Luke 1:15

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.

Luke 1:41

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

Luke 1:67

Zechariah’s Praise and Prediction

1:67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,


tn Grk “before.”

tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

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.

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

tn The antecedent of “her” is Elizabeth.

sn The passage makes clear that Elizabeth spoke her commentary with prophetic enablement, filled with the Holy Spirit.

tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

tn Grk “and he prophesied, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.