Luke 2:38

Luke 2:38. At that very hour, i.e., when the meeting with Simeon took place.

Gave thanks unto God, according to the better supported reading. She gave praise to the Father for sending the Messiah.

Spake of him. Evidently of the child.

To all them, etc. Not openly to everybody, but to the circle of pious people expecting the Messiah. This probably took place on the spot (comp. Luke 2:17). It may have been the hour of prayer, when numbers of this class would be present.

For the redemption of Jerusalem. The correct reading favors this translation, which refers to the same Messianic expectation indicated by the E. V., but points to Jerusalem as the place where redemption would begin. These expectant souls were probably obscure persons, and any extended knowledge of the prophecies respecting this child would be checked by the flight to Egypt and the withdrawal to Nazareth. Thus the accounts of Matthew and Luke undesignedly supplement each other.