Luke 1:31-33

Context
1:31 Listen:¹ You will become pregnant² and give birth to³ a son, and you will name him⁴ Jesus.⁵ 1:32 He⁶ will be great,⁷ and will be called the Son of the Most High,⁸ and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father⁹ David. 1:33 He¹⁰ will reign over the house of Jacob¹¹ forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Luke 1:69-70

Context

1:69 For¹² he has raised up¹³ a horn of salvation¹⁴ for us in the house of his servant David,¹⁵

1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,¹⁶

[1:31] ¹tn Grk “And behold.”

[1:31] ²tn Grk “you will conceive in your womb.”

[1:31] ³tn Or “and bear.”

[1:31] ⁴tn Grk “you will call his name.”

[1:31] ⁵tn See v. 13 for a similar construction.

[1:32] ⁶tn Grk “this one.”

[1:32] ⁷sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.

[1:32] ⁸sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

[1:32] ⁹tn Or “ancestor.”

[1:33] ¹⁰tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.

[1:33] ¹¹tn Or “over Israel.”

[1:69] ¹²tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.

[1:69] ¹³sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.

[1:69] ¹⁴sn The horn of salvation is a figure that refers to the power of Messiah and his ability to protect, as the horn refers to what an animal uses to attack and defend (Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14; 2 Sam 22:3). Thus the meaning of the figure is “a powerful savior.”

[1:69] ¹⁵sn In the house of his servant David is a reference to Messiah’s Davidic descent. Zechariah is more interested in Jesus than his own son John at this point.

[1:70] ¹⁶tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”