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 1:44

1:44 For the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Genesis 25:22

25:22 But the children struggled inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” So she asked the Lord,

Psalms 22:10

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; 10 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 


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 “for behold.”

tn Grk “when the sound of your greeting [reached] my ears.”

sn On the statement the baby in my womb leaped for joy see both 1:14 and 1:47. This notes a fulfillment of God’s promised word.

tn The Hebrew word used here suggests a violent struggle that was out of the ordinary.

tn Heb “If [it is] so, why [am] I this [way]?” Rebekah wanted to know what was happening to her, but the question itself reflects a growing despair over the struggle of the unborn children.

sn Asked the Lord. In other passages (e.g., 1 Sam 9:9) this expression refers to inquiring of a prophet, but no details are provided here.

10 tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

11 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”