Luke 1:18-20

1:18 Zechariah ¹  said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? ²  For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well.” ³  1:19 The ⁴  angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands ⁵  in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring ⁶  you this good news. 1:20 And now, ⁷  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, ⁸  you will be silent, unable to speak, ⁹  until the day these things take place.”

Luke 1:34-35

1:34 Mary ¹⁰  said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with ¹¹  a man?” 1:35 The angel replied, ¹²  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow ¹³  you. Therefore the child ¹⁴  to be born ¹⁵  will be holy; ¹⁶  he will be called the Son of God.

[1:18]  ¹ tn Grk “And Zechariah.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:18]  ² tn Grk “How will I know this?”

[1:18]  ³ tn Grk “is advanced in days” (an idiom for old age).

[1:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “the one who is standing before God.”

[1:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “to announce these things of good news to you.”

[1:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “behold.”

[1:20]  ⁸ sn The predicted fulfillment in the expression my words, which will be fulfilled in their time takes place in Luke 1:63-66.

[1:20]  ⁹ sn Silent, unable to speak. Actually Zechariah was deaf and mute as 1:61-63 indicates, since others had to use gestures to communicate with him.

[1:34]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And Mary.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:34]  ¹¹ tn Grk “have not known.” The expression in the Greek text is a euphemism for sexual relations. Mary seems to have sensed that the declaration had an element of immediacy to it that excluded Joseph. Many modern translations render this phrase “since I am a virgin,” but the Greek word for virgin is not used in the text, and the euphemistic expression is really more explicit, referring specifically to sexual relations.

[1:35]  ¹² tn Grk “And the angel said to her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. The pronoun αὐτῇ (auth, “to her”) has not been included in the translation since it is redundant in contemporary English.

[1:35]  ¹³ sn The phrase will overshadow is a reference to God’s glorious presence at work (Exod 40:34-35; Ps 91:4).

[1:35]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the one born holy will be called the Son of God.” The wording of this phrase depends on whether the adjective is a predicate adjective, as in the text, or is an adjective modifying the participle serving as the subject. The absence of an article with the adjective speaks for a predicate position. Other less appealing options supply a verb for “holy”; thus “the one who is born will be holy”; or argue that both “holy” and “Son of God” are predicates, so “The one who is born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

[1:35]  ¹⁵ tc A few mss (C* Θ Ë¹ 33 pc) add “by you” here. This looks like a scribal addition to bring symmetry to the first three clauses of the angel’s message (note the second person pronoun in the previous two clauses), and is too poorly supported to be seriously considered as authentic.

[1:35]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Therefore the holy child to be born will be called the Son of God.” There are two ways to understand the Greek phrase τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον (to gennwmenon {agion) here. First, τὸ γεννώμενον could be considered a substantival participle with ἅγιον as an adjective in the second predicate position, thus making a complete sentence; this interpretation is reflected in the translation above. Second, τὸ ἅγιον could be considered a substantival adjective with γεννώμενον acting as an adjectival participle, thus making the phrase the subject of the verb κληθήσεται (klhqhsetai); this interpretation is reflected in the alternative reading. Treating the participle γεννώμενον as adjectival is a bit unnatural for the very reason that it forces one to understand ἅγιον as substantival; this introduces a new idea in the text with ἅγιον when an already new topic is being introduced with γεννώμενον. Semantically this would overload the new subject introduced at this point. For this reason the first interpretation is preferred.