Luke 1:26-27

Birth Announcement of Jesus the Messiah

1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, ¹  the angel Gabriel ²  was sent by ³  God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, ⁴  1:27 to a virgin engaged ⁵  to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, ⁶  and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Luke 3:23

The Genealogy of Jesus

3:23 So ⁷  Jesus, when he began his ministry, ⁸  was about thirty years old. He was ⁹  the son (as was supposed) ¹⁰  of Joseph, the son ¹¹  of Heli,

[1:26]  ¹ tn Grk “in the sixth month.” The phrase “of Elizabeth’s pregnancy” was supplied in the translation to clarify the exact time meant by this reference. That Elizabeth’s pregnancy is meant is clear from vv. 24-25.

[1:26]  ² sn Gabriel is the same angel mentioned previously in v. 19. He is traditionally identified as an angel who brings revelation (see Dan 8:15-16; 9:21). Gabriel and Michael are the only two good angels named in the Bible.

[1:26]  ³ tn Or “from.” The account suggests God’s planned direction in these events, so “by” is better than “from,” as six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God acts again.

[1:26]  ⁴ sn Nazareth was a town in the region of Galilee, located north of Samaria and Judea. Galilee extended from about 45 to 85 miles north of Jerusalem and was about 30 miles in width. Nazareth was a very small village and was located about 15 miles west of the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee.

[1:27]  ⁵ tn Or “promised in marriage.”

[1:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “Joseph, of the house of David.”

[3:23]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summary nature of the statement.

[3:23]  ⁸ tn The words “his ministry” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[3:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “of age, being.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ὤν (wn) has been translated as a finite verb with the pronoun “he” supplied as subject, and a new sentence begun in the translation at this point.

[3:23]  ¹⁰ sn The parenthetical remark as was supposed makes it clear that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. But a question still remains whose genealogy this is. Mary is nowhere mentioned, so this may simply refer to the line of Joseph, who would have functioned as Jesus’ legal father, much like stepchildren can have when they are adopted by a second parent.

[3:23]  ¹¹ tc Several of the names in the list have alternate spellings in the ms tradition, but most of these are limited to a few mss. Only significant differences are considered in the notes through v. 38.