Luke 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ²  will name him John. ³ 

Luke 2:7

2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth ⁴  and laid him in a manger, ⁵  because there was no place for them in the inn. ⁶ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ³ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.

[2:7]  ⁴ sn The strips of cloth (traditionally, “swaddling cloths”) were strips of linen that would be wrapped around the arms and legs of an infant to keep the limbs protected.

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Or “a feeding trough.”

[2:7]  ⁶ tn The Greek word κατάλυμα is flexible, and usage in the LXX and NT refers to a variety of places for lodging (see BDAG 521 s.v.). Most likely Joseph and Mary sought lodging in the public accommodations in the city of Bethlehem (see J. Nolland, Luke [WBC], 1:105), which would have been crude shelters for people and animals. However, it has been suggested by various scholars that Joseph and Mary were staying with relatives in Bethlehem (e.g., C. S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 194; B. Witherington, “Birth of Jesus,” DJG, 69-70); if that were so the term would refer to the guest room in the relatives’ house, which would have been filled beyond capacity with all the other relatives who had to journey to Bethlehem for the census.