98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; 1
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. 2
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. 3
7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob
and extend your loyal love to Abraham, 4
which you promised on oath to our ancestors 5
in ancient times. 6
1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering 7 his mercy, 8
1:55 as he promised 9 to our ancestors, 10 to Abraham and to his descendants 11 forever.”
1:56 So 12 Mary stayed with Elizabeth 13 about three months 14 and then returned to her home.
1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, 15
1:71 that we should be saved 16 from our enemies, 17
and from the hand of all who hate us.
1:72 He has done this 18 to show mercy 19 to our ancestors, 20
and to remember his holy covenant 21 –
1:73 the oath 22 that he swore to our ancestor 23 Abraham.
This oath grants 24
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 29 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1 tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”
2 tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”
3 tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).
4 tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.
5 tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.
6 tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”
7 tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.
8 tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”
9 tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalhsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.
10 tn Grk “fathers.”
11 tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).
12 tn Grk “And.” Here (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.
13 tn Grk “her”; the referent (Elizabeth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 sn As is typical with Luke the timing is approximate (about three months), not specific.
15 tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”
16 tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”
17 sn The theme of being saved from our enemies is like the release Jesus preached in Luke 4:18-19. Luke’s narrative shows that one of the enemies in view is Satan and his cohorts, with the grip they have on humanity.
18 tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.
19 sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.
20 tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.
21 sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).
22 tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.
23 tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”
24 tn Again for reasons of English style, the infinitival clause “to grant us” has been translated “This oath grants” and made the beginning of a new sentence in the translation.
25 tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.
26 tn Or “delivered.”
27 sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.
28 tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.
29 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.