Lukas 1:27

1:27 to a virgin engaged ¹  to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, ²  and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Lukas 1:30

1:30 So ³  the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, ⁴  Mary, for you have found favor ⁵  with God!

Lukas 1:34

1:34 Mary ⁶  said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with ⁷  a man?”

Lukas 1:38-39

1:38 So ⁸  Mary said, “Yes, ⁹  I am a servant ¹⁰  of the Lord; let this happen to me ¹¹  according to your word.” ¹²  Then ¹³  the angel departed from her.

Mary and Elizabeth

1:39 In those days ¹⁴  Mary got up and went hurriedly into the hill country, to a town of Judah, ¹⁵ 

Lukas 1:41

1:41 When ¹⁶  Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped ¹⁷  in her ¹⁸  womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ 

Lukas 1:46

Mary’s Hymn of Praise

1:46 And Mary ²⁰  said, ²¹ 

“My soul exalts ²²  the Lord, ²³ 

Lukas 1:56

1:56 So ²⁴  Mary stayed with Elizabeth ²⁵  about three months ²⁶  and then returned to her home.

[1:27]  ¹ tn Or “promised in marriage.”

[1:27]  ² tn Grk “Joseph, of the house of David.”

[1:27]  sn The Greek word order here favors connecting Davidic descent to Joseph, not Mary, in this remark.

[1:30]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Gabriel’s statement is a response to Mary’s perplexity over the greeting.

[1:30]  ⁴ sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.

[1:30]  ⁵ tn Or “grace.”

[1:30]  sn The expression found favor is a Semitism, common in the OT (Gen 6:8; 18:3; 43:14; 2 Sam 15:25). God has chosen to act on this person’s behalf.

[1:34]  ⁶ tn Grk “And Mary.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “have not known.” The expression in the Greek text is a euphemism for sexual relations. Mary seems to have sensed that the declaration had an element of immediacy to it that excluded Joseph. Many modern translations render this phrase “since I am a virgin,” but the Greek word for virgin is not used in the text, and the euphemistic expression is really more explicit, referring specifically to sexual relations.

[1:38]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[1:38]  ⁹ tn Grk “behold.”

[1:38]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “handmaid”; Grk “slave woman.” Though δούλη (doulh) is normally translated “woman servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free woman serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. δοῦλος). The most accurate translation is “bondservant,” sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος (doulos), in that it often indicates one who sells himself or herself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:38]  ¹¹ tn Grk “let this be to me.”

[1:38]  ¹² sn The remark according to your word is a sign of Mary’s total submission to God’s will, a response that makes her exemplary.

[1:38]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[1:39]  ¹⁴ sn The expression In those days is another general time reference, though the sense of the context is that the visit came shortly after Mary miraculously conceived and shortly after the announcement about Jesus.

[1:39]  ¹⁵ sn The author does not say exactly where Elizabeth stayed. The location is given generally as a town of Judah. Judah is about a three day trip south of Nazareth.

[1:41]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here either.

[1:41]  ¹⁷ sn When the baby leaped John gave his first testimony about Jesus, a fulfillment of 1:15.

[1:41]  ¹⁸ tn The antecedent of “her” is Elizabeth.

[1:41]  ¹⁹ sn The passage makes clear that Elizabeth spoke her commentary with prophetic enablement, filled with the Holy Spirit.

[1:46]  ²⁰ tc A few witnesses, especially Latin mss, (a b l* Ir^arm Or^lat mss Nic) read “Elizabeth” here, since she was just speaking, but the ms evidence overwhelmingly supports “Mary” as the speaker.

[1:46]  ²¹ sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[1:46]  ²² tn Or “lifts up the Lord in praise.”

[1:46]  ²³ sn This psalm (vv. 46-55) is one of the few praise psalms in the NT. Mary praises God and then tells why both in terms of his care for her (vv. 46-49) and for others, including Israel (vv. 50-55). Its traditional name, the “Magnificat,” comes from the Latin for the phrase My soul magnifies the Lord at the hymn’s start.

[1:56]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.

[1:56]  ²⁵ tn Grk “her”; the referent (Elizabeth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:56]  ²⁶ sn As is typical with Luke the timing is approximate (about three months), not specific.