Luke 1:54-55

1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ¹  his mercy, ² 

1:55 as he promised ³  to our ancestors, ⁴  to Abraham and to his descendants ⁵  forever.”

Luke 1:68-73

1:68 “Blessed ⁶  be the Lord God of Israel,

because he has come to help ⁷  and has redeemed ⁸  his people.

1:69 For ⁹  he has raised up ¹⁰  a horn of salvation ¹¹  for us in the house of his servant David, ¹² 

1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, ¹³ 

1:71 that we should be saved ¹⁴  from our enemies, ¹⁵ 

and from the hand of all who hate us.

1:72 He has done this ¹⁶  to show mercy ¹⁷  to our ancestors, ¹⁸ 

and to remember his holy covenant ¹⁹  –

1:73 the oath ²⁰  that he swore to our ancestor ²¹  Abraham.

This oath grants ²² 

[1:54]  ¹ tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.

[1:54]  ² tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”

[1:55]  ³ 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.

[1:55]  ⁴ tn Grk “fathers.”

[1:55]  ⁵ tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).

[1:68]  ⁶ sn The traditional name of this psalm, the “Benedictus,” comes from the Latin wording of the start of the hymn (“Blessed be…”).

[1:68]  ⁷ sn The verb come to help can refer to a visit, but can also connote concern or assistance (L&N 85.11).

[1:68]  ⁸ tn Or “has delivered”; Grk “has accomplished redemption.”

[1:69]  ⁹ tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.

[1:69]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.

[1:69]  ¹¹ sn 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]  ¹² sn 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]  ¹³ tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”

[1:71]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”

[1:71]  ¹⁵ 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.

[1:72]  ¹⁶ 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.

[1:72]  ¹⁷ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ¹⁸ 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.

[1:72]  ¹⁹ 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).

[1:73]  ²⁰ tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.

[1:73]  ²¹ tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”

[1:73]  ²² 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.