And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me.

And he said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

and he said to them, 'These are the words that I spake unto you, being yet with you, that it behoveth to be fulfilled all the things that are written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, about me.'

And He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you - that everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me."

And he said to them, These are the words which I said to you when I was still with you, how it was necessary for all the things which are in the writings of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms about me, to be put into effect.

"This is what I told you," he said, "when I was still with you – that everything that had been written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled."

These are the words. Though it will afterwards appear from Matthew and Mark that a discourse similar to this was delivered in Galilee, yet I think it probable that Luke now relates what happened on the day after his resurrection. For what John says of that day, that he breathed on them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, (20:22) agrees with the words of Luke which here immediately follow, that he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. By these words Christ indirectly reproves their gross and shameful forgetfulness, that, though they had long ago been fully informed of his future resurrection, they were as much astonished as if it had never been mentioned to them. The import of his words is: "Why do you hesitate as if this had been a new and unexpected occurrence, while it is only what I frequently predicted to you? Why do you not rather remember my words? For if hitherto you have reckoned me worthy of credit, this ought to have been known to you from my instructions before it happened." In short, Christ tacitly complains that his labor has been thrown away on the apostles, since his instruction has been forgotten. All things which are written concerning me. He now rebukes them more sharply for their slowness, by declaring that he brought forward nothing that was new but that he only reminded them of what had been declared by the Law and the Prophets, with which they ought to have been familiar from their childhood. But though they had been ignorant of the whole doctrine of religion, nothing could have been more unreasonable than not to embrace readily what they knew to have undoubtedly proceeded from God; for it was a principle admitted by the whole nation, that there was no religion but what was contained in the Law and the Prophets. The present division of the Scriptures is more copious than what we find in other passages; for besides the Law and the Prophets, he adds, in the third place, the Psalms, which, though they might with propriety have been reckoned among the Prophets, have, something distinct and peculiar to themselves. Yet the division into two par which we have seen elsewhere, (Luke 16:16; John 1:45,) embraces notwithstanding the whole of Scripture.

These are the words - Or this is the "fulfillment" of what I before told you respecting my death. See Luke 18:33; Mark 10:33.
While I was yet with you - Before my death. While I was with you as a teacher and guide.
In the law of Moses - The five books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Among the Jews this was the first division of the Old Testament, and was called the "law."
The prophets - This was the second and largest part of the Hebrew Scriptures. It comprehended the books of Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, which were called the "former prophets;" and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve smaller books from Daniel, to Malachi, which were called the "latter prophets."
The psalms - The word here used probably means what were comprehended under the name of "Hagiographa," or holy writings. This consisted of the Psalm, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the two books of Chronicles. This division of the Old Testament was in use long before the time of Christ, and was what he referred to here; and he meant to say that in "each of" these divisions of the Old Testament there were prophecies respecting himself. The "particular" subject before them was his "resurrection from the dead." A most striking prediction of this is contained in Psalm 16:9-11. Compare it with Acts 2:24-32; Acts 13:35-37.

The law - the prophets - the psalms - This was the Jewish division of the whole old covenant. The Law contained the five books of Moses; the Prophets, the Jews divided into former and latter; they were, according to Josephus, thirteen. "The Psalm included not only the book still so named, but also three other books, Proverbs, Job, and Canticles.
These all," says the above author, "contain hymns to God, and rules for the conduct of the lives of men." Joseph. Cont. App. i. 8. This account is imperfect: the common Jewish division of the writings of the old covenant is the following, and indeed seems to be the same to which our Lord alludes: -
I. The Law, תורה thorah, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
II. The Prophets, נביאים, nabiaim, or teachers, including Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, and the two books of Kings: these were termed the former prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi: these were termed the latter prophets.
III. The Hagiographa, (holy writings), כתובים kethuvim, which comprehended the Psalm, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the two books of Chronicles. The Jews made anciently only twenty-two books of the whole, to bring them to the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; and this they did by joining Ruth to Judges, making the two books of Samuel only one; and so of Kings and Chronicles; joining the Lamentations to Jeremiah, and making the twelve minor prophets only one book.

(7) And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.
(7) The preaching of the gospel, which was promised to the prophets, and performed in his time, is committed unto the apostles, the sum of which is repentance and remission of sins.

And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you,.... Or this is the substance of them, the sense and meaning of them; for what follows, we do not find any where expressed in so many words:
while I was yet with you; that is, whilst he was in his state of humiliation, whilst he dwelt among them, and had his abode with them; otherwise he was now with them, but not to continue with them; in a short time he was to ascend to his God, and their God, to his Father, and their Father:
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalm, concerning me: concerning his sufferings, and death, and resurrection from the dead, spoken of in Genesis 3:15 Psalm 16:10 and in this he refers to what he had said to his disciples in Matthew 16:21 and alludes to the usual distinction among the Jews of the books of the Old Testament into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; among which last stands the book of Psalm, and is put for the whole; a division often to be met with in both their Talmuds (a), and other writings (b).
(a) T. Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 47. 3. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 15. 1. & 18. 2. & 21. 1. Roshhashana, fol. 32. 1. Taanith, fol. 8. 1. & 16. 1. & 20. 1. & 30. 1. Megilla, fol. 21. 2. & 24. 1. Bava Bathra, fol. 8. 1. & 13. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 106. 1. (b) Zohar in Leviticus. fol. 39. 2.

These are the words, &c.--that is, "Now you will understand what seemed so dark to you when I told you about the Son of man being put to death and rising again" (Luke 18:31-34).
while . . . yet with you--a striking expression, implying that He was now, as the dead and risen Saviour, virtually dissevered from this scene of mortality, and from all ordinary intercourse with His mortal disciples.
law . . . prophets . . . psalms--the three Jewish divisions of the Old Testament Scriptures.

And he said unto them. Between Luke 24:43-44, Luke passes over an interval of weeks, and many appearances of the Risen Christ, to come at once to the event of his Ascension. The Lord, about to send them forth to preach, "opens their mind that they might understand the Scriptures," and then repeats the Commission, before given in Galilee. He requires that (1) Repentance, (2) Remission of Sins, (3) Shall be Preached in his Name, (4) Unto All Nations, (5) Beginning at Jerusalem. This was literally obeyed on the day of Pentecost.
The promise of my Father. Of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Tarry ye. They were not to begin the great work until the endowment from on High came.

And he said - On the day of his ascension. In the law, and the prophets, and the psalms - The prophecies as well as types, relating to the Messiah, are contained either in the books of Moses (usually called the law) in the Psalm, or in the writings of the prophets; little being said directly concerning him in the historical books.