the dove form is not in Genesis; medium.

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.


The Spirit "as a dove" recalls Noah's dove over the floodwaters (Genesis 8), suggesting baptism as a new beginning after judgment-by-water. The dove-over-water imagery gives this medium Volume; the symbol is widely read against the flood narrative.

He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. He waited yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly […]


"The sky was opened" answers Isaiah 64:1's plea, "O that you would rend the heavens and come down," the prophetic hope of God breaking in. Faint but coherent with Luke's theophany framing; low and contested.

Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,


The opened heaven and Spirit-vision recalls Ezekiel 1:1 ("the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God"), the prophetic-call theophany formula. Reinforcing the heaven-opened motif; low.

Now in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.


The genealogy's primeval span from Adam through Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, and on to Abraham reproduces the genealogical line of 1 Chronicles 1:1-27, Luke's evident source for the antediluvian and postdiluvian names. The sustained sequence of names gives maximal Volume as direct genealogical dependence.

Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.


Adam-Seth-Enosh-Kenan-Mahalalel-Jared-Enoch-Methuselah-Lamech-Noah follows the toledot of Genesis 5 in reverse order, the canonical line from Adam to Noah. Verbal correspondence of the name-chain is exact, giving high Volume.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness. He created them male and female, and blessed them. On the day they were created, he named them “Adam”. Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of other sons and […]


Shem-Arphaxad-(Cainan)-Shelah-Eber-Peleg-Reu-Serug-Nahor-Terah-Abraham tracks the Shemite genealogy of Genesis 11:10-26; the extra "Cainan" between Arphaxad and Shelah follows the LXX, confirming Luke's use of the Greek text. High Volume as direct genealogical dependence.

This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood. Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters. Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah. Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of sons and daughters. Shelah […]


Perez-Hezron-Ram(Aram)-Amminadab-Nahshon-Salmon-Boaz-Obed-Jesse-David exactly reproduces the closing genealogy of Ruth 4:18-22, the Davidic line through Judah. The verbatim ten-name sequence gives maximal Volume.

Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.


Placed immediately after the baptismal "beloved Son," the genealogy's anchoring in Abraham reactivates the Abraham-Isaac promise line as the channel of blessing for all nations. Faint and structural; low.


Terminating the line at "Adam, the son of God" reads Genesis 5:1-2's "likeness of God" / Genesis 2:7's God-breathed Adam as divine sonship, framing Jesus the Son of God as the new Adam over against the first. The figural pairing with the baptismal Son-declaration gives this medium Coherence within Luke's Adam-Christ structure.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness. He created them male and female, and blessed them. On the day they were created, he named them “Adam”.


"Adam, the son of God" presupposes the special creation of Genesis 2:7, where God forms Adam and breathes life into him, grounding the divine-sonship language of the genealogy's terminus. Reinforcing the new-Adam reading; low and contested.

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


Routing the line through David and his son Nathan invokes the Davidic covenant promise of an everlasting royal seed (2 Samuel 7), the messianic substructure of the genealogy. Thematic rather than verbal here; low and contested.

When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness shall not […]


Shealtiel-Zerubbabel in the post-exilic segment corresponds to the Davidic descendants listed in 1 Chronicles 3:17-19, tying Jesus' line to the returned royal house. The shared distinctive post-exilic names give this medium Volume.

The sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;


Jesus' reply 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God' quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 (LXX). The forty days of fasting and testing in the wilderness deliberately recapitulate Israel's forty years where God humbled them with hunger and fed them manna 'that he might teach you that man does not live by bread alone.' Maximal Volume and Coherence: the whole temptation is framed as a re-run of Israel's wilderness test.

You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of […]


'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only' renders Deuteronomy 6:13 (LXX, which adds 'worship/proskyneo' and 'only/mono'). High Volume verbatim citation; the Shema context (Deut 6) anchors the second/third temptation answers in Israel's covenant loyalty.

You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.


'You shall not tempt the Lord your God' quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 (LXX), which itself recalls Israel's testing of God at Massah (Exod 17:1-7). Verbatim citation answering the pinnacle temptation; strong Recurrence with the other Deuteronomy quotations in the pericope.

You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.


The devil quotes 'He will put his angels in charge of you... on their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone' from Psalm 91:11-12 (LXX 90). High Volume verbatim citation, placed in Satan's mouth as a misuse of Scripture; the Deuteronomy reply rebuts it.

For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone.


The forty-day fast echoes Moses on Sinai, forty days and nights without bread or water (Exod 34:28; cf. Deut 9:9). Coherence with Jesus as new Moses/Israel; Availability strong, though the dominant frame is Israel's forty years rather than Moses' forty days.

He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.


Elijah's forty-day fast journey to Horeb is a secondary candidate for the forty-day motif. Lower Volume than the Exodus/Deuteronomy frame, but Luke's special interest in Elijah later in this very chapter (vv.25-26) raises its Coherence.

He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.


Jesus tested over food by the tempter/serpent inverts Adam and Eve's failure under the same kind of test; figural Adam-Christ logic latent in Luke's genealogy ending at Adam (3:38) immediately before. Faint Volume but coherent within Luke's structure.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely […]


The devil's offer of 'all the kingdoms of the world... all this authority and their glory' contrasts with the authority, glory, and kingdom rightly given to the one like a son of man in Daniel 7:14. Contested and faint; the irony works only if the Danielic gift of dominion is in view.

There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


'Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit' anticipates the Spirit-anointing announced in the Nazareth quotation that follows (vv.18-19, Isa 61:1). Faint as a standalone allusion here but coherent with Luke's Spirit-Christology drawn from Isaiah.

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind;


The Nazareth scroll reading 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor... release to the captives... recovering of sight to the blind... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' is a formal citation of Isaiah 61:1-2 (LXX). Highest Volume in the chapter; explicitly introduced as 'the book of the prophet Isaiah.'

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn;


The clause 'to deliver/set at liberty those who are crushed (oppressed)' is spliced in from Isaiah 58:6 (LXX 'aphesei tethrausmenous'), not part of Isa 61. The deliberate conflation of two 'release/aphesis' texts is a recognized Lukan composite citation; high Volume and verbatim LXX wording.

“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?


'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' and 'release/aphesis' evoke the Jubilee of Leviticus 25, when liberty is proclaimed and debts/captives released. Isaiah 61 itself draws on Jubilee language; Luke makes the year-of-release motif programmatic, giving strong Coherence and Availability.

You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.


'Recovering of sight to the blind' and 'release to the captives' resonate with the Servant's task in Isaiah 42:7 ('to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners'). Recurrence of the Isaianic Servant/blindness motif strengthens this, though the wording is closest to Isa 61/LXX.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


The opening of blind eyes and hearing of the deaf in Isaiah 29:18 belongs to the cluster of Isaianic restoration texts Luke draws on for sight-to-the-blind. Faint and secondary to Isa 61, but coherent with Luke's Isaianic program.

In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.


The crowd's wonder at the 'gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth' faintly echoes Psalm 45:2 (LXX 44:3), 'grace is poured upon your lips.' Low Volume; the verbal overlap (grace + mouth/lips) is suggestive but the connection is contested.

You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.


'No prophet is acceptable in his hometown,' and the townsmen's coming murderous rejection, reflects the prophet-rejected-by-his-own pattern, e.g. Jeremiah's own people of Anathoth seeking his life (Jer 11:21). Faint, pattern-level allusion rather than verbal citation.

Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, You shall not prophesy in Yahweh’s name, that you not die by our hand;


'When the sky was shut up three years and six months... a great famine' summarizes Elijah's drought announced in 1 Kings 17:1 (and ended in 18:1). Jesus names the era explicitly ('in the days of Elijah'); high Volume narrative citation.

Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”


'Elijah was sent... to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow' directly retells 1 Kings 17:8-16, the widow of Zarephath. Explicit naming of place and figure makes this a high-Volume citation deployed as Gentile-inclusion precedent.

Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of […]


'Naaman, the Syrian' cleansed of leprosy by Elisha retells 2 Kings 5:1-14. Named figure and event; high Volume, paired with the Zarephath widow to ground Jesus' point that prophets are sent to Gentiles when Israel rejects them.

Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him […]


The synagogue's murderous rage and attempt to throw Jesus off the cliff continues the rejected-prophet motif (cf. Israel killing the prophets, 1 Kings 19:10,14). Pattern-level echo reinforcing the Elijah framing just invoked; faint verbal contact.

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”


The demon's title 'the Holy One of God' (ho hagios tou theou) draws on the OT 'holy one' (LXX hosios) of Psalm 16:10 (LXX 15:10), a text Luke applies messianically in Acts 2:27. Coherence with Lukan Christology; medium because 'Holy One' also has wider OT roots (e.g. consecrated figures).

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.


'Holy one of God' may also echo the Nazirite consecration language ('a Nazirite/holy one of God', Judg 13:7 LXX), faintly punning on Jesus 'of Nazareth' in the demon's cry. Faint and contested but available in the LXX tradition.

but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”


Healings gathered 'when the sun was setting' may evoke Malachi 4:2 (LXX 3:20), 'the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.' Faint and contested word-play on sun + healing; Luke's sunset detail is plausibly incidental, hence low confidence.

But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.


'I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God... for this reason I have been sent' echoes the commissioning of the Isaiah 61:1 herald ('he has sent me to preach good news') that opened the chapter. Inclusio-like Recurrence binding the chapter to its Isaianic program; faint as a standalone allusion.


Peter's reaction, falling at Jesus' knees and crying 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,' replays the prophet's response to theophany: confrontation with the holy provokes confession of uncleanness ('Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips'). Both join recognition of divine presence to commissioning ('Don't be afraid... you will be catching people'). High volume and coherence with the call-narrative form.

Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”


The 'catching people alive' commission draws on the prophetic image of God sending fishermen to gather Israel ('I will send for many fishers, and they shall fish them'). The shared metaphor of human fishers as agents of God's ingathering gives volume; the call setting supplies coherence, though Jeremiah's image is originally one of judgment.

Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh, and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.


Ezekiel's temple-river vision teems with fish and stations fishers from Engedi to Eneglaim, a figure of eschatological abundance and life flowing outward. The miraculous superabundant catch may echo this image of overflowing life as a sign of the new creation, though the verbal links are faint.

It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes. It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the […]


Habakkuk likens people gathered by the conqueror to fish caught in a net and hauled up. The fishers-of-men motif may invert this image of catching for destruction into one of catching for life. Faint and contested; offered for the recurrence of the fish-net-people complex in the prophets.

and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.


Abraham's self-deprecation before the LORD ('I am but dust and ashes') models the creature's recognition of unworthiness in the divine presence, paralleling Peter's 'I am a sinful man.' The motif of the human cowering before manifest holiness is widely attested; low volume here.

Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.


Gideon's fear at having seen the angel of the LORD face to face, answered by 'Peace, do not fear,' parallels the theophanic-fear-and-reassurance pattern (Jesus' 'Don't be afraid'). The form is recurrent across call narratives, lending coherence though the link to Luke 5 is general.

Gideon saw that he was Yahweh’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh’s angel face to face!” Yahweh said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.”


The 'man full of leprosy' invokes the priestly diagnosis of skin disease and the resulting state of ritual uncleanness and exclusion. Luke's scene presupposes this legal world; the leper's plea 'you can make me clean' uses Levitical cleanness language directly.

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “When a man shall have a rising in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons, the priests: and the priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the […]


Jesus' command to 'show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded' explicitly cites the Levitical rite for cleansing the leper (Lev 14:2-32). High volume: a near-direct reference to Mosaic legislation by name.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp. The priest shall examine him, and behold, if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. The priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in […]


Naaman the Syrian's cleansing from leprosy is the paradigmatic OT leprosy-healing and is explicitly invoked by Luke at 4:27, just before this scene. The healing of the leper here coheres with that recently activated narrative; Naaman's restored flesh and the prophet's mediation supply the type.

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.


Miriam's leprosy and Moses' intercessory plea ('Heal her, O God') present another instance where leprosy is removed by divine power at a mediator's word. Recurrence of the leprosy-healing motif gives some coherence, though no verbal contact with Luke.

The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!” Yahweh […]


The lepers outside Samaria's gate exemplify the social exclusion of the leper that frames Luke's scene. Faint, contextual only.

Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said one to another, “Why do we sit here until we die?


'I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake' grounds the scribes' premise that God alone forgives sins. Jesus' pronouncement of forgiveness, and the controversy it provokes, presuppose this divine prerogative; strong coherence with the second-Isaiah claim that pardon is God's act.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.


The covenantal self-revelation of the LORD as the one 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' is the foundational scriptural warrant for God's sole authority to pardon. The scribes' objection ('who can forgive sins but God alone?') rests on this confession. Medium volume; thematic rather than verbal.

Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”


'Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases' yokes forgiveness and healing exactly as Jesus does ('which is easier: your sins are forgiven, or arise and walk?'). The Psalm's pairing supplies the logic that healing demonstrates the authority to forgive.

who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;


Jesus' self-designation 'the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' draws on the one like a son of man to whom dominion and authority are given. The claim of authority bound to the Son of Man title gives volume and coherence with the Danielic vision.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow' offers the prophetic promise of divine cleansing of sin that underlies the forgiveness pronounced here. Thematic only; low volume.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


'Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity... he will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea' echoes the rhetorical 'who can forgive but God?' and the pardon motif. Faint; offered for recurrence of the God-alone-pardons theme.

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.


'I desire mercy and not sacrifice' is the prophetic warrant for Jesus' table-fellowship with tax collectors and sinners against the Pharisees' purity objection. Though the explicit citation appears in Matthew's parallel, the same logic of mercy over ritual separation governs Luke's controversy; medium coherence.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


'Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there?' supplies the physician imagery Jesus turns on his critics ('those who are sick need a physician'). The prophetic lament over an unhealed people lends thematic depth; verbal contact is the shared 'physician' figure.

Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?


The LORD as shepherd who seeks the lost, binds the broken, and strengthens the sick coheres with Jesus' coming to call sinners rather than the righteous. The seek-the-sick/lost motif gives some coherence to the mission statement; low volume.

I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.


Ben Sira's praise of the physician, whose healing comes from the Most High, belongs to the Second-Temple physician imagery Jesus deploys. Availability within the deuterocanon; faint and contested.

Honor a physician according to your need of him with the honors due to him: For verily the Lord has created him. For from the Most High comes healing; And from the king he shall receive a gift.


'As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you' supplies the bridegroom imagery by which Jesus interprets the festal joy of his presence as incompatible with fasting. The prophetic figure of God as bridegroom of his people grounds the metaphor; medium coherence.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.


The LORD's betrothal of Israel 'in righteousness... in lovingkindness' is a primary scriptural source of the divine-bridegroom motif underlying Jesus' saying. The wedding/betrothal frame coheres with the bridegroom-present logic of the fasting question.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.


Joel's call to fasting and solemn assembly, which summons even 'the bridegroom out of his chamber,' joins fasting and bridegroom imagery in one passage. The juxtaposition makes it a plausible backdrop to Jesus' bridegroom-and-fasting saying, though the use is allusive and faint.

“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God. Blow the trumpet in […]


'Your Maker is your husband' reinforces the prophetic divine-spouse motif that the bridegroom saying presupposes. Recurrence with Isa 62 and Hosea; low independent volume.

For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.


Elihu's 'my belly is as wine which has no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles' is the closest OT parallel to the new-wine-bursting-old-skins parable. Shared imagery of new wine straining fresh versus old skins gives notable volume to the figure.

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.


'Every bottle shall be filled with wine' belongs to the prophetic wineskin imagery and is offered for recurrence of the wineskin figure; the connection to the new/old contrast is thematic and faint.

Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall tell you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?


'A new friend is as new wine; when it is old, you shall drink it with pleasure' uniquely parallels Jesus' closing maxim 'the old is better.' The shared old-wine-is-preferred proverb gives this Second-Temple text real coherence with v.39, though verbal contact is partial.

Forsake not an old friend; For the new is not comparable to him: As new wine, so is a new friend; If it become old, you will drink it with gladness.


Jesus explicitly cites David eating the consecrated bread of the Presence when hungry, with his companions. The verbal and narrative dependence is direct (named figure, the showbread, eating what is 'not lawful except for the priests'), satisfying Volume and Availability decisively.

Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?” David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, ‘Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.’ Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves […]


This is the legal basis for Jesus' phrase 'which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone' — Leviticus prescribes the showbread and reserves it for Aaron and his sons. Luke's halakhic argument presupposes this statute, giving high Coherence with the David citation.

“You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting […]


The whole controversy is over what is 'lawful to do on the Sabbath day,' which presupposes the Decalogue Sabbath command. Jesus' claim that the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath answers directly to this prohibition of work, a strong thematic echo.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed […]


The Deuteronomic restatement of the Sabbath command frames it humanely (rest, mercy, deliverance), coherent with Jesus' merciful reading of Sabbath law over the plucking of grain. Lower volume than Exodus 20 since Luke does not quote, but the humanitarian rationale is apt.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as […]


The Torah explicitly permits plucking heads of grain by hand from a neighbor's standing crop; the disciples' act is lawful in itself, so the dispute is purely about the Sabbath. This statute is the unspoken Availability that makes the Pharisees' objection narrowly Sabbatarian.

When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.


God's own Sabbath rest at creation is the root of Sabbath theology behind the pericope and the 'lord of the Sabbath' claim. The connection is theological rather than verbal, so confidence is low and the link is figural-conceptual.

On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.


A second Sabbath controversy (healing the withered hand) again presupposes the Sabbath commandment; Jesus' question 'is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good?' directly engages the Decalogue prohibition of work. High Coherence with 6:1-5 and Recurrence within the chapter.


Jeroboam's hand withers and is then restored at the prophet's word — the closest OT parallel to a withered (LXX exēranthē) hand being healed. The shared rare motif of a withered-then-restored hand gives moderate Volume despite no quotation.

When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by Yahweh’s word. The king answered the man of God, “Now entreat the favor […]


Jesus' antithesis 'to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill' echoes the Deuteronomic 'life and good, death and evil' set before Israel. Faint and conceptual, marked low.

Behold, I have set before you this day life and prosperity, and death and evil. For I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce to […]


Moses builds an altar with twelve pillars 'according to the twelve tribes of Israel.' Jesus' deliberate choice of twelve from his disciples evokes the constitution of Israel's twelve tribes, an act of eschatological restoration. Moderate Volume; the number twelve is the load-bearing link.

Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.


The 'twelve tribes of Israel' as the patriarchal sons stand behind the symbolism of the Twelve apostles as a renewed Israel. The connection is typological rather than verbal, so confidence is medium.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.


Jesus goes up the mountain and spends the night in prayer before constituting the Twelve, recalling Moses ascending the mountain to commune with God before the covenant. The mountain-prayer setting gives a faint figural echo.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.” Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain. He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.” Moses went up on the mountain, and the […]


Moses asks God to appoint a leader 'over the congregation' so Israel is not 'as sheep without a shepherd'; Jesus' night of prayer before appointing leaders echoes that pattern of God-directed appointment. Low Volume, conceptual only.

“Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”


Crowds from Tyre and Sidon (Phoenicia) coming to be healed faintly recalls prophetic oracles concerning the nations' turning to Israel's God. The geographic detail evokes the inclusion of Gentile coastlands; low and contested.

Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.


'Power came out of him and healed them all' loosely recalls the divine spirit/power resting on and going out from a mediator. Faint thematic echo of the OT idea of healing power proceeding from God's anointed.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.


The beatitudes for the poor, the mourning (who will laugh/rejoice), and the comforted directly draw on Isaiah's good-news-to-the-poor and comfort-for-mourners, which Luke programmatically makes Jesus' manifesto (cf. Luke 4:18). High Volume, Recurrence in Luke, and strong Coherence.

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of […]

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn; that there should be given to them that mourn in Sion glory instead of ashes, the oil of joy to the mourners, the garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness: and […]


Isaiah's eschatological reversal — God's servants will eat, rejoice and sing while the wicked hunger, are ashamed and wail — supplies the exact hunger/fullness and weeping/laughing antitheses structuring Luke's blessings and woes. Strong Coherence with the following woes section.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.


'Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting' is the Psalter's paradigm of weeping turned to joy, matching 'blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.' Moderate Volume via shared reversal motif.

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.


'He satisfies the hungry soul with good things' undergirds 'blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled.' Coherent with Luke's broader hunger-satisfaction theme (Magnificat, 1:53).

For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.


'Their fathers did the same thing to the prophets' invokes the deuteronomistic tradition of Israel persecuting and killing the prophets, classically summarized in 2 Chronicles 36:16. High Coherence; Luke makes the persecuted-prophet typology explicit.

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.


Jeremiah's macarism 'blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD' (tree planted by water) stands behind the OT beatitude form Luke adopts. The form-critical background gives a faint but real echo.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.


The Psalter's opening 'Blessed is the man...' is the fountainhead of the beatitude genre Jesus employs, contrasting two ways with reward/judgment. Genre-level Availability, hence low confidence and figural.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.