Luke 1:60

1:60 But ¹  his mother replied, ²  “No! He must be named ³  John.” ⁴ 

Luke 1:63

1:63 He ⁵  asked for a writing tablet ⁶  and wrote, ⁷  “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. ⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “And,” but with clearly contrastive emphasis in context.

² tn Grk “his mother answering, said.” The combination of participle and finite verb is redundant in English and has been simplified to “replied” in the translation.

³ tn This future passive indicative verb has imperatival force and thus has been translated “he must be named.”

⁴ sn “No! He must be named John.” By insisting on the name specified by the angel, Elizabeth (v. 60) and Zechariah (v. 63) have learned to obey God (see Luke 1:13).

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

⁶ sn The writing tablet requested by Zechariah would have been a wax tablet.

⁷ tn Grk “and wrote, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant is English and has not been translated.

⁸ 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.