Lukas 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ²  will name him John. ³ 

Lukas 1:63

1:63 He ⁴  asked for a writing tablet ⁵  and wrote, ⁶  “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. ⁷ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  sn Your prayer has been heard. Zechariah’s prayer while offering the sacrifice would have been for the nation, but the answer to the prayer also gave them a long hoped-for child, a hope they had abandoned because of their old age.

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ³ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.

[1:13]  sn “Do not be afraid…you must call his name John.” This is a standard birth announcement (see Gen 16:11; Isa 7:14; Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31).

[1:63]  ⁴ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:63]  ⁵ sn The writing tablet requested by Zechariah would have been a wax tablet.

[1:63]  ⁶ tn Grk “and wrote, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant is English and has not been translated.

[1:63]  ⁷ sn The response, they were all amazed, expresses a mixture of surprise and reflection in this setting where they were so certain of what the child’s name would be.