Luke 1:12-13

1:12 And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, ¹  was seized with fear. ²  1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ³  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ⁴  will name him John. ⁵ 

Luke 1:28-30

1:28 The ⁶  angel ⁷  came ⁸  to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, ⁹  the Lord is with you!” ¹⁰  1:29 But ¹¹  she was greatly troubled ¹²  by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. ¹³  1:30 So ¹⁴  the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, ¹⁵  Mary, for you have found favor ¹⁶  with God!

¹ tn The words “the angel” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

² tn Or “and he was afraid”; Grk “fear fell upon him.” Fear is common when supernatural agents appear (1:29-30, 65; 2:9; 5:8-10; 9:34; 24:38; Exod 15:16; Judg 6:22-23; 13:6, 22; 2 Sam 6:9).

³ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

⁴ tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ 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.

⁵ tn Grk “And coming to her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁶ tn Grk “And coming to her, he said”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Grk “coming to her, he said.” The participle εἰσελθών (eiselqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁸ tn The address, “favored one” (a perfect participle, Grk “Oh one who is favored”) points to Mary as the recipient of God’s grace, not a bestower of it. She is a model saint in this passage, one who willingly receives God’s benefits. The Vulgate rendering “full of grace” suggests something more of Mary as a bestower of grace, but does not make sense here contextually.

⁹ tc Most mss (A C D Θ Ë¹³ 33 Ï latt sy) read here εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν (euloghmenh su en gunaixin, “blessed are you among women”) which also appears in 1:42 (where it is textually certain). This has the earmarks of a scribal addition for balance; the shorter reading, attested by the most important witnesses and several others (א B L W Ψ Ë¹ 565 579 700 1241 pc co), is thus preferred.

⁷ tc Most mss (A C Θ 0130 ˹³ Ï lat sy) have ἰδοῦσα (idousa, “when [she] saw [the angel]”) here as well, making Mary’s concern the appearance of the angel. This construction is harder than the shorter reading since it adds a transitive verb without an explicit object. However, the shorter reading has significant support (א B D L W Ψ Ë¹ 565 579 1241 sa) and on balance should probably be considered authentic.

⁸ sn On the phrase greatly troubled see 1:12. Mary’s reaction was like Zechariah’s response.

⁹ tn Grk “to wonder what kind of greeting this might be.” Luke often uses the optative this way to reveal a figure’s thinking (3:15; 8:9; 18:36; 22:23).

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.

¹¹ tn Or “grace.”