Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 21:5-6

"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in which there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." — Luke 21:5-6 (ASV)

And as some spoke of the temple.—See Notes on Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1–2, where the “some” are identified with the disciples.

Fine stones.—These were probably so called, either as being sculptured, or as being of marble, or porphyry, or other of the more precious materials used in building.

Gifts.—Saint Luke uses the more strictly classical word for “offerings,” according to some of the best manuscripts, in the very same form as the Anathĕma (1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Corinthians 16:12), which elsewhere in the New Testament is confined to the idea of that which is set apart, not for a blessing, but a curse. The fact that he is the only writer to use it in its good sense is characteristic of his Gentile and classical training. Other manuscripts, however, give the more usual term, Anathçma, as if it had been found necessary to distinguish the form of the word according to its uses.