Lukas 1:32-33

1:32 He ¹  will be great, ²  and will be called the Son of the Most High, ³  and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father ⁴  David. 1:33 He ⁵  will reign over the house of Jacob ⁶  forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Lukas 1:69

1:69 For ⁷  he has raised up ⁸  a horn of salvation ⁹  for us in the house of his servant David, ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Grk “this one.”

² sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.

³ sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

⁴ tn Or “ancestor.”

⁵ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.

⁶ tn Or “over Israel.”

sn The expression house of Jacob refers to Israel. This points to the Messiah’s relationship to the people of Israel.

⁷ tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.

⁸ sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.

⁹ sn The horn of salvation is a figure that refers to the power of Messiah and his ability to protect, as the horn refers to what an animal uses to attack and defend (Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14; 2 Sam 22:3). Thus the meaning of the figure is “a powerful savior.”

¹⁰ sn In the house of his servant David is a reference to Messiah’s Davidic descent. Zechariah is more interested in Jesus than his own son John at this point.